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Over to you, Jim. Ratcliffe, O'Neill, there is always a Jim where Manchester United are concerned.
Through the years there have been a whole lot of Jims who have claimed they
can fix it for the club and now they have got their
chance.
 At last,
the Glazers want to sell. Like their compatriots at Liverpool, the body blow that was the collapse of the Super League was too much and they
are getting out.
 A figure in excess of £5billion is quoted,
maybe as much as £9bn, but there is a price and it will be revealed - no doubt privately -
to any serious bidder. So come on down, you billionaires.
Now, it gets real.
That has always been the problem with Manchester United.
The club was easy to buy when the club had no intention of selling.
Certainly, it was easier to talk about buying. Anyone who fancied creating a headline could buy Manchester United, even Michael Knighton and now David Beckham.
[img][/img]
A whole lot of 'Jims' have claimed they can fix it for Manchester United - with British tycoon Sir
Jim Ratcliffe (above) saying he wants to buy the club - now he,
and others, will have the chance
[img][/img]
Baron Jim O'Neill has also claimed he is interested in a purchase - but are his words just hot air?
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It was like one of those charity auctions where the big prize is,
say, the shirt Edwin van der Sar was wearing
for John Terry's missed penalty in the Champions League final.
'Who's going to start the bidding at a grand?' asks the master
of ceremonies and someone puts his hand up because that is still a lot of money and
makes him look big and generous, but he knows it's going to go for 10 times
that, minimum, and there is no real chance of the bill dropping on his table.
And that's Manchester United. Anyone can make a
populist speech about letting the club go to a
real fan - even real fans like Ratcliffe, who are Chelsea season ticket holders - or implore the Glazers to do the decent
thing and sell it cheaply, safe in the knowledge that bluff was never going to be called.
O'Neill - now Baron O'Neill of Gatley - once talked up a consortium known as the Red
Knights who were very vocal during the first green and
gold protests. He predicted a United and Liverpool sale in 2021, too.
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
That's Manchester United - anyone, like Michael Knighton (above), can make a populist speech
about letting the club go to a real fan, safe in the knowledge their bluff will never be
called
He is clearly an astute guy but will he try again, now
the club is genuinely available? Maybe his consortium could return as the Baron Knights.
Ratcliffe spoke about buying the club only last month. 'Manchester United is owned by the Glazer family and they are the nicest people,
proper gentlemen,' he told a Financial Times event.
'But they don't want to sell it. If it had been for sale in the summer
then, yes, we would have probably had a go following on from the Chelsea thing, but we can't sit around hoping
one day United will become available.'
Ah, the Chelsea thing. That is when the club was for sale for a protracted period
and then, just when the bidding period had closed, Ratcliffe came in.
Unsurprisingly, he didn't get it.
Now we wait to see if his United talk also turns out to be hot air.
It must be hard for the club's suitors, always wanting the one they can have.
Messi needs to copy Bale's sense of timing |
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