Glazers told they’ve turned ‘five-star hotel’ into ‘rickety old B&B’ at Man Utd; Jacobs gives takeover update

Journalist Ben Jacobs claims Sir Jim Ratcliffe is on the “a path to control” Manchester United because of his “flexibility and face time”.

It was announced on Saturday that Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim had pulled out of the race to buy Man Utd after being unable to agree a deal with the Glazer family.

Instead, British billionaire Ratcliffe is reportedly close to buying a 25 per cent stake in the Old Trafford club with confirmation potentially coming as early as Thursday.

A report on Sunday insisted that his initial minority investment is the ‘first stage of a full takeover’ and Ratcliffe ‘will soon oversee player incomings and departures’.

And former CBS Sports journalist Jacobs insists that Sheikh Jassim would not even come back in if the Glazer family “change their mind or don’t proceed” with Ratcliffe.

“Sheikh Jassim’s withdrawal from the #MUFC process is total. He is 100% out. It was made clear to those running to the process that his offer is no longer valid even if the Glazers change their mind or don’t proceed with Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

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“Those close to Jassim have grown fatigued by the process, while insiders close to the sale have continually argued the reality of Qatar’s bid didn’t match the PR. Jassim used a variety of intermediaries, including a ex-US government official, which took the sellers by surprise.

“One of Ratcliffe’s biggest strengths was building relationships with those running the sale, including during his visit to Manchester for meetings and in New York. He has impressed them throughout with his flexibility and face time.

“Ratcliffe’s 25% offer, with a path to control and a sporting say immediately could potentially be ratified on Thursday at an #MUFC board meeting. Sources say there is an agreement in principle over the valuation and share percentage but some specifics still being negotiated.”

TalkSPORT‘s chief football correspondent Alex Crook reckons Ratcliffe will now have to “lay out a manifesto” to win the Man Utd supporters over with many of them backing Sheikh Jassim’s bid, while he has criticised the Glazers for turning a “five-star hotel” into a “rickety old B&B” since taking over at Old Trafford.

Crook told talkSPORT: “I think that most Man United fans are unhappy that this is the way the situation has developed.

“I’m not surprised because I always maintain that Joel and Avram Glazer, who are the two more high-profile of the six Glazers, did not want to sell in its entirety – that’s what Man United fans have been taking to the streets to demand.

“The 1958 group, one of the more vocal protest groups against the owners, they’ve released a statement in the last 24 hours to say they’re not interested in new share issues, they’re only interested in the removal of Glazer – the disease that has crippled our club for the last 18 years, so strong words from them.

“It’s very difficult to force these people out of the football club.

“We know they’ve got thick skins, I’ve seen them numerous times at Wembley when United have been in cup finals grinning away and they’re clearly unaffected by the fact they’re despised by the majority of Man United fans.

“For me, this whole process has been a bit of a circus and a soap opera, it almost turned into X Factor Judges’ Houses when asking people to make their final bids and then make a pitch for the club – that’s not becoming of an institution like Manchester United.

“The whole process has been flawed, for me. It’s never been about selling the football club, once again it’s been about the greed of the owners who have saddled the club with up to a billion pounds worth of debts, the owners who have seen the empire that Sir Alex Ferguson built crumble before their eyes.

“I did a piece for the talkSPORT website about this and the problem is the Glazers.

“When they took over the club they were taking over the best stadium and the best football stadium in England, a five-star hotel if you like and they’ve ran it into the ground and it’s now a rickety old B&B that can’t compete with Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal or even Brighton.

“I think that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is going to have to speak to the fans and lay out a manifesto of what he’ll do about the sporting situation at the club because we understand that he wants control of sporting matters.

“There’ll be new people put into positions of power because to be honest the people who are in those positions have proved that they can’t do their job particularly well.

“What’s he going to do to get the stadium up to scratch? What’s he going to do for the community? Sheikh Jassim was promising to invest in the infrastructure and community projects like the Man City owners.

“Most importantly, how’s he going to help Erik ten Hag? He wanted to sign Harry Kane in the summer and the Glazers were never going to finance that and they ended up with Rasmus Hojlund instead.

“There were other players that he’d loved to have brought in but couldn’t because the board couldn’t get rid of people like Harry Maguire, so there’s still many more questions that Man United fans want answering.”