Former Man United Director Prepping ‘Hostile’ Offer for Team

Former Manchester United director Michael Knighton is preparing an offer for the Premier League club. 

The bid is considered “hostile” because the team isn’t for sale, but the same term applies to Knighton’s feelings for owners the Glazer family, who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“We have an inept and quite frankly useless ownership,” Knighton told Man Utd The Religion. 

• Knighton said he’s secured commitments from people with “good finance” and is “working on the offer document.”
• Despite a home loss to Brighton in its season opener, Man United’s stock leapt 12% on Wednesday following the interview. The team now has a market cap of $2 billion.
• The team is down 11% since hitting the public market in a 2012 IPO.

Knighton joined Man U’s board in 1989 after attempting to buy the team for $24.4 million, stepping down after purchasing Carlisle in 1992. The Glazers bought it in 2005 for $965.4 million.

Team Sharing

In October 2021, brothers Kevin and Edward Glazer put $186 million in shares of the team on the New York Stock Exchange, while their brother Avram sold $97 million in shares the previous March.

The Glazers offered shares with voting rights to fans in June 2021, following uproar over the attempted European Super League.

Knighton called the offer a “sop to fans,” claiming he would offer at least 25.1% shares to fans and ensure that this bloc could derail initiatives such as the Super League or relocation from Old Trafford.