Sir Jim Ratcliffe details bombshell theory on Sheikh Jassim's huge Man Utd offer

21 February 2024 , 16:53

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Was Sheikh Jassim real? Sir JIm Ratcliffe isn't so sure

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has questioned whether his rival bidder in the battle to buy a stake in Manchester United even exists.

The British billionaire and lifelong United fan has purchased a 25 percent stake in the club for £1.3bn after spending 12 months seemingly going head-to-head with Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani. But now Ratcliffe has questioned whether the Qatari sheikh is real, revealing that Sheikh Jassim never met the Glazers.

Ratcliffe said: "Still nobody's ever seen him, actually. The Glazers never met him. I'm not sure he exists!

"I don't know (if he was the only bidder). They were obviously there and there was a whole host of people on the team and in the squad. I didn't ever meet them. But it was it was a very odd affair."

Ratcliffe also revealed how the whole process of trying to purchase a piece of the 20-time English champions became so complicated that he thought about pulling out at one stage.

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"The transaction was quite challenging. We met all sorts of obstacles on the way. It was obviously a rocky road for quite an extended period of time.

“The Glazers really, from the beginning, preferred ourselves to the Qatari option. They sort of stuck with us through the whole process. That rocky road for a year, has sort of forged a relationship between ourselves and the other shareholders.

"We've all got to know each other. You get to know people better in adversity than when the whole thing is going swimmingly."

Sir Jim Ratcliffe visiting Old Trafford in March 2023 as he vied for a piece of the Man Utd pie (PA)

And he also admitted that he opened a bottle of expensive champagne at the Monaco Grand Prix last May to celebrate getting the deal over the line - only to discover it wasn’t done.

He continued: “I remember at the Monaco Grand Prix, which was in May, we opened a bottle of very expensive champagne and all celebrated. That was in May….but that was a false dawn and we went through several more false dawns after that.

"We had a few surprises on the way. We just kept bumping into problems."

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Jeremy Cross