Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Manchester United, Premier League, Football
Chris Byfield
Manchester United owners the Glazers wanted to offer a “fantasy package” to millionaire fans, it has been claimed.
In 2005 the Glazer family pushed through a controversial £790million leveraged buyout of United, with the American family having since been in charge at Old Trafford for almost two decades of diminishing returns on the pitch.
However, the Glazers are preparing to sell a 25 per cent minority stake to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group in the coming days, handing over the reins of United’s football department in the process.
There will be tentative relief among the United faithful as Ratcliffe takes control of football matters.
Advert
Indeed, under the Americans' ownership, the club have witnessed mass protests, institutional crises, the doomed launch of the European Super League and the biggest drop in the club's share price in over a decade.
The European Super League is just one of many of the Glazers’ ill-fated and short-lived attempts to make a quick buck at Old Trafford.
According to the Athletic, an unnamed member of the Glazers family once suggested that the club offer a “fantasy package”, offering high net-worth individuals the opportunity to train with the United first team at Carrington.
Any prospective punter would have to pay millions to do so. The idea was quickly dropped.
Of course, an old adage in football is that the ‘dressing room is sacred’ and few managers have taken that as seriously as United icon Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot would likely have detested allowing fans access to the club’s training ground.
As Ratcliffe takes control of football operations at Old Trafford, he has been widely tipped to appoint former Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain executive Jean-Claude Blanc as chief executive.
Current CEO Richard Arnold is set to leave after 16 years at the club.
Blanc, who has previously been called "the Lionel Messi" of sports business, joined Ineos group in 2022 as chief executive of Ineos Sport to oversee all of the company's sports portfolio.
The 60-year-old took said role after 11 years at PSG.
Ratcliffe's Ineos Group will pay around £1.25billion to buy 25 per cent of United, a deal set to be confirmed this week.