It seems to be a common view amongst British businessmen that the valuations being put on Manchester United and Liverpool at the moment are excessive.
Sir Martin Broughton is the next to come forward and he isn’t convinced these clubs will get as much as £4 billion. He based this view on how investors in football tend to be more keen on clubs in London.
The Glazer family, who are welcoming bids this month, reportedly thought they could get between £6bn and £bn
Broughton, ex-chairman at Liverpool, told the Telegraph: “I would question whether they’ll [United and Liverpool] get the kind of prices they floated.
“With Chelsea – and I think Arsenal and Tottenham would fall into the same category – the people we spoke to tended to be overseas billionaires who had a pad in London and the pad in London was in Knightsbridge or Kensington, Chelsea or something.
“So when they came to London, they went to Chelsea. They were football fans, and they were Chelsea fans… they’re not going to be bidders for Liverpool or Manchester United because they’ve got a pad in London and they’re not planning to move their pad to Manchester or Liverpool. So it’s a different type of buyer to the ones that we were looking for with our consortium.”
London or not, I don’t really buy any of this because both United and Liverpool overshadow the clubs down there, and we are one of the biggest clubs in the world – right up there with Real Madrid. You can’t say that about Arsenal, Chelsea or Tottenham.
At this current point in time, it’s unclear exactly which direction the Glazers will take with regard to a potential sale given rumours of investors being keen on owning a minority stake.
Ask any United fan and they will tell you they have no interest in a partial takeover because that means the Glazers stick around. While we want them gone, we are also wary of the club falling into the wrong hands again and potentially becoming another sportswashing project in football.
Important times ahead.
Hmm
1 epl title won after 30yrs under Covid has gone into your heads.
That’s why ticket prices are higher in London.
Northern referees have made you who you’re but the future is not too good for northern teams who don’t have TV screens at their stadia.