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Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus labelled the Manchester United bidding process as a “farce” after withdrawing his takeover offer on Wednesday.
United announced their owners, the Glazer family, were considering offers for the club back in November, including “new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions”.
A pair of bidding rounds followed in the new year as Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani made propositions, though it was said up to eight prospective buyers were interested.
Zilliacus became the third bidder to publicly express his interest in March, wanting to buy 50 per cent of the club – with the other half bought by fans, who would join in the club’s decision-making process.
However, Zilliacus has refused to be drawn into a third round of proposals as the 69-year-old believes it would hinder any prospective owner’s chances of investing in United for next season.
“I have declined participation in a third bidding round for United,” he posted on Twitter. “The bidding is turning into a farce, with [the] Glazers giving no respect to the club.
“The delays will make it very difficult for any new owner to build a winning team for next season.
“Jim Ratcliffe, Sheikh Jassim and myself all were ready to negotiate a deal to buy United. Instead, [the] Glazers chose to start a new round.
“I will not participate in a farce set up to maximise the profit for the sellers at the expense of Manchester United.”
Zilliacus’ comments came just a day after United great Gary Neville – a vociferous opponent of the current ownership – took to Twitter to lament the Glazers when reports broke over a third round of bidding.
Neville wrote: “Taking it to a 3rd round is just classless. The market has obviously not given them the answer they want!
“It’s like they’ve made a pact to each other that they won’t go for less than £1billion each family member. (5 of them). If they stay in after all this it will be toxic!”
Potential buyers, for either the whole club or just a partial stake, must put forward further offers for the next round of takeover talks.
Sheikh Jassim will reportedly again submit a new bid to buy 100 per cent of the club, with Ratcliffe said to be aiming for 69 per cent of the Glazers’ current shareholding.
