Twenty-five years ago today Manchester United accepted a £623.4m bid from BSkyB for a controlling share of the club, a move that incensed the fan-base, worried football to its core, and had the Labour government of the day promising to examine the ethical implications of the takeover ‘extremely searchingly’.
This was an era when the beautiful game was transforming before our very eyes and so many seismic events had already taken place that decade, not least the forming of a highly lucrative Premier League and BSkyB securing exclusive rights to broadcast 60 lives games per season.
It was indeed a whole new ball game.
Moreover, staying with United, few developments better epitomised football’s greater standing in the world of commerce than the Red Devils floating on the stock market in 1991.
By listing themselves on the New York Stock Exchange, Manchester United PLC enjoyed a sizable cash bonanza, some of which serviced record transfer fees that doubled-down on their enormous success on the pitch.
That success of course was a huge attraction to Rupert Murdoch, the relentlessly driven business magnate behind the bid, a man who very likely has inspired at least two Bond villains.
Having won four of the first five Premier League titles and being a constant presence in the Champions League betting, United were very much on the rise, a burgeoning behemoth in an industry that similarly was ever-mushrooming in scale.
But television, and its unpredictable relationship with a sport exploding in popularity and profit, was also a significant consideration.
Once BSkyB’s rights ran dry, would clubs seek individual deals based on pay-per-view? It is telling that only months before the bid was made public, Manchester United had launched MUTV.
Gaining control of the top-flight’s most bankable club made perfect sense for the network. It kept them in the game come what may.
United’s enticement to the deal naturally enough was money, and lots of it. Just nine years earlier club chairman Martin Edwards had agreed to sell the world famous institution lock, stock and barrel for just £20m in a deal that ultimately fell through.
Now he personally stood to make a whopping £87m for a meagre 14% stake, having recently sold the bulk of his shares elsewhere.
If all this explains what brought both parties together, perhaps what was underestimated in the negotiations was the extent and fervour of the pushback that would accompany the announcement.
That a broadcaster with such immense influence on the game could own its most powerful chess-piece didn’t sit right with anyone and, tired of their club being seen as a cashcow to exploit, the United fan-base mobilised, buying up shares to give themselves leverage and forming a group that is now the Manchester United Supporter’s Trust.
As for the government, no doubt spying a rare opportunity to win good faith from the public, they wasted little time in going after the unpopular deal, eventually stopping it from happening via the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
We all know what happened next, as Manchester United continued to dominate the footballing landscape, winning trophies with alarming regularly until the post-Ferguson era saw their star dim.
Now they are just as likely to feature in the Europa League odds as they are to compete in the Champions League, while there is the much-loathed Glazers to consider too.
The bad guys won in the end, just different ones.
Yet still, it is fascinating to think what would have come from BSkyB’s shameless bid. What we know for sure is that football would have been all the poorer for it.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
