On Friday night rumours of a £1.5bn Qatari takeover of Manchester United first emerged.
It was said that the Qatari government’s official investment group were seriously considering taking over Manchester United Football Club, of course there are always rumours abound around the club. As Manchester United we sell papers, people will always be interested in players being linked with us and with everything that has happened with the Green & Gold movement and the Glazers, a takeover rumour will always be big.
Earlier this month there was talk of the club being taken over by Epsom and that did big news so talk of a Qatari takeover will especially make waves. The country has just been awarded the 2022 World Cup and there had been claims that the Qataris were behind the Glazers paying off the PIK loans but would you take them at the club?
I’ve come across mixed opinions in regards to this, some are sceptical abut having new Arab owners and wonder what will happen if they suddenly become bored of the club. Being a plaything is never an option for a club as big as United and as City and Chelsea may find out in the future, when the owner decides to withdraw you’ll be up the creek with no paddle. Qatar’s involvement in football has grown in recent weeks after they were awarded the World Cup, it was felt that FIFA awarded them the competition to make the sport a more marketable entity in the Middle East and the World Cup, their ground breaking shirt deal with Barcelona and potentially owning the biggest club in the world will do just that but after the 2022 World Cup what happens?
That being said, surely it must be better than the Glazers? The Americans have saddled the club with debt and whilst they paid off the PIK loans they are yet to say how they did so. They are said to have been hit by the recession especially bad so how do they intend on continually solving the financial problems that we have? Will it involve selling off our assets? That is something nobody wants to see.
The devil you know vs the devil you don’t?
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I understand this is a basic version of our situation but even with that I wouldn’t be zoo quick to jump into bed with the Arabs. There is so much anti-Glazer sentiment that people will prefer to see anyone at the helm except them without thinking it through.
Reassurances would need to be made in terms of their ownership before I could take them seriously
i hope this is true.. it’d be brilliant for the club. Of course it wont solve all the problems, but would go along way. We’d be rid of the glazers, debt free, and be challenging the likes of city and real madrid in the transer market.
Whilst I would welcome a takeover we have to all keep thing in perspective – at the moment even if it has gathered pace, it’s just a rumour.
atleast we r secured and debt free till 2021-22 season … continious dominance for more than another decade… i would take it….
I may be the rare United fan who doesn’t hate the Glazers. I don’t fully trust them either, but apart of me believes that they want United to be a well-functioning club – at the very least because the goose won’t lay golden eggs anymore if they don’t ensure it continues to thrive.
You highlighted my fear when saying these owners could get bored of the club. Teams like Chelsea and City could follow in the path of Portsmouth in one instant if their owners walked away whearas United are still of considerable value. Also, it appears in the example of Chelsea and City that though these owners seamingly don’t care about financial losses, they attach too much of their misdirected pride and interfere with the operations of the club.
By and large, I don’t think the Glazers are barking at Fergie for who he should sign and demanding unrealistic results. I would be less inclined to believe this were the case with these perspective owners.
I may sound xenophobic, but I’m generally disgusted by the ostentatious displays of wealth seen in UAE and Qatar such as this:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/19/abu-dhabi-hotel-regrets-overload-with-11-million-christmas-tree/
Similarily, I worry that United will just be viewed as an ornament for these owners.
You don’t want to sound xenophobic, yet you do. See I’m an arab myself, but like most arab, I’m not from the gulf and no one in my family owns a Bentley.
Just to clarify my intent, I wasn’t trying to hide my xenophobic POV on this issue, which is why I said “I may sound” rather than “I’m not trying to sound…” in order to be transparent about my bias. However, I could’ve simply said “I’m sounding xenophobic”
I won’t claim to be Mr. United Nations, but I do carry some credentials of being a non-racist such as the fact that I am in a mixed-race marriage. I try to be globally minded, including the knowledge that the Arab world is not mono-cultural but in fact quite diverse with many narratives. In fact, I never even refered to Arabs in the first place.
Basically, I’m just admitting my bias towards an ownership takeover from Qatar or the UAE specifically. From all the reports on the insane levels of money being spent on projects that don’t even profit, such as half empty skyscrappers or Manchester City, it has me apprehensive. However, rather than just state my apprehensions I felt I should note that it sounded, and may be, xenophobic for transparency’s sake. That’s my honest reaction at this point in time and perhaps my perspective will change eventually.
I’m not worried by their supposed displays of wealth (Mansour from the shitty side is pretty subtle and classy), rather about their usual unrealistic demands. Because it usually leads to questioning the manager’s policy and instability follows, which is something that would put united in the same situation it was between the Busby and the Ferguson eras.
The soon to be considered salary cap project form UEFA’s Platini will somehow make United and such seem not in sync with a possible new football reality. Considering the ever growing money situations popping out in every major championship across europe, hitting all the clubs no matter how big or small, a change will soon be but a choice.
United has a fine policy youthwise at the moment. Having an incredible amount of cash suddenly flowing will push us towards expensive and short-term solutions to suit the owners desires, Madrid style. We’ll be subject to inconsistency and repeated crisis (something we’ve avoided with the exceptional sense of leadership and vision of SAF). And the salary cap thing, again, could create gaps in the side’s cohesion.
The debt situation is really the key here. If we can find a better way to solve it than a Qatari buy, we should avoid it. Otherwise, we’ll just have to pray these guys are for real and know how to behave when they deal with History.
But again let’s not throw the first stone, the yanks have a long record of disrespectful and reckless management…
this will never happen, qatar is an islamic state and will never buy united cos we are the red devils. as long as we carry the symbol of the devil they will not buy us.
mixed thoughts to be honest, yes we would be out of debt but i dont want us to be like city as i feel it makes a mockery out of the game and players take advantage of your money