Manchester United are to be the subject of an ownership bid from Sir Jim Ratcliffe on behalf of chemical giant INEOS. Ratcliffe has set out his intentions to make "Manchester United the number one club in the world once again", in a clear warning to Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and every club hopeful of dominating the game on the global stage.
Interested parties were told to submit offers ahead of Friday evening's 10pm 'soft deadline', as set out by the Raine Group who are overseeing the sale of United on behalf of the Glazer family, the same role they performed in the takeover of Chelsea last year. Prior to that deadline, Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the chairman of one of Qatar's banks QIB, tabled a bid in the hopes of completing a full takeover of Manchester United.
Ratcliffe, who is from Manchester, has previously alluded to his interest in becoming the clubs new owner and last month he confirmed his intention to submit a formal offer to become majority owners, which has now also been confirmed by INEOS. However, it is unclear as of yet who else would make up the club's ownership should the INEOS bid be successful.
