YouTuber Mark Goldbridge has predicted that the “mystery” bidder for Manchester United is a US hedge fund – which is why they have remained anonymous for now.
What’s the latest on the “mystery” Man United takeover bid?
It’s well known that Qatari-linked Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe are both keen on taking over from the Glazers.
However, it remains to be seen if either party will be enough to convince the Glazer family to sell their asset. Recently, though, it has been claimed that a “mystery third bidder” has entered the race.
While speaking about it on The United Stand, Goldbridge claimed that the anonymity of the bidder is a “red flag” as they must be hiding their identity out of fear of criticism.
He explained: “I personally think why wouldn’t you put it out there publicly? Because if you’re a good bid or an interesting bid, you know what fans are like, they’d be like, ‘oh, like that bid’, and then you get a load of publicity.
“I think the absence of them going public is a big red flag, that these are not the sort of people you want to buy United.
“My prediction would be they’re hedge funds. I would predict one of these bids is a hedge fund from the United States.
“What’s a hedge fund? It’s an investment group. It’s a set of people who are very wealthy who have a certain amount of money in a pot. And that can be billions, sometimes it’s millions, but it will be billions in this case. And they will acquire something with the intention of doubling its value over a certain period of time.
“It’s an investment. And I think that’s why they’re being quiet, because you go public with that and your email inbox is going to be full within seconds of people saying, ‘stay away from our club’.”
Who is the third bidder for Man Utd?
The Qatari-linked bid has already led to plenty of scrutiny in the media with Amnesty International’s Manchester branch (via The Guardian) highlighting concerns over state influence and human rights abuses in the country.
With that in mind, if a new bidder was self-aware enough to preempt public criticism, they may want keep their profile as low as possible amid a possible takeover attempt.
Hedge funds have been the subject of much controversy as they are often viewed as a way of simply making the rich even richer while also operating with a lack of transparency that will keep fans out of the loop.
It remains to be seen who this third bid has come from and if the Premier League club even end up changing owners but it seems Man Utd supporters have a number of reasons to be wary of whoever comes in to try and start a new era at Old Trafford.