For Sale

Qatar are unwilling to pay that price, despite their vast wealth. 

Even at £1.5 billion, the Glazers would make a huge profit, because they paid £800 million in 2005. The majority of this was provided by loans secured against the club's assets. The borrowings now stand at about £550 million.

Qatar's interest was taken seriously because of its huge wealth, which comes from natural gas, oil and its excellent business track record.

Qatar Holding bought Harrods last year and "One Hyde Park", the luxury London apartments, before that. They also have a  large stake in Sainsbury's .

The Glazers are known to be unpopular with many Man United fans. This will fuel speculation that they are trying to sell.

However, the club denied there had even been an approach and said that Manchester United was not for sale.

Football sources believe that Qatar Holding will return with a higher offer because they are desperate to boost Qatar's profile  ahead of the Qatar World Cup in 2022.   

Qatar recently agreed a very high profile £125 million shirt sponsorship deal with Barcelona football club.

Qatar's interest in a leading Premiership club ........ especially Manchester United .... has been fuelled by the success of Abu Dhabi's ownership of Manchester City, which is challenging Man United for the Premier League title this year after spending tens of millions of pounds on top quality players. Ironically, Man City's best player, Carlos Tevez, was not such a success in his previous career with Manchester United.

According to the Sunday Times, speculation that the Glazers are preparing to sell has been stoked by their repayment of £230 million of high interest loans, used to buy Manchester United. The costly borrowing could have discouraged potential bidders.

Some observers have suggested that this cash may have come from a rich backer, like Qatar, in return for a minority stake  that could be a prelude to a full takeover. We shall see !!! Watch this space!!

Manchester United would certainly give the Qatar Government, and the Al Thani family, possibly the most famous football club in the world. 

Ever since the Munich air-crash in 1958, which tragically killed so many of the Busby Babes, Manchester United's brilliant team of youngsters, including  Duncan Edwards, and severely injured the fantastic Scottish manager, Matt Busby, the club has held a special place in the hearts of many football fans around the world, not only in Manchester and the UK.

Over recent decades, another Scottish manager, Alex Ferguson, has taken Manchester United to even greater heights. But it is clear that to stay at the top requires large capital spending on top players from around the world. Qatar Holding would certainly be able to provide that essential capital.