Michael Knighton at Old Trafford with ex-director speaking to three billionaires
A former Manchester United director is at Old Trafford tonight (August 22) after speaking to three “small time” billionaires with the aim of purchasing the Red Devils and ending the Glazer family’s “theatre of nightmares”.
Michael Knighton, 70, made a British record bid to buy United for £20million back in 1989 but settled for a place on the board when his backers pulled out shortly before the takeover was due to be confirmed. 33 years later, the entrepreneur is back to settle an old score, spearheading a consortium to finally overthrow the detested Glazer family.
Enduring their worst trophy drought in 40 years, United fans staged a fierce protest against their American real estate owners after scuppering plans for a European super league but the Glazer family have since failed to rectify the strong feeling of disenchantment amongst the fan base.
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“They [the Glazers] have damaged the brand,” Knighton told ITV News when confirming his intent to pull together a consortium to topple the current ownership. “This is not personal against the Glazers, they just always had the wrong model.”
Knighton also stated that the Americans have turned “the theatre of dreams to a theatre of nightmares” and he felt urged “to make a stand.”
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Explaining his plan to overthrow the Glazers, Knighton said: “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 on 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.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
But despite his earlier claims, Knighton unveiled that the consortium has approached Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman and CEO of British multinational chemicals company INEOS, to help buy his boyhood club.
He revealed: “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.”
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