Exclusive: Jim Ratcliffe, Qatar and where Man Utd and Liverpool takeovers stand

Ben Jacobs

• Updated: 18 Jan 2023 11:34 GMT
• 7 min read

Ben Jacobs of CBS Sports has given FootballTransfers the latest insight into the takeover process at Manchester United and Liverpool, casting doubt over the prospect of Jim Ratcliffe or an offer from Qatar being successful at either side...

The Liverpool sale is intriguing because, unlike the Manchester United sale, the process is not as defined.

Each sale is being handled by different organisations, but whereas Manchester United are seemingly leaning towards a full sale, assuming the valuation is met, FSG have been a little bit more torn because they don't necessarily want to entirely exit the club, but obviously should an offer materialise they'll have something to think about.

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There haven’t been as many inquiries as are being reported and we have to be careful with any prospective takeover because it takes time and the process hasn't really run its full course yet.

With Manchester United and Liverpool, we're going to see far more concrete bids put down on the table over the course of the next month or so. Within that, there will be confirmed declarations of groups that are actually involved, not just using the interest as publicity or leverage for their businesses. Then we will know for sure with Liverpool if it's minority investment or if it's a full sale.

There's a lot of excitement about Qatar and my understanding remains that QSI (Qatar Sports Investments) are not in talks with Liverpool, contrary to reports, nor are they in talks with Manchester United. The only Premier League club to date - and even that was formative - that QSI have spoken to is Tottenham Hotspur.

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The other thing to say about QSI is, of course, because they're fully committed to PSG, if they do invest, it will be minority investment only.

Then people will ask: ‘But isn't there other interest from Qatar?’

And the answer to that question is again, anything that goes via Qatar, QSI will be the first to know and will effectively have to provide a blessing.

Now, I don't want to paint that as you have to call them up and ask for their permission, but to do something out of Qatar, if it's Qatar lead and it not to have QSI’s blessing would be counterproductive and foolish. They will be the first ones to know about it.

At the moment, QSI state that they do not know of any credible interest being led by Qatar.

And again, we have to be very careful here because with both Manchester United and Liverpool, there may well be cross-MENA consortiums. Saudi Arabia's private sector have shown an interest within Liverpool and they may, despite some politics historically, have other personnel or investors that have Qatari links as well.

Dubai is always want to watch. Again, there may be some kind of Qatari investor, but its earlier stages that are being painted at this stage, I think that's the thing to underline.

What we've seen in the past when MENA – Middle East and North Africa – has been linked with either Liverpool or Manchester United is a lot of clamour without any substance.

The Bahraini Sovereign wealth fund were linked. They denied it. The original group that tried to buy Liverpool before FSG don't even exist as an investment firm. Yet I still see them linked directly with Liverpool - but they were dissolved.

Yes, another investment wealth fund connected to the Dubai emirate could be factored in here, but it won't be like for like because they don't exist anymore.

All this talk of different Sheiks and different organisations needs to be taken with a pinch of salt for now.

Chelsea investors could be back

But what I would say is that there are people specifically connected to the Chelsea sale that had tangible, credible, consortiums that were not successful that are likely to re enter into the conversation for either Manchester United or for Liverpool.

Sir Martin Broughton has ruled himself out, he was part of a consortium alongside Harris Blitzer who have got shares in Crystal Palace, Harris Blitzer still want some kind of stake in an elite level Premier league club. In a minority sense, or if they can put together a consortium of which Broughton is not a part of, they are still want to watch for sure. They said openly that they want a stake in a Premier league club.

The other name is the Saudi Media Group and it might not be Saudi Media, but the driving force behind the bid for Chelsea was a Chelsea fan Mohamed Alkhereiji and he was able, using debt finance, to put an offer down that numerically was relatively competitive.

It was well over £2 billion - and remember the Chelsea sale was £2.3bn - so that number is very strong. But all of the suitors that got put forwards were in and around that ballpark and the SMG bid was not necessarily as transparent as other ones. The source of the funding was a little bit more debt ridden, but also it wasn't entirely clear what their plan was.

That's why they weren't put forward, but they tried pretty hard.

Mohamed Alkhereiji was also the dealmaker for Cristiano Ronaldo joining Al-Nassr. So there is an example of an individual rather than a government organisation who is able to find funding, even if he doesn't end up being directly involved.

These are the kind of conversations taking place across all the Middle East and North Africa at the moment. They may involve people that pledge to get involved, but only if it's successful. They may involve groups and organisations that want to benefit, but don't want majority stakes. That's how you put a consortium together.

So I think we have to be extremely careful about predicting and pre-empting the direction of travel with either of these takeovers because at the moment, there's nothing as concrete, at my end anyway, coming out of Qatar as is being reported in other areas.

Even though there is interest from the Saudi public sector, that's normal because the sale processes went public and both clubs declared that they would be prepared to either sell or take onboard minority investors.

Slow and steady often wins the race

I would be very, very reticent about getting caught up in the clamour and the public side because takeovers are not transfers and they don't get done in public. Chelsea was a bit different because it was a speed sale.

So all the people like Sir Jim Ratcliffe with Manchester United, for example, talking openly, fuelling it, it's usually PR driven. If your FSG And the Glazers, you want this done in secret and you want this done in private.

I know as a journalist I should be sitting here and saying I can find out who it is. I've got experience in the Middle East, I should be able to break an exclusive. But with takeovers it's harder and you often only learn about it later down the line. The more people that shout about their interest, the less credible they tend to be.

The ones that stay silent are normally the most confident ones, Chelsea was a bit more atypical. I'm always very careful with the takeover because it's not transfer gossip, it's a big business trying to do something.

The stage at which they come out is tactical and the ones that come out early are normally looking to gain a bit of media love without necessarily any substance to it.

With the exclusive, I broke on spurs and QSI, you'll note that spurs categorically denied it. They didn't want anything to do with it. And that tells you that again, Daniel Levy doesn't want to get sucked into anything too public at this stage.

It's not the answer fans always want to hear, but we have to be extremely careful as journalists about fuelling interest before it becomes concrete and credible.

Coming back to Liverpool and Qatar, I'm still told nothing is concrete at this stage.