On Sunday, former Manchester United captain Gary Neville reacted to the news that Qatar had withdrawn from the process to buy the club.
The Glazers announced in November they were ‘exploring strategic alternatives’ for the ownership at Manchester United.
The news that broke over the weekend about Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani pulling out of the race has seemingly paved the way for Sir Jim Ratcliffe to buy a minority stake in the club, thought to be 25%.
Neville took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to list several “non-negotiations” for Ratcliffe to consider at United:
- A new sporting project
- A new or redeveloped Old Trafford
- A new training ground
- Full development of the surrounding land to create a Manchester United World and amazing fan experience
- Pay off the debt and stop taking dividends until the above is done.
- Leadership that is sportsmanlike on major issues that enables a fairer, more inclusive and diverse game, that builds a positive environment and culture whilst adhering to the club’s values and principles and one that is willing to make tough decisions to prevent an erosion in the club’s public image.
Neville added a further 16 questions that he believes supporters want answers to regarding potential investment:
- What does the distribution of funds look like? Is all the cash being taken out of the club?
- Which Glazers are going or is it a family dilution?
- How does it impact the NYSE shareholders?
- Does the executive stay the same?
- Does the sporting side stay the same above the manager?
- Who within the board has sporting control?
- Are there future dilution clauses with the Glazer family in any deal you do as a minority shareholder? When are they?
- We’re maxed out on the credit card and debt. How is this deal going to change the capital structure and financial issues the club has?
- Is any further debt being placed on the club?
- Is any debt being paid off?
- How does this deal impact the board composition?
- How does a minority shareholder impact the negative culture within the entire organisation?
- Old Trafford is tired and is in need of significant redevelopment. How does this deal resolve this issue?
- Will this deal allow the development of the training ground to its required standard?
- Old Trafford requires significant investment on its surrounding land. Does this deal impact this requirement positively or does it leave it as a concrete wasteland?
- How does a minority shareholder stop cultural decline across a whole organisation if the people who have overseen this decline still have a majority shareholding?
However, Simon Jordan says Neville’s social media rant ‘lacked substance’.
“The points that Gary is making are just for the gallery,” the former Crystal Palace owner said on talkSPORT Breakfast.
“They have no substance behind a lot of what’s being said in terms of who the shareholders are, does it dilute… who cares if it dilutes the shares on the New York Stoke Exchange?
“Ultimately, you need to look at what this is going to mean to the football club rather than ultimately the peripheral noise about who’s got what, when and how.
“The Glazers, and I know it’s an unpalatable statement and I say it regularly and United fans don’t like it, you may own it emotively but these guys own it really.
“So you can huff and you can puff, but you ain’t blowing their house down any time soon and the only thing that’s going to do that is the economic transaction that details that they get what they want.
“I would imagine that Joel and Avram are the ones that have retained their shareholding because they’re the ones that think the £10billion valuation that’s further down the line after the 2026 World Cup in America is achievable.
“They’re more motivated by staying in the business than the other siblings that are probably the ones that have been taken out. The governance issue is a very key component because of the way the voting rights are structured.
“But the bottom line is, if they’re buying the Glazers’ shares, not issuing new shares, the Glazers are pocketing the money. There’s no money going into the football club, so where is the development of this new stadium coming from?
“Where is this ridiculous wish list that Gary is playing to his gallery for to make sure that he’s popular with the United fanbase, where is that money coming from? I would imagine an element of debt.”
If Sir Jim Ratcliffe reaches a definite agreement with the Glazer family, we would urge him to speak to a supporter group like MUST, who will have an array of questions that will concern the fans.
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If . It’s true that the Glazers had connections with “butcher ” bush and the CIA, then there’s no ways I can ever support that club again, and undoubtedly millions will stop supporting them globally and start hating them, so so sad, how the Glazers destroyed a once iconic symbol and now lapdoggie Ratcliffe’ joins them.