Man Utd could be sold by Glazers as forgotten clause opens door for Qatari takeover

The long-term future of Manchester United under the Glazer family ownership has taken a fresh twist, according to a new report.

United have been owned by the Glazers since 2005, when Malcolm Glazer succeeded in financing a leveraged buyout of the club to acquire 98 per cent of shares.

Glazer passed away aged 85 in 2014, having long since transferred day-to-day running over to his sons Joel and Avram.

Six members of the Glazer family are involved at Old Trafford and currently hold roughly equal shareholdings, though those percentages were reduced after Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS acquired a 25 per cent stake in the club in December 2023.

In the same month, The Telegraph reported the existence of a series of clauses related to the deal, including Ratcliffe's 12-month first refusal if the Glazers ever decided to sell their Class B shares in United.

But the second clause was a more significant one - a 'drag-along' agreement that could force Ratcliffe to sell his shares after 18 months at United.

That would only happen if the Glazers offered him a cash sum worth £26 per share, with the clause in existence in order to stop Ratcliffe from being able to block a sale if the majority owners wanted it.

The Daily Mail report that, as of Wednesday, August 13, the 'drag-along' clause had become active.

But they claim that the Qatari consortium led by Sheikh Jassim has 'zero interest' in revisiting a potential takeover after failing in his efforts last time around, amid reported question marks over whether Jassim had the funding to buy United.

And Ratcliffe has stated privately, according to The Athletic, that the legal documents relating to the 'drag-along' clause will 'not be coming out of his drawer'.

An insider told the Daily Mail: "Sir Jim has put in $300m [£223m] of his own money, which has paid for the £50m upgrade to Carrington.

"It has been a very long time since someone has put some money into Manchester United rather than take it out. To put it simply, if you're the Glazers, what is not to like?"