English commentator Richard Keys says Manchester United would be a different place if Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani's bid had been accepted over Sir Jim Ratcliffe's.
United appear in crisis under Ratcliffe, with former manager Erik ten Hag and football director Dan Ashworth both sacked and staff morale rock bottom with cuts of over 250 members.
“I’ve said this for a year - ever since Sunny Jim rolled into town and was, for reasons unknown to me, greeted like a hero - the deal was a mess, Sunny Jim was the wrong man and what’s happening at OT now is a shambles," Keys wrote in his
weekly blog.
"How many weeks ago did I post a video exposing what he’s done at two other clubs in the INEOS stable - Lausanne and Nice?
“Did no-one do any homework on Sunny Jim? As Ratcliffe and the brains trust continue to destroy Mediocre United (Ratcliffe’s words in that interview last week, not mine) I wonder what the club would look like today if the Glazers had done the right thing and sold to Sheikh bin Hamad Al Thani?
“Let me ask the question again? Why didn’t they? Only people close to the deal know the real answer, but some things always slip out and I’ve heard that every time the Sheikh agreed to the Glazers’ terms they moved the goalposts.
“Every time - to the point where trying to do a deal became a farce. Why were my Arab friends given the run-around? Give it some thought. The clue might be in that penultimate sentence.”