Sir Jim Ratcliffe warned Manchester United he was prepared to withdraw his offer to become minority owner if it was not given the green light before Christmas, it has been revealed.
It was announced on December 24 that the Ineos chairman had agreed to buy a 25 per cent stake in the Premier League club in a deal that included investing 300million US dollars (£236.7million) into their infrastructure.
But US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings released on Wednesday have revealed Ratcliffe’s patience had begun to wear thin shortly before an agreement was struck.
In the week before Christmas, Ratcliffe’s company Trawlers Limited “gave Manchester United a deadline of December 25, 2023 to accept its best and final proposal”.
Widespread discussions had been held between February’s initial offer for a controlling stake and the ultimate outcome.
There was pushback from non-affiliated directors to what is known in the filings as the ‘October Proposal’ of 33 US dollars for 25 per cent of Class A and B shares plus 300m US dollars capital.
Ratcliffe agreed to slight concessions after conversations between December 18 and 22 but “was not prepared to accept any of other changes proposed by the non-affiliated directors”.
It led to an informal meeting of the board of directors on December 22 and a “robust discussion regarding the feedback from the offeror”.
The board representatives noted Ratcliffe “could decide to withdraw (the) proposal if the board of directors was not prepared to move forward by December 25, 2023”.
That transaction was subsequently agreed on December 24, bringing an end to a process that started in early June 2022.
United met representatives of investment bank Raine “on several occasions to discuss potential strategic opportunities to enhance shareholder value and serve the best interests of the football club’s fans”.
That led to the eventual November 22, 2022 announcement of a ‘Strategic Alternatives Review Process’, leading to appointed financial adviser Raine speaking to over 170 interested parties.
SEC filings revealed Raine is to be paid an estimated 31.5m US dollars (£24.9m) for their services.
United entered into 26 nondisclosure agreements and 19 were invited to the first round of bidding, including Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim.
The Qatari was considered the biggest competition to buy the club and formally withdrew from the process on October 15, 2023.
Known as ‘Bidder A’ in the filings, it was noted on a number of occasions that they “did not provide customary financing commitment letters”.
Raine informed Sheikh Jassim’s bid on May 22 that a proposal to acquire all ordinary shares would only be considered if a price of 35.25 US dollars (£27.83) was met.
In the end, Ratcliffe struck a deal to buy 25 per cent of Class B shares held by the Glazer family and up to 25 per cent of all Class A shares at a price of 33 US dollars (£26).
That offer for up to 13,237,834 Class A ordinary shares was confirmed on Wednesday.
United’s Class A share price was 19.84 US dollars (£15.64) on December 22 – the last full day before the public announcement of Ratcliffe’s offer.
On the last full trading day before the commencement of the offer the price was 21.20 US dollars (£16.71) per share.
The SEC document read: “The offer and withdrawal rights will expire at one minute after 11.59pm eastern time on February 13, 2024, unless the offer is extended or earlier terminated.”
The filing also said upon the consummation of the offer Ratcliffe’s shares would collectively “represent a 27.69 per cent ownership interest and 28.71 per cent voting interest”.
As part of the tender process, United also wrote to shareholders inviting them to attend an extraordinary general meeting in Rochester, New York on February 5.
That letter is signed by Patrick Stewart, United’s interim chief executive officer and general counsel, and Cliff Baty, the club’s chief financial officer.
The SEC filings revealed that the pair are in line for a bonus “equal to two times the annual salary of such executive officer as of the date of the closing”.
Curtin sacked by Philadelphia Union, Arena new San Jose head coach
The Philadelphia Union have parted ways with head coach Jim Curtin, the club announced on Thursday.
Curtin was the second-longest serving coach in the MLS, only behind Sporting Kansas City's Peter Vermes, but his 10-year stint at Subaru Park has finally come to an end.
During the 45-year-old's tenure, the Union won the 2020 Supporters' Shield and made the 2022 MLS Cup final.
But Philadelphia struggled this season, finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference standings and therefore missing the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017.
Curtin oversaw 394 matches in all competitions, winning 170 (D90 L134), ending with a win percentage of 41.9%.
"We want to extend our heartfelt appreciation to Jim for his passion and dedication to this club over the last 10 seasons," sporting director Ernst Tanner said in a statement.
