Matthew Brooker, Columnist

Manchester United Shareholders Are as Unhappy as Its Fans

A football club with such rich expectations eventually has to give people something worth watching.

October 17, 2023 at 4:00 AM UTC

Matthew Brooker is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business and infrastructure. Formerly, he was an editor for Bloomberg News and the South China Morning Post.

Defeat?
Photographer: Michael Regan/Getty Images Europe

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

The yearlong Manchester United takeover saga echoes the team’s pursuit of revival on the pitch: plenty of sound and fury, a periodic surge of hope that something spectacular might happen, and then the inevitable letdown with an underwhelming result.

Shares of Manchester United Plc fell as much as 13% in early US trading on Monday on news that a Qatari group led by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad J.J. Al Thani had withdrawn its bid to buy the club. The Qatari exit means British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of chemicals company Ineos Group Holdings SA and a lifelong United fan, is poised to buy a minority stake from the controlling American Glazer family.