Manchester United’s owners are thinking about selling the club

• 17 years after the American Glazer family purchased the English Premier League soccer club
• Manchester United announced on Tuesday that it was beginning a process to investigate strategic alternatives, including a new investment or a potential sale

The Glazer family is collaborating with financial advisors on the process, which might result in investments like stadium and infrastructure reconstruction or a partial sale of the Old Trafford club, the club said in a statement.

The Glazers have come under harsh criticism because the team has gone five years without taking home a trophy, and Manchester United supporters have been calling for a change in ownership. Their most recent victories were the League Cup and Europa League in 2017.

Executive co-chairmen and directors of United, Avram Glazer and Joel Glazer, said in a statement, “As we aim to continue constructing on the club’s legacy of success, the board has authorised a thorough study of strategic alternatives.”

“We will explore all possibilities to ensure that we best serve our fans and that Manchester United exploits the huge development prospects available to the club today and in the future,” the statement read.

British businessman Jim Ratcliffe had expressed interest in purchasing United in August, according to Reuters. Elon Musk had also made jokes at the time about wanting to purchase the club.

In recent years, wealthy Asian businesspeople, particularly those from China, have purchased a number of European sports franchises, including Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Premier League and Inter Milan of Italy.

The author of “Sporting Superpower,” Mark Dreyer, a Beijing-based author who wrote a book about China’s aspirations in sports, noted that football clubs have since been viewed by China as unfavourable assets, making any significant outside acquisition seem improbable at this time.

The current environment makes it “nearly impossible to understand how any Chinese-related firm could justify a purchase of this magnitude,” the man said. “…because China is only now coming to terms with the realities of COVID-19, which makes the overall economic environment even more unpredictable, no state body would sanction this kind of arrangement.”

United’s fifth-place finish in the Premier League, which has been postponed due to the ongoing World Cup in Qatar, puts the owners under pressure.

After Sky News broke the news of the sale process, Manchester United’s stock rose as much as 20%, giving the team a market value of $2.6 billion.

At the end of Tuesday’s US trading, the business had a value of $2.5 billion. In 2018, it had a market capitalization of $4.3 billion at its highest point as a publicly traded business.

Ronaldo moves on

The club also announced on Tuesday that star striker Cristiano Ronaldo will quit with immediate effect, bringing the second stint of the Portugal captain at Old Trafford to a painful end after he claimed to feel betrayed by the organisation.

In a highly leveraged deal that has drawn criticism for piling debt onto the club, the Glazers purchased the team in 2005 for 790 million pounds ($939.07 million).

Since 2012, when the Glazers sold 10% of their stock via the listing and subsequent share sales, United has been traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Manchester United is being advised financially and legally by The Raine Group and Latham & Watkins LLP, respectively.

The Glazer family stockholders are advised financially by Rothschild and Co.

One of the fan demonstrations against the Glazers in May 2021 resulted in the postponing of a home game versus Liverpool, one of the club’s fiercest competitors. The Premier League match was the first to be postponed as a result of a protest.

United and Liverpool were among a group of major teams that declared their desire to launch the European Super League in April 2021 before withdrawing, in part due to opposition from many English fans.

According to club president Tom Werner, Liverpool is also “exploring a sale.” Chelsea Football Club was purchased for $3.2 billion in May 2022 by a group of investors headed by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital (2.5 billion pounds).

United’s sixth-place performance in the Premier League last season—their poorest in terms of points earned—left them out of the lucrative Champions League competition.

They captured their 20th and last Premier League championship in 2013, the year that the legendary Alex Ferguson announced his resignation as manager after more than 26 years in command.

In an effort to turn around their difficulties, the team has hired Dutch manager Erik ten Hag from Ajax Amsterdam.

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