"He greatly contributed to the success the club has achieved in recent years and for that, we are extremely grateful.
"We thank Jim for the significant impact he made both on the field and in the community. Following the 2024 season, we recognise the need for change.
"We'll continue to evaluate our sporting strategy and make the necessary changes this offseason to best set the team up for success."
In the Western Conference, the San Jose Earthquakes named Bruce Arena as their new head coach and sporting director after a poor 2024 season.
They conceded an MLS-record 78 goals and finished bottom of the overall league standings, parting ways with Luchi Gonzalez before being led by interim coach Ian Russell.
Arena takes charge of his fifth club in the MLS and his first since resigning from his position with the New England Revolution in 2023.
The 73-year-old is the most accomplished coach in MLS history, leading the league in regular-season wins (262) and Audi MLS Cup Playoffs victories (35).
Additionally, Arena led the United States at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and won three CONCACAF Gold Cup titles.
"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to come to San Jose," said Arena.
"I coached my first ever professional game at Spartan Stadium in 1996 – the first game in MLS history – and my first international game with the U.S. in 1998 was in San Jose.
"The Earthquakes and Northern California have a proud soccer tradition.
"There’s a lot of potential with the club, and I am looking forward to working with everyone here to unlock that potential and get back to winning ways."
England handed World Cup final reunion with Spain in Women's Nations League
England will face a re-run of the Women's 2023 World Cup final after being drawn in the same group as Spain in the 2025 Women's Nations League.
Sarina Wiegman's side will face the world and Nations League champions for the first time since the August 2023 World Cup final, where they lost 1-0 in Australia.
The Lionesses are joined in Group A3 by Belgium, who stunned England in the previous edition of the tournament with a 3-2 win in Leuven last October, and Portugal.
During the October international break, England were beaten 4-3 by Germany, but responded with a 2-1 triumph over South Africa.
They face Emma Hayes' United States at Wembley in an international friendly at the end of this month before taking on Switzerland in December before the tournament starts.
“It’s an exciting draw. We have Spain – a top, world-class team – which I think is exciting because it’s another opportunity to play at that level," Wiegman said.
“It’s really good that we play Belgium because in the last Nations League we lost when we played them away, and we really underperformed.
"We can prove to ourselves now that we can do much better than that in the two games. I’m happy with that one, they’re tough.
“Portugal are a very talented team. We played them before we went to the World Cup, and we drew with them.
"We had a lot of the ball, but we couldn’t score, and they were very dangerous on the counter-attack. They have a lot of technical players.
“There are different opponents, and I’m really looking forward to it because we’ll be challenged in different areas of the game. And of course we’ll give them challenges too.”
Germany give surprise maiden call up to Ortega
Julian Nagelsmann has handed a maiden Germany call-up to goalkeeper Stefan Ortega in his squad for the upcoming Nations League games.
The 32-year-old has only made four appearances for Manchester City this season, two in the Champions League and two in the EFL Cup, and was a surprise inclusion in the squad.
Ortega, who joined City in 2022, is the second-choice goalkeeper behind Ederson but received plaudits after filling in at the end of last season when the Brazilian suffered an eye injury.
There is also a return for Borussia Dortmund's Felix Nmecha, who is called up for the first time since September 2023. He has scored two goals and registered two assists in 14 appearances in all competitions this season.
Kai Havertz is also in the squad, having pulled out of their games in the October international break due to a knee injury.
Germany have already qualified for the quarter-finals of the Nations League, having collected 10 points from their opening four games.
Nagelsmann is not ready to ease up on the pressure when they face Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary, with the first of those matches on November 16.
"After making sure of a spot in the quarter-finals, we now want to seal top spot in the group," said Nagelsmann.
"Reaching the Nations League final four next year is an important milestone on our way to the 2026 World Cup."
Germany squad in full:
Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim), Alexander Nubel (Stuttgart), Stefan Ortega (Manchester City), Robin Gosens (Fiorentina), Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Robin Koch (Eintracht Frankfurt), Maximilian Mittelstadt (Stuttgart), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen), Robert Andrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Chris Fuhrich (Stuttgart), Pascal Gross (Borussia Dortmund), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund), Angelo Stiller (Stuttgart), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Tim Kleindienst (Borussia Monchengladbach), Deniz Undav (Stuttgart).
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