No assurance that Glazers will sell Man United: The Athletic

The sale of Manchester United by the Glazer family has been on the cards for a couple of months now.

The soft deadline for the bids to be submitted was set at 17th February and there have only been two private entities that have gone public with their bids.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe of the petrochemicals company, INEOS, as well as Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the chairman of Qatari bank QIB have submitted bids to buy the club.

Although there has been optimism surrounding both parties' probability of taking over from the Glazers, The Athletic reports that it may not be set in stone just yet.

The reason for this is that, firstly the Glazers value the club at a higher number than that being offered by either party and they are not likely to et into a bidding war as the Glazers had hoped they would.

Keiran Maguire, a football finance lecturer at the University of Liverpool notes: "It is possible because they (the Glazers) are convinced that Manchester United is worth an absolute fortune and if other people don’t share that view, then why sell?”

Secondly, a major indication of doubt surrounding the Glazers' intention to leave is the fact that they raised the ticket prices of season tickets for United right in the middle of the talk surrounding prospective bids.

If the Glazers are intent on leaving the club, what sense would it make to increase the season ticket prices just months before you expect to sell the club.

“It is a way of giving the Glazers a sort of insurance policy because if they don’t sell the club, then they have an extra five per cent coming in next year," said Maguire.

“Something that could have agitated and mobilised the opposition becomes a sideshow because all the focus is on the club’s sale. Sometimes it is a good time to bury bad news, and this would appear to be exactly that in operation.”

Another reason the sale of the club is not considered definitive is because the Raine group, asked bidders to not make anti-Glazer statements are considered 'vitriolic'.

If the Glazers are convinced of leaving the club, why care about what's being said about their ownership of the club.