Sir Jim Ratcliffe has admitted he found the Glazer family ‘charming’ when he first made contact over a Manchester United takeover, but equally revealed the biggest difficulty in negotiations.
Ratcliffe is a leading contender alongside Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani to buy the club from the American family, who have held control at Old Trafford since late patriarch Malcolm Glazer completed a controversial leverage buyout.
Although Joel and Avram Glazer serve as co-chairmen, four other Glazers (Kevin, Bryan, Darcie and Edward) own shares and sit on the board as non-executive directors.
“We went to see them and they were charming,” Ratcliffe explained in a new book, from which extracts have been published by The Times.
“They are all very nice, despite the press they get,” he added, specifically noting the ‘hospitality’.
“But the club is owned equally by siblings and you can’t talk to that many siblings, really.”
Amid growing fan pressure on the Glazers, Ratcliffe’s desire to bid for Manchester United, having previously failed in a late attempt at a Chelsea takeover, was confirmed last August. But he appeared to concede defeat only a couple of months later when the family were unprepared to sell.
READ MORE ON THE SALE OF MANCHESTER UNITED AND THEIR POTENTIAL OWNERS
That suddenly changed in November with a Glazer statement confirming an intention to explore ‘strategic alternatives’, which included the possibility of a full takeover.
That process has been dragging on ever since. Ratcliffe’s latest offer is only a partial takeover, compared to Sheikh Jassim upping his bid to £5bn for a 100% buyout.
Neither party is prepared to increase their offer further at this stage, but the Glazer family feel that United are worth significantly more than the $6bn (£4.7bn) of the NFL’s Washington Commanders. Their valuation of the club is closer to the $8bn (£6.3bn) estimated worth of the Dallas Cowboys, with the potential to exceed even that.
The delay, as hinted at by Ratcliffe, has been caused by internal disagreements between the Glazer siblings. Joal and Avram prefer the latest Ratcliffe bid, while the other four favour a full sale and complete exit that would be facilitated by the Qatari offer.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Sir Jim Ratcliffe reveals first impressions of Glazer family.