The very likely sale of the Manchester United share package has not managed to placate the protests of organized groups of supporters of the Red Devils, who in these hours returned to the charge to demand an unconditional exit of the Glazer family, owner of the institution since 2005 and pointed out as responsible for the decline of the English giant.
The Glazers announced their decision to put United's share package up for sale in November last year, although the bidding period opened in February. The bidding has been reduced to two big players: Jim Ratcliffe, the richest man in the United Kingdom, who had already announced his willingness to stay with the club in mid-January, and Qatari banker Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Hamad al-Thani, president of the Islamic Bank of Qatar (the second largest in that country), was improving his offer to reach around 7,000 million euros for all the shares, a figure never reached for the purchase of a team of any professional sport. Meanwhile, the intention of Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos Group is to acquire a majority shareholding and thus maintain some representation of the current owners.
Qatari drummer Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani is aiming to stay with Manchester United.
Faced with this possibility, the 1958 Group, an organization of Red Devils supporters that already held protests against the Glazers in some games last season and also last month, when the new shirt for next season was launched, made it clear that it is not willing to accept a negotiation that keeps the Glazers at the club.
Two characterized members of that fraction of supporters, who preferred to keep their names confidential, said in statements reproduced on the podcast How To Buy A Football Club, of the BBC, that the current owners had done "incalculable and generational damage" to United and that therefore they considered that their separation from the club should be total and unconditional.
"Many United fans would be delighted for the team to be relegated if it meant the Glazer family left," ventured one of the supporters quoted by the BBC, who recalled that when the Glazer family had acquired the shares, a group of fans had founded a new club, United of Manchester. "That's the strength of feeling," he said. He added: "Fans of other clubs may say we are privileged, but they would not like the Glazers to run their club."
While the sale was expected to take place before the end of last season, the process, which is in charge of the investment fund Raine Group, has taken longer than expected and there is even speculation that the resolution could come only at the end of the 2023/24 campaign. "We're not surprised (by the delay). It's a £6 billion acquisition and you have to please six Glazer brothers. We've been here for eight months. It's frustrating, but it could take another year. It could be 000 months in total," lamented one of the supporters consulted by the BBC.
Manchester United fans protest outside the club shop on the day of the launch of the new kit for the 2023/24 season. Photo: Molly Darlington/Reuters.
While there have been some questions about the possibility of United being in the hands of Qatari investors, members of the 1958 Group were open about it. "We can't question a potential new owner now without knowing who he is," one supporter said. Instead, he was emphatic about the presence of the Glazers: "If there is any involvement of them, in any minority, we will continue to push for them to leave."
The Glazers' tenure dates back to May 2005, when Malcolm, the family patriarch, made an initial investment of 800 million pounds ($1.500 billion at the time) to keep the Old Trafford club. After his death in May 2014, his sons Avram and Joel took over, whose administration coincided with a lean period: since the departure of Alex Ferguson at the end of the 2012/13 season, United has won five titles, little for an institution of its carats, and has not been able to lift the Premier League trophy or the Champions League.
Joel and Avram Glazer, owners and co-presidents of Manchester United. Photo: Manchester United.
The unsatisfactory sporting results, despite the millionaire investments in players who did not live up to expectations (since the departure of Ferguson, spending on reinforcements exceeded 1,000 million pounds), generated a deep discomfort in a good part of the supporters of United, who for years have demanded that the Glazer family leave the club founded on March 5, 1878 by the employees of loading and maintenance of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company under the name Newton Heat LYR.
Manchester United, the most winning team in the history of the English first division (won 20 titles, against 19 of Liverpool), is also the second most valuable club on the planet, according to the ranking made annually by the specialized magazine Forbes: at the end of May it was quoted at 6,000 million dollars, only surpassed by Real Madrid (6,070 million) and above Barcelona (5,510 million), Liverpool (5,290 million) and Manchester City (4,990 million).
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