Manchester United news: Michael Knighton revels prospect that Glazer family may sell minority stake
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Michael Knighton has revealed his delight at the prospect of part of Manchester United being sold by The Glazers.
The American family are in talks of with private equity firm Apollo over selling a minority stake – although the deal will still likely see them retain day-to-day control of the club.
However, with the club open to selling shares, it has also alerted the likes of Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe who is estimated to be worth £12bn.
A spokesperson for Ratcliffe claimed on Wednesday the 69-year-old would be interested in buying United if the club were put up for sale.
Knighton, who has held recent ambitions to launch his own takeover, was overjoyed at the prospect of United being sold to Ratcliffe who is a lifelong United supporter.
Knighton said on Twitter: ‘SIR JIM RADCLIFFE – YES, YES, YES, YES, THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS – I SAID FROM DAY ONE THE GLAZERS WILL BE GONE THIS TIME & THE GREAT JR IS THE MAN TO IT & IT’S HAPPENED!! Thank you to EVERY fan that believed this message, yr support has been magnificent. BRAVO!’
The Glazers have put a £4billion figure on selling the club outright but despite members of the family wanting out of Old Trafford, brothers Joel and Avram are expected to keep their shares.
Michael Knighton has thrown his support behind a potential Sir Jim Ratcliffe bid for Man Utd
Knighton, who famously juggled a ball on the Old Trafford pitch amid his failed attempts to buy Manchester United in 1989, admitted he doesn’t have the funds to buy the club now
Although it is not clear who the members of the Apollo firm are the consortium is not likely to include bidders who recently missed out on buying Chelsea – including Ratcliffe.
Despite having lofty ambitions to buy the club, Knighton revealed recently he did not have the funds to lead a take over. Instead, he has been hopeful of backing a bid led by Ratcliffe.
Knighton, who previously tried to purchase the club in 1989, told ITV News: ‘They are small-time billionaires that I have been speaking to for three to four months now.
‘When I was approached by some fan groups, oddly enough, saying “look, our club is dying in its feet, would you please do something?”
‘I made a few phone calls and I’ve been pulling this consortium together ever since.
‘We are not the great Sir Jim Ratcliffe. We do not have those resources. We are not some nation state sovereign fund who has oil revenue of two billion a day.
The Glazer family are open to selling a minority stake but Joel (right) and Avram (left) are expected to keep their shares as well as day-to-day running of the club
The Glazers have been unpopular among fans since taking over the club back in 2005
‘The point is: someone had to make a stand. If we can smoke the great Sir Jim out to buy Manchester United my consortium will be punching the air because we’ve achieved what we want to do. We will make the bid with our own consortium.
‘But, I’ll tell you this, we do not have the resources available to do everything that is needed.’
Ratcliffe made a last-gasp bid to buy Chelsea for $4.25bn back in May and appears to have his sights on onwning a football club.
Ineos revealed that company founder and Britain’s richest man has plans to buy the record Premier League holders after reacting to previous news regarding potential investment in the club.
‘If the club is for sale, Jim is definitely a potential buyer,’ the spokesman told The Times.
United are in talks with private US equity firm Apollo over selling a minority stake
The bid is not expected to include Sir Jim Ratcliffe, but Britain’s richest man has claimed he would be interested in buying the club he has supported all his life
United have started the season in terrible fashion and lost 4-0 at Brentford on Saturday
‘If something like this was possible, we would be interested in talking with a view to long-term ownership,’ the spokesman added.
Ineos then added that Ratcliffe would use investment to upgrade current infrastructure such as the deteriorating Old Trafford, stating there is a need to press the ‘reset’ button.
‘This is not about the money that has been spent or not spent.
‘Jim is looking at what can be done now and, knowing how important the club is to the city, it feels like the time is right for a reset.’
After first purchasing shares in the Red Devils in 2003, the Glazer family became the majority shareholders of the club in 2005.
The family first purchased the club back in 2005 but have proved to be very unpopular since among fans an ex-players having placed the club under huge debts.
How Knighton’s first bid to buy Man United failed in 1989
Knighton, who made his fortune in property, shot to prominence in August 1989 when he made a takeover bid of £20million for United, which was a record bid for a British football club at the time.
The offer was accepted by chief executive Martin Edwards and Knighton pledged to invest £10m in Old Trafford and restore United to former glories on the pitch.
Knighton also recognised the off-field potential of United, predicting they would be a £150m business within 15 years (as it happened the Premier League and much success would make them a £1bn business within 11 years).
His business plan identified several areas for development – such as television rights, merchandise and a hotel – despite the fact United hadn’t won a league championship since the late 1960s.
Ahead of a match against Arsenal at the beginning of the 1989-90 season, Knighton juggled a ball on the Old Trafford pitch in front of 47,000 fans while dressed in full United kit.
Knighton holds up a United scarf after making his £20m offer for the club in 1989
It was at that moment, Edwards admitted afterwards, he realised a mistake had been made in selling the club to Knighton.
‘I was horrified,’ he later said. ‘Absolutely horrified. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I kept saying to myself, ‘What the hell have I done?’
‘I realised that I’d made a big mistake. The other directors felt the same. They cringed and began to turn on Knighton.’
Knighton’s NK Trafford Holdings company included investors such as former Debenhams executive Bob Thornton and Stanley Cohen of the Betterware home shopping firm.
But when Thornton and Cohen withdrew their cash in mid-September, the takeover collapsed despite Knighton’s frantic attempts to find other investors.
It quickly and embarrassingly became apparent that Knighton didn’t have the cash to see through the buy-out.
‘He’d proved that he had the financial backing, but then he fell out with the other two partners because they would have side-lined him eventually,’ said Edwards.
‘Knighton realised what was going on and he wanted to be number one. The backers pulled away. When the pressure came on, Knighton couldn’t deliver the money.’
As the takeover deadline approached, Knighton abandoned his bid in exchange for a seat on United’s board.
In 1992, he went on to buy fourth-tier club Carlisle United.