After 1 or 2 years, the saga has come to a conclusion. The Glazers, the owners of Manchester United, have sold a stake in their ownership. There were two main bidders: Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who wanted to buy 100% of the ownership and thus remove the Glazers while Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS intead only wanted a minority stake (25%).
On the surface, United fans would have welcomed Sheikh's offer with open arms. The obvious reasoning would be the ousting of the Glazers, who have longed been a thorn in the flesh of the fans and club. There are continuous protests that have and will happen until they are gone. He promised a complete overall of the club. This included putting in funds for transfers for both the men and women's teams and fixing up the training facilities. Plus, having Qatar money could've been fun to have. As far as I'm aware, INEOS didn't make any public statements regarding their intentions.
Seeing as how the Glazers would be gone, I was backing Sheikh's offer. His intentions were clear and obvious. Apart from the money, I believed that this would be beneficial in a competitive sense. I felt that Man Utd would fall well behind clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG); Manchester City and quite recently, Newcastle. I felt like the sky would be the limit. It was hard to think at what impact INEOS would have by only buying a small stake.
The real stubbling block in this whole process was the asking price. The Glazers were asking for 6 billion Pounds. Sheik made a final offer of 5 billion. This was rejected and he backed out of the race. This left INEOS as the last bidder standing. They won and were approved on all fronts on obtaining 27.7% of the club.
I was indifferent to the decision being made. I didn't know what to expect. Since then, I have been encouraged by what has been said. They will be in charge of the football operations. They have successfully signed up now former Man City CEO Omar Berrada as their new CEO. In addition, they are pursuing Dan Ashworth as the new sporting director. With his expertise, Utd will sign relatively unknown players for a little amount instead of forking out millions for a player. He is a recruitment specialist.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has outlined a few things that have piqued my interest. The first is that he has an interest in building a new stadium; making a decision on Mason Greenwood in the summer and most importantly, knocking Man City and Liverpool off their perch. These three aspects are interesting in their own right.
To me, building a new stadium is unnecessary. Old Trafford is historic and shouldn't be done away with. The Mason Greenwood situation is interesting. Although the charges against him (of assault by his girlfriend) were dropped, fans are still vetoing him from rejoining the squad. He is currently on loan at Spanish club Getafe. He is in good form as he has scored 7 goals and has assisted 5 in 24 games so far (as per Tranfermarkt). I think the last one speaks for itself as the two aforementioned clubs have dominated English football for the past several years.
On the Mason Greenwood situation, I would say to give him a second chance. As stated above, the charges were dropped and thus not being a convicted criminal whose recently been released. He is in good form and young. These two aspects are aligned with the player selection as of today. Time heals all wounds. I believe every club wants to knock over Man City and Liverpool.
If everything plays out as is planned, I am excited for the future. Gone will be the days of doom and gloom and nothing but good fortunes will follow suit. It is quite clear that I want the best for the club. The club have gone through mostly negative aspects and very little positive viewpoints for the past 11 years (since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson). Hopefully, there will soon be constant sunshine and rainbows.