Reason the Glazers refused to sell Man Utd to Sheikh Jassim as takeover stance emerges

Manchester United's owners the Glazer family refused to sell the club to Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani as they did not believe the Qatari billionaire had done enough to prove he had the funds to purchase the club. Sheikh Jassim, who is the chairman of the Qatar Islamic Bank, was one of the front-runners to purchase the club along with Sir Jim Ratcliffe when the Glazer family put the club up for sale as part of a 'strategic review process' back in November 2022.

While the latter announced a minority, 29% takeover of the club worth £1.3billion on Christmas Eve 2023, Sheikh Jassim's consortium wanted to buyout all stakeholders to purchase the Red Devils outright. It's understood he made five seperate offers to buy the Premier League giants, which were all rejected.

He pulled himself out of the running in October 2023 after becoming frustrated by the slow and time-consuming process. However, the Qatari's interest in buying the club has re-surfaced, as the Daily Mail reported he still dreams of owning the club he supposedly supports. But this time, Avram Glazer has made it clear that he has no interest in selling the club.

When the Middle Eastern native was first interested in buying the club, documents submitted to authorities in the United States claimed Sheikh Jassim failed to convince the Glazers that his consortium was able to fund the deal. It's understood that in May 2023, the Glazers offered him the option to buy the club in a $5.76bn (£4.55bn) deal. His final bid for the club went all the way up to £5.5billion, but fell short of the Glazers' desired £6bn figure.

The Qatari businessman wanted to buy the club in its entirety and even pledged to invest a further £1bn in redeveloping Old Trafford or building a new stadium entirely, while also investing into United's training facilities. His proposal led to questions being raised about the means in which he planned on financing the deal.

Sheikh Jassim's sources had always maintained that he personally was going to raise the money and staunchly rejected rumours that he was a frontman for a bid funded by the Qatar state, which boasts a sovereign wealth fund in control of assets worth £415.9bn, according to the Financial Times. Moreover, filings from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), released in January 2024, said Sheikh Jassim, on multiple occasions, failed to reveal the source of his funds.

The documents also said Jassim had little hope of purchasing the club, as it had failed to submit the 'customary financing commitment letters', according to the Schedule 14D-9 filing, which details a businesses' response to an offer.

Recently, Avram Glazer emphatically denied that he is still looking to sell the Red Devils, despite the purported renewed interest on Sheikh Jassim's part. When a Sky News reporter asked him if he was considering a full sale, Glazer replied: "No."

United's second quarter financial results were published on February 19 and it was grim reading for United fans. It was revealed the net debt that had been accrued since the club was sold to the Glazers in 2005 has surpassed the £1bn mark.

The Q2 financial results also stated the club had made a loss of £27.7m for the three months leading up to the end of December 2024, with the total revenue of £198.7m, being significantly smaller than the £225.8m from the year before. It also detailed a net finance cost of £37.6m, which refers to interest on club borrowing being paid. It's a figure which took the club's net cumulative interest that has been paid to the Glazers since their takeover, to over £1bn, according to finance expert Kieran Maguire.

During this period of time, United also had to pay the sacked Erik ten Hag £10.4m, while dismissed sporting director Dan Ashworth was also handed £4m.