Man Utd Qatar takeover doubts raised by Sheikh Jassim’s father

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani’s bid to buy 100 per cent of Manchester United doesn’t appear to have the full backing of his father, former Qatar prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. Sheikh Jassim became the first to publicly declare his interest in buying United from the Glazers ahead of the ‘soft deadline’ last month.

The Qatari bank chairman announced at the time that he was looking to buy 100 per cent of the club with a bid reported to be in the region of £4.5billion. He appears to be in a two-horse race with British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe to buy United, although the INEOS CEO reportedly only wants to buy the Glazers out.

But Sheikh Jassim doesn’t appear to have the full support of his father to buy the Premier League giants with Sheikh Hamad admitting he doesn’t “like this investment”. He said on the David Rubenstein show: “I am not a football fan. I don’t like this investment.

“Maybe it will work well. But you know, some of my sons like this, they always discuss it with me. They’re pushing hard. This isn’t my specialty. Let me put it like this: I am an investor.

“If it will one day be a good investment, I will think about it. I will not look at it as something you do just as an advertisement.”

Sheikh Hamad held the position of Qatar prime minister between 2007 and 2013 and admitted he was initially against his country’s hopes of hosting the 2022 World Cup. Qatar controversially won the bid to host the 2022 tournament back in 2010 and Sheikh Hamad originally felt the money would be better used elsewhere.

“If it was my choice, I wouldn’t have done it at that time,” he added. “When I was prime minister and this idea came to his Highness, the Father Emir, and his crown prince at the time, Sheikh Tamim, they knew that I was against it.

“Because I thought that’s a lot of money and effort that will be spent. We could spend it on something else that’s good for the people and the country. But if you ask me now, I will tell you there was a lot of positive outcomes. And the positive outcome was not only putting Qatar on the map.

“Look at the people who visited. I knew many from the business community, from all over the world. They came, some of them for the first time. They brought their families.”

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