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Manchester United owners the Glazers putting off buyers with £7billion asking price, claims Simon Jordan after Sir Jim Ratcliffe ends takeover interest following talks with Americans
Simon Jordan has accused the Glazers of putting off prospective buyers of Manchester United with their rumoured £7billion valuation of the club.
It comes after Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe ended his interest in purchasing the Premier League giants following talks with two of the Glazer family, claiming they ‘do not want to sell’.
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Ratcliffe has revealed he met with brothers Joel and Avram Glazer in the summer to discuss the possibility of buying the Red Devils from the American family.
The 69-year-old businessman is the founder of the Ineos chemicals empire, which already owns French football club OGC Nice, Swiss side Lausanne, cycling team Ineos Grenadiers and is also sponsor of Mercedes Formula 1.
Man United fans were encouraged by the talks, but have ultimately been left disappointed with Ratcliffe saying he was left with the impression the Glazers - who he described as ‘the nicest people’ and ‘proper gentlemen’ - do not want to sell the Old Trafford outfit.
The multi-billionaire was also unsuccessful in his bid to buy Chelsea in May, and says he is still interested in buying a different Premier League club, or elite club from another top European league.
"It is owned by the six children of the father and they don't want to sell," Ratcliffe said at a Financial Times Live conference.
"I met Joel and Avram and they are the nicest people. They are proper gentlemen.
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“If it had been for sale in the summer, yes, we would probably have had a go following on from the Chelsea thing, but we can't sit around hoping that one day Manchester United will become available."
Jordan believes the club’s reported valuation of £7bn is the main reason why the Ratcliffe talks fell apart, but not because the Ineos chief cannot afford it.
Instead, he believes it’s because a takeover of that size would mean any deal would not be a ‘labour of love’ to hand the world’s biggest club bank into the hands of owners that care, but instead purely in the interests of business and profit.
And Jordan claims that’s something Ratcliffe - who says he is a 'lifelong Man United fan' - does not want to do.
“I find this very challenging to believe,” the White and Jordan host said in response to Ratcliffe’s comments.
“I’m not trying to discredit Jim Ratfliife, who is a heavyweight of all proportions economically and commercially, but I find it very difficult to believe that if you’ve got a huge investment that’s going to require the kind of cash that is going to level this club from the Glazers [that he would not do it].
“The Glazers will sell Manchester United, they will, but they will sell it at a price that suits the Glazers and might not suit the purchaser.
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“My understanding was that Man United could be bought for £4bn to £5bn - but with the Chelsea situation and the increase in the market interest towards football, I think the Raine Group now believe Man United is more of a £7bn play, which doesn’t reflect vaguely anywhere near the share price.
“That might then explain the reasons why the conversation ran aground with Ratcliffe, because he’s got the cash and the clout to put anybody’s lights out. It’s not beyond his wit and reach to buy Man United even at that price.
“But what it does then is question the credibility of an argument that he will be doing it entirely for philanthropic reasons, that it will be his gift to the Man United fanbase, i.e. buying a club as a supporter of the club and run it in a way the fans approve of.
“I suspect this is not a matter of the Glazers not being prepared to sell Manchester United, it’s a matter of buying Manchester United for a price you’re not prepared to pay.
“I don’t necessarily think he’s wrong not to want to pay £6bn or £7bn, because suddenly football is in flavour.
“Some of the markets and the economists surround football with a degree of contempt as an immature and unreliable industry, but suddenly the banking community is starting to look at it and go, ‘Hmm, media rights, opportunity’ - they’re beginning to scratch the surface and see the opportunity.
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“The NFL gets £111bn every ten years and the Premier League gets £30bn - the scope could be bigger, better, harder, faster - so let’s look at this sector and be prepared to fund it. That’s why the European Super League was in part funded by merchant banks, because they see the global opportunity.
“For £4bn Ratcliffe might have been prepared to make this just a labour of love, which is incomprehensible, but let’s just continue that myth for a minute…
“When you get to £7bn, he has deep pockets and he could do that, but that’s a whole different discussion about whether a deal like that would be wholly a non-for-profit one.
“In the same way Elon Musk will not be buying Twitter because he wants to control and bring back freedom of speech, he’ll be buying Twitter because it’s an economically valuable proposition for him.
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“If Jim Ratcliffe wanted to buy a football club, he would do it. Manchester United is for sale, everything is for sale, it’s just not at a price that would attract anybody.
“And that means the Glazers will not go until they see fit.”
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