That Manchester United fans aren’t happy with the Glazer family owning their club isn’t exactly news.
Since a hefty debt was attached to the club as part of their purchase of the Old Trafford side, sporadic protests have taken place, all to no avail.
With these came numerous rumours of potential takeovers filling the hearts of Manchester United fans with hope they could finally merrily wave the Glazers back to America, yet few have ever gone further than mere paper talk.
The most recent of these was earlier this year, when Saudi Arabian prince Mohammed Bin Salman had to publicly deny a reported takeover bid.
Other than the price, it could be there’s a reluctance to touch what is currently seen as a poisoned chalice, because Mohamed El Assy, the current general director of Almería in Spain’s second division, hinted a wealthy country like Saudi Arabia could easily purchase Manchester United if they so wished.
What has he got to do with any of this? Bear with us for a minute.
One of the overlooked club takeovers of the summer, Turki Al-Sheikh’s of Almería appears to already be working wonders.
The Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment and adviser to the Royal Court, whose purchase of Egyptian side Pyramids FC helped turn them into title contenders and cup finalists in the space of a season (before selling them) last year, and Mohamed El Assy reshaped the Spanish club from top to bottom over the summer by bringing in around 20 players, including Nottingham Forest’s Arvin Appiah.
Portuguese manager Pedro Emanuel was also appointed, and Almería now find themselves top of La Liga2 after seven games, dropping just four points since the start of the season.
Speaking to El País in Spain, El Assy explained that this wasn’t a Saudi project, but one solely funded by Turki Al-Sheikh, and gave a pretty good reason why.
He said: “I told Javier Gómez [corporate CEO of La Liga] that if he thought this would be backed by the Saudi Government and would be like [Manchester] City or PSG, then it’s the joke of the year. Why? Firstly because Saudi Arabia is much bigger and richer than Qatar or the Emirates. Population: 40m against 1.3m for the Emirates. Saudi Arabia has four times the surface of Spain.
“The Emirates are smaller than Portugal. Abu Dhabi is the only place in the Emirates with oil. Dubai has nothing. Qatar basically has gas. Abu Dhabi produces 3.5m barrels per day. Saudi Arabia 13.5m per day. Can you imagine the difference? Russia and Saudi Arabia produce half of the world’s oil. Saudi Arabia far exceeds the economy of Qatar and the Emirates combined.
“Why would Saudi Arabia fight Javier Gómez over €2m? I told him: ‘If the Saudi Government supports me, I go and buy Manchester United, my friend, and I don’t waste my time in the Spanish second division with the hope of promotion! I buy a club for £1bn, not €21m!’”
It might cost a bit more than £1bn to pry United from the Glazers’ hands, but you get the gist of what he was saying.
There are people out there who could do it.
Getting rid of the Glazers would go a long way to putting the club back on the right track, and if any potential buyer decides to run it like a football club rather than a business (and clears the debt), the hard work already put in by Ed Woodward on the commercial side of things would help the club finance itself for the foreseeable future while prioritising what goes on on the pitch.
Unfortunately for all involved, the executive vice-chairman also has final say on the football side of things, which sorely needs to change, but that’s something we’ve already addressed elsewhere.
