It’s been seven long months already and the Glazer family still appear to be no closer to selling Manchester United, much to the chagrin of potential buyers and supporters.
However, ‘super’ agent, Jon Smith, one of the creators of the Premier League, believes that it’s a really good negotiating tactic from the current owners.
That’s an opinion that’s unlikely to be shared by those fans that continue to protest against the current ownership, however, Smith does know a thing or two about how to conduct such complex deals – and he has some good news to temper the bad too.
‘I can’t see beyond Sheikh Jassim. I mean, if he really wants Man United, he can have it. I don’t think in reality, the Glazer family really want to be part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s bid. Once you’re out, you’re out. You move on. Though I think it’s a really good negotiating tactic,’ he wrote in his exclusive CaughtOffside column.
‘Ratcliffe would quite possibly be a more creative ownership but I just think if it’s about if the deal is about the money as well as the passion for Manchester United, there’s certainly a big capital P with passion that follows that club, I think, ultimately Qatar can have it if they want to.’
Clearly, the length of time the deal is taking to get over the line is causing issues with the Old Trafford faithful, but Smith believes that the end is in sight.
‘It’s a bit of a misnomer that the Glazers want to hang on but let’s be clear too, a deal of that size isn’t ever going to be done and dusted in five minutes. There’s so many moving parts. To be honest, there’s a lot of ground to cover in the United deal. Not only football, there’s real estate to consider. I mean, that ground and the training ground is is a sizeable drain on whoever comes in. You’ve got a schedule of dilapidations on Old Trafford and you’ve got to redesign the training ground,’ he added.
‘You’ve you’ve got a lot of ancillary factors around any of these deals, including the personalities who are sizeably difficult in many cases, and quite emotional about it. It’s really not like selling a building unless you’ve owned the building for 100 years, because real estate doesn’t argue back.
‘You’ve got a lot of moving parts in a deal like this. I’d be surprised if something didn’t happen during late summer or the early part of autumn. There’s just tidying up the emotional bits now, which will also have substantive financial meaning. In my experience, they’ve probably got another couple of months to go.’
That should at least be of some comfort to the fan base, and to Erik ten Hag who appears to be hamstrung in the transfer market at present because there’s not too much of an idea how much the Dutchman will have to spend this summer.
Whether it is Sheikh Jassim or Sir Jim Ratcliffe that finally takes the reins at the club in due course, one thing is certain – they have a lot of ground to make up that’s been lost by the Glazer family.
Club infrastructure, player signings and more will all contribute towards the trust element that’s clearly so important for the fan base.
Really what is said it’s true. But the Glazer family needs to quickly help to address the issue to help both the Staff, Club and iFans.
What next with new man u owners