Bid fever pressures Man Utd bosses

ROMAN Abramovich's takeover and spending spree at Chelsea has sent a shiver through England's elite football clubs.

Until the billionaire Russian's appearance, Premiership clubs believed the era of inflated transfer deals was over and they could focus on rebuilding their battered balance sheets.

Now there is uncertainty and fears that Chelsea's relentless pursuit of top talent could force others to spend, spend, spend just to keep up. And even Premier League champions Manchester United could be under threat.

But despite the danger posed by Abramovich, Manchester United shares closed last week at a near two-year high of 160 1/2p, valuing the club at £417 million.

The reason? Investors appear convinced that a takeover is in the offing. Bid talk has swirled around for more than two years since Irish tycoons J. P. McManus and John Magnier, acquaintances of United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, began buying.

Last month, the pair added to the stake through their company, Cubic Expression. It is now the largest single shareholder with 11.4%.

Next come Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB with 9.9%, a legacy of its failed bid for the club in 1999, Scottish mining millionaire Harry Dobson's Mountbarrow Investments with 6.5%, hedge fund Lansdowne Partners with 6% and John de Mol, a Dutch billionaire who created the Big Brother TV series, with 3.5%. Together these five investors hold just over 37%, a crucial platform for any bidder.

United joined the stock market in 1991, but its ability to fund most of the redevelopment at its Old Trafford stadium and deal in the transfer market from its own resources has led some to question if it needs to be listed at all.

Insiders say these issues are leading to tensions in the corridors of power at Old Trafford.

Chairman Sir Roy Gardner has kept a low profile during bid speculation. Chief executive Peter Kenyon was instrumental, with Ferguson, in signing midfielder Juan Veron, widely regarded as a poor deal since the Argentinian international is now valued at less than half the £28.1 million United paid.

Other executive directors include managing director David Gill and finance director Nick Humby. The non-executives, with the exception of Maurice Watkins, on the board since flotation, are fairly recent appointments.

United also has a football club board that any takeover group would have to win over - even before BSkyB's bid was blocked by regulators, it ran into massive opposition from fans.

Football club board member and United legend Sir Bobby Charlton is likely to be a key figure while other influential directors include shell company specialist Michael Edelson.

On the cusp of the new season, pundits are debating if United can continue its domestic football dominance in the face of such threats as Chelsea. But in the Square Mile the talk is just how long it will remain a player on the stock market.