Man United: Michael Knighton admits he doesn’t have funds to buy out Glazer family
Michael Knighton has admitted he doesn’t have the funds himself to buy out Manchester United from the Glazer family – but hinted his aim is to get Sir Jim Ratcliffe involved instead.
The man who came close to buying the Old Trafford club in 1989 claimed in an interview with a fan-run YouTube channel last week that he was planning a ‘hostile bid.’
The 70-year-old spoke out strongly against the unpopular American owners of the club, who are the target of ongoing fan protests.
But he has now said even with the backing of a consortium of businessmen he has been speaking to, he would not be able to afford the £4billion asking price set by the Glazers.
Michael Knighton has back-tracked on claims in an interview last week he was poised to lead a buy-out of the Glazer family at Manchester United
Knighton, who famously juggled a ball on the Old Trafford pitch amid his failed attempts to buy Manchester United in 1989, admitted he doesn’t have the funds to buy the club now
Fan anger against the Glazer family ownership grew during the disappointing 2021-22 season
He told ITV News: ‘They are small-time billionaires that I have been speaking to for three to four months now.
‘When I was approached by some fan groups, oddly enough, saying “look, our club is dying in its feet, would you please do something?”
‘I made a few phone calls and I’ve been pulling this consortium together ever since.
‘We are not the great Sir Jim Ratcliffe. We do not have those resources. We are not some nation state sovereign fund who has oil revenue of two billion a day.
‘The point is: someone had to make a stand. If we can smoke the great Sir Jim out to buy Manchester United my consortium will be punching the air because we’ve achieved what we want to do. We will make the bid with our own consortium.
‘But, I’ll tell you this, we do not have the resources available to do everything that is needed.’
Avram Glazer watches Manchester United’s opening weekend defeat to Brighton – the Glazer family value the club at £4bn but insist it is not for sale
Fans made their feeling about the Glazer ownership known in a protest march last season
It certainly represented an about-turn on Knighton’s comments to the Man Utd The Religion YouTube channel earlier this month.
Then, he said: ‘Everyone knows that we need new ownership of this football club and that is my aim and those are my objectives.
‘I am making good progress, continuing to talk to the people, I have got some good pledges and good finance.
‘We are now working on the offer document. Remember, it is a hostile bid – that simply means that the club isn’t officially for sale.’
Businessman Knighton is pictured with United manager Alex Ferguson in September 1989
The Glazer family, who took over the club in a heavily-leveraged £800m buy-out back in 2005, insist United are not up for sale.
United endured another turbulent campaign in 2021-22, finishing sixth to qualify for the Europa League and missing out on lucrative Champions League football.
Erik ten Hag has come in as their new manager but United have failed so far to sign his No 1 transfer target, Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona.
United lost 2-1 at home to Brighton in their season opener and were then humiliated 4-0 by Brentford on Saturday, with arch-rivals Liverpool to come on Monday.
United have started the season in terrible fashion and lost 4-0 at Brentford on Saturday
Last year, reports suggested the Glazer family would want £4bn for United should they decide to sell.
Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man and a United fan, made an eleventh-hour bid to buy Chelsea after Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the club by UK government sanctions.
It came after billionaire Elon Musk joked on Twitter that he was going to buy United.
How Knighton’s first bid to buy Man United failed in 1989
Knighton, who made his fortune in property, shot to prominence in August 1989 when he made a takeover bid of £20million for United, which was a record bid for a British football club at the time.
The offer was accepted by chief executive Martin Edwards and Knighton pledged to invest £10m in Old Trafford and restore United to former glories on the pitch.
Knighton also recognised the off-field potential of United, predicting they would be a £150m business within 15 years (as it happened the Premier League and much success would make them a £1bn business within 11 years).
His business plan identified several areas for development – such as television rights, merchandise and a hotel – despite the fact United hadn’t won a league championship since the late 1960s.
Ahead of a match against Arsenal at the beginning of the 1989-90 season, Knighton juggled a ball on the Old Trafford pitch in front of 47,000 fans while dressed in full United kit.
Knighton holds up a United scarf after making his £20m offer for the club in 1989
It was at that moment, Edwards admitted afterwards, he realised a mistake had been made in selling the club to Knighton.
‘I was horrified,’ he later said. ‘Absolutely horrified. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I kept saying to myself, ‘What the hell have I done?’
‘I realised that I’d made a big mistake. The other directors felt the same. They cringed and began to turn on Knighton.’
Knighton’s NK Trafford Holdings company included investors such as former Debenhams executive Bob Thornton and Stanley Cohen of the Betterware home shopping firm.
But when Thornton and Cohen withdrew their cash in mid-September, the takeover collapsed despite Knighton’s frantic attempts to find other investors.
It quickly and embarrassingly became apparent that Knighton didn’t have the cash to see through the buy-out.
‘He’d proved that he had the financial backing, but then he fell out with the other two partners because they would have side-lined him eventually,’ said Edwards.
‘Knighton realised what was going on and he wanted to be number one. The backers pulled away. When the pressure came on, Knighton couldn’t deliver the money.’
As the takeover deadline approached, Knighton abandoned his bid in exchange for a seat on United’s board.
In 1992, he went on to buy fourth-tier club Carlisle United.
