Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani’s hopes of taking over another Premier League club have been shot down after his failure to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family. The Qatari royal was in the running to purchase the Red Devils for around 10 months before it emerged that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was set to complete a minority investment in the club.
It has since been rumoured that Sheikh Jassim could try to buy West Ham after missing out on a deal with the Glazers as the Qatari state looks to keep expanding its presence in European football. Vanessa Gold recently confirmed that 10 per cent of the shares held by her family estate are now available following the death of her father, David, earlier this year.
However, finance expert Mark Kleinman believes that Sheikh Jassim is unlikely to be interested in buying the shares as doing so would not give him full control of the club.
“It does give someone the chance to invest and get a fairly significant seat at the table, and it will be interesting to see what type of people or groups go for that percentage of stake,” Kleinman told West Ham Zone.
“Of course, we’ve had the rumours of Qatar before the Manchester United takeover bid and maybe after that, but you would assume a bid like that would want full control, but that may not be possible because you have [Daniel] Kretinsky and others there who are fairly well-set in that structure. It will shift the power dynamics around.”
Sheikh Jassim withdrew his bid for United last month after the Glazers settled on Ratcliffe as their preferred investor, a decision which followed 10 months of uncertainty and endless speculation. The INEOS chief is now set to purchase 25 per cent of the club for more than £1.25billion in a deal that will see the Glazers retain a 69 per cent share.
The news was met with heavy criticism from some United supporters, many of whom would prefer to see the Glazer family sell the entire club rather than accept a minority investment from Ratcliffe. The latter is reportedly poised to take control of football operations upon his arrival and is also thought to have pledged £245million to improve United’s infrastructure.
He has already received a glowing review from none other than Toto Wolff, principal of the Mercedes team in Formula One which signed a five-year partnership with INEOS back in 2020.
“Jim and his partners, they are first of all complementary,” said Wolff in response to Ratcliffe’s breakthrough in negotiations with United. “They are huge in terms of profit and decisions being made very quickly. Three bullet points on a page and ‘here we go’.
“With Jim, all the bulls*** is cut out. I think that, wherever he gets his power and resource and character behind it, I think that’s going to be an add-on for any team. He’s a Manchester boy. He has the resources that are needed, the heart in the right place for this team and I’m sure that he can be very creative for Manchester United. With us he’s been a fantastic shareholder and a good sounding board for myself.”
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