Manchester United bidder Thomas Zilliacus says it took him one match to fall in love with the football club and spark a lifelong affection that has resulted in tabling a takeover bid to purchase United from the Glazer family.
The Finnish entrepreneur became the third individual to go public after formalising interest with an official offer to the Raine Group ahead of the latest deadline. INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani followed suit in the continuing second stage of the process.
All three bidders have positioned themselves as long-time United supporters; Zilliacus detailing that fandom began when the club competed against his hometown team HJK Helsinki in the European Cup nearly 60 years ago.
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“I saw Manchester United as a young boy against HJK and fell in love with the team, and I admired the players when I was young,” Zilliacus told the Mirror during an exclusive interview. The two-legged tie was in the preliminary round of the top tier European competition in the 1965/66 season.
Sir Matt Busby's side travelled to Finland to face HJK at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, making a fast start in front of Zilliacus and the other 15,582 supporters in attendance as David Herd scored inside the opening minute. John Connelly soon doubled their advantage as United looked to be cruising to a comfortable first leg lead.
The hosts responded just after the half-hour through Kai Pahlman but Denis Law restored the two-goal advantage before half-time. HJK continued to pose problems and Markku Peltoniemi, now the club's sporting director, scored a second after the break but United held on to win 3-2.
A trip to Old Trafford followed for the Scandinavian side and United showed their class. George Best returned to the team, scoring twice. Connelly went one better by netting a hat-trick, and Sir Bobby Charlton was also on the scoresheet in an emphatic 6-0 win.
United progressed 9-2 on aggregate and knocked out Vorwarts Berlin and Benfica in the next two rounds to reach the semi-finals for the third time under Busby and first in eight years, but Partizan prevailed to reach the final, where they were beaten 2-1 by Real Madrid.
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