Kieran Maguire: Ratcliffe to keep Glazers at Man United in new takeover offer – ‘total contempt for fans’
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is looking to ‘force’ his Man United takeover by offering the Glazers a deal to keep a 20 per cent stake.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the latest takeover offer made to the Glazer siblings at Old Trafford.
The Times reported last Wednesday (26 April) that Ratcliffe has offered Joel and Avram Glazer the chance to stay put as Man United shareholders in his latest takeover proposal.
The report suggests that Ratcliffe’s latest bid will propose that he purchases a controlling stake of just over 50 per cent, with about 20 per cent remaining in possession of Joel and Avram.
Sheikh Jassim’s bid is still expected to be for 100 per cent of the club shares.
Maguire believes the Man United fan ‘objections’ on social media towards Ratcliffe’s proposal will not dissuade Joel and Avram from accepting the deal as they have already shown a ‘total contempt for fans’.
“Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s alleged suggestion to the Glazers that they can keep 20 per cent of the shares does seem to be one of appeasement to Joel and Avram Glazer,” Maguire told Football Insider.
“He wants to offer them the benefits from any medium-term increase in the value of the club to try and force his offer to be accepted.
“While this has resulted in objections from Man United fans on social media, ultimately we have already seen that the Glazers have total contempt for fans.
“They have not cared about them during their almost 18 years of ownership so it’s unlikely that it will affect their decision now.
“I don’t think it will necessarily mean that Ratcliffe’s bid is the one that will be accepted – the Glazers are looking for a bigger price and if Sheikh Jassim’s bid is worth more per share then you can see the rest of the Glazer siblings pushing to accept that offer instead.“
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