Post: Ratcliff has no intention of selling Manchester United shares, and Qatar loses interest in acquisition

August 22 According to the Daily Mail, Ratcliff has no intention of selling Manchester United shares, and Qatar has also lost interest in acquiring Manchester United.

Last Wednesday, Manchester United entered the market again. Although the news may not have attracted much attention, August 13 is a technically important day for Premier League giants. Why? Because at midnight, a clause in Sir Ratcliff's acquisition of 25% of the club's shares for £1.3 billion last February took effect quietly. This clause is called "drag sale rights" and although not common in football, it is very common in the business world.

The drag-out rights exist to make the company more likely to be sold and prevent minority shareholders from blocking the transactions most shareholders want to conduct. For Manchester United, this means that if the Glazer family wants to sell the club, Ratcliff and Ineos can't stop them now.

Under the agreement, such terms will take effect 18 months after the completion of Ratcliffe investment. Furthermore, if the Glazer family wants to, they can not only sell their shares, but also force the petrochemical billionaire to sell his shares. Although there is not much movement at the moment, Ratcliff is very clear about this situation. He even mentioned this at a press conference at Inex’s London headquarters, although those present may not have realized it. "I don't think we'll take legal agreements out of the drawer. I hope they're covered in dust and we'll never see them. This should be based on a relationship."

people familiar with the matter said Ratcliff's comments hit the nail on the head. Most importantly, relationships are key to the story, and signs suggest that such critical relationships are far from deep in touch with Manchester’s plight.

Ratcliffe and the Glazer family get along well, and while it may arouse anger from Manchester United fans, the lifelong fan from nearby Fellsworth has expressed only a gentle attitude toward the American boss in public. In fact, his feelings for them were real and not just publicly showing goodwill. "They do get along so well that Ratcliff flew to the United States many times to hold board meetings at their doorstep. They are like-minded people." There is also a view that the Glazer family knew when something good happened. Inelos has completed the necessary dirty work, laid off hundreds of employees through major restructuring, implemented the first ticket price increase in a long time, and undertakes the negative reports and fans' rebounds that followed.

The source added: "After the Inelis took over, they realized that the business was bloated and took the necessary measures to make it streamlined, and they also endured the criticism from all these measures. It was for a long time that others, not the Glazer family, had been under fire from fans, which was not overlooked. Apart from that, they took over all the football operations and were actually managing this part of the business, thus alleviating another headache. Then there was the new stadium project, which Inelis is working to find funds for it."

Although the Glazer family never commented on such matters, the belief inside the club is that they like everything they see. Joel and Eflam are known to be the two of the five brothers who care about United's affairs the most, but less well known is that their brother Ed is also deeply involved and has watched the game in a low-key manner many times recently.

In February 2023, the Daily Mail Sports Edition disclosed a shocking news: a Qatari consortium will join the bid for Manchester United, after the Glazer family announced that they would "explorate strategic choices." After a long process, American investment bank Ryan gained no less than £24.9 million from it, their overall offer of £4.79 billion was rejected and instead chose Ratcliff’s quarter share offer of £1.25 billion, which slightly raised the club’s valuation and allowed the Glazer family to continue to take the helm. Now, with the activation of the terms, the obvious question is whether Sheikh Jassim and his 92 Foundation are interested in bidding again.

Although he has been paying attention to the situation and understanding the clause, he has "no interest" in taking action, according to people familiar with the matter. The fact is that Qatar has turned to other "major events", including striving to host the 2036 Olympics. If this sounds unrealistic, then those involved are very serious, although rival India may affect their chances. In Qatar, little is going to happen without the support of Emir. Currently, his entire focus is on the Olympics. At this time, the possibility of approval for any secondary project is very low.

When Manchester United were listed for sale, Sheikh Jassim's group was keen to buy a top European club. An insider who was originally called the Ruby Project explained: "This is no longer the case, the situation has changed, and this project is now considered more difficult. There are many reasons, mainly because people think that the standards of the Premier League have been raised, and it will be more difficult to turn the situation around."

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