The deadline for bids to buy Manchester United may have passed late on Friday night, but that was only the beginning before a weekend of rumours and reports about who has an advantage in the ever-changing process.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS and the Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani fronted Nine Two Foundation remain the two frontrunners that much is agreed on. Picking a party who is in pole position and pipping the other to being bestowed with preferred bidder status by the merchant bank Raine and, by extension, the Glazer family is an altogether different question.
All of that assumes that selling a majority stake is the intention of United's owners. American investment firms Ares, Carlyle and Elliott are all bidding to become minority stakeholders and help finance refurbishments at Carrington and Old Trafford.
