As we reported earlier this week, Manchester United club icon David Beckham could return to Old Trafford in an ambassadorial role, if and when the Qatari bid to take over the club succeeds. As things currently stand, Sir Jim Ratcliffe (who seeks to buy a minority stake in the club) is supposedly leading the way in the MUFC Takeover derby.
Qatari investment banker Sheikh Jassim (who seeks total, 100% ownership of the club) is understood to have his work cut out for him.
Of course, it is tough to get too excited about any news involving the takeover process, as this situation has seen a ton of talking, and no action.
There has been an endless stream of hearsay, conjecture, misinformation, disinformation and straight up lies published in the media along the way. The current owners, Florida-based real estate moguls the Glazer family, announced that they were exploring the idea of potentially selling the club almost a year ago, and yet here we are- nothing has actually happened yet.
However, Beckham has now said that everything is about to change.
He said a club takeover is coming fast, and we should give him a lot of credibility, given how tight he is with Sheikh Jassim and the ruling oligarchy of the nation of Qatar.
As Qatar’s number one public cheerleader, he has insider knowledge.
“There will be a takeover, it is the right time,” Becks said in an interview with CNBC this week. “We all have our opinions on who should take over.
“But in my opinion, it is about who cares about the club the most and will take the club back to where it should be. Everybody knows I am a Manchester United fan and I have been very vocal about the situation that is happening.
“I grew up there from a young age with a lot of stability with the same manager and the same owners. Manchester United will always be one of the biggest clubs in the world.”
Becks then made some remarks which will certainly resonate with much of the United fanbase. The club has essentially been much more of a branding exercise than it has been a successful football team lately.
And by lately, we mean when Sir Alex Ferguson retired a decade ago.
They’re still making oodles and oodles of money at Old Trafford, but they’re simply not winning trophies. Beckham said he hopes that changes soon. He called on potential new ownership to finally bring MUFC back to its glory days.
“We need to get back to that for the fans, the players, the manager because, at the moment, there is no stability. We need to get the talk back on the field, not off it,” he added.
“I want to see an ownership group who will take the club back to what it should be. I am not saying the past owners have done a bad job, but it is the right time for someone else to take over.”
While Beckham won’t say the Glazers have done a bad job, plenty of other people will, and hash tags bashing the Glazers trend every single day on social media.
The Glazers have valued the club at 6 billion GBP, and so far, neither of the two bidders are willing to pay that amount.
Even if the Glazers cut their price, they could still break the world record for sports franchise sale price.
This record has been broken twice in the past year- first by the Denver Broncos in late 2022, and then later again by the Washington Commanders, earlier this year.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.