A couple of months back, when David Moyes’s position as Manchester United manager was coming under serious threat for the first time, news broke about a potential takeover at Manchester United involving the Qatari royal family and the class of ’92.
Manchester United shares rose by £80million in the wake of speculation linking David Beckham and the Class of ’92 with a takeover bid.
It was reported on Thursday that Beckham, along with former team-mates Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, were in talks to front a buyout of the club by the Qatari royal family.
News broke this week from Manchester United’s official Twitter feed that Paul Scholes had been involved in training at the club.
It’s great to see Paul Scholes here at the Aon Training Complex today, assisting Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville. #mufc
As we know Ryan Giggs will manage the team for the rest of the season with Nicky Butt as his number 2. Furthermore Phil Neville appears to be staying on at some capacity at Manchester United for the rest of the season.
Although Gary Neville has been quick and scathing about the manner in which David Moyes was sacked he looks like an ideal candidate for a top management position in the next few years. If he was asked to come back to Manchester United, to be on the coaching staff, you imagine he would struggle to say no to the club he loves.
So with four of the class of 92 back at Old Trafford, and Gary Neville potentially open to the idea of returning, is there some substance to the takeover story?
We can’t imagine David Beckham, with all his other engagements, returning to Manchester United any time soon – and we don’t think he’s cut out for management anyway.
But we would have little hesitation in letting the other 5 manage the first team affairs moving forward, with Sir Alex Ferguson available to take a more hands-on mentoring approach than he did with David Moyes.
Pep Guardiola went from player to manager of Barcelona seamlessly and is now one of the most highly regarded managers in the world. We would sooner give the job to a management team of hungry, intelligent Manchester United idols than coaches like Ancelotti and van Gaal, who have little to lose if Manchester United continue to fail.
This £200m that is being regularly mooted for transfers arguably isn’t going to come out of the Glazers’ pockets. Instead, it could well be added to the overall debt of the club and increase the interest payments massively.
While Manchester United fans want to see new players coming in they are hugely embittered by the fact that Manchester United is currently being funded by an enormous credit card – a black hole of the club’s yearly revenue – so the idea of the Qatari royal family buying the club with their own cash would be music to the ears.
It would be a bold approach for Manchester United to employ these legendary players who have little top level management experience between them (save for Red Nev’s time with England). But they understand Manchester United and the playing philosophy better than anyone and we don’t doubt for a second that they would make a success of it.
They may just pioneer an entirely new management template by dividing the job up between them – each concentrating on their individual forte.
Manchester United fans will surely hope that those stories of a takeover were indeed prophetic.
