Tight Americans eye Man Utd

ONE American billionaire is so penny-pinching, he makes his ranch hands ride around on bicycles rather than Jeeps. Another boasts about how he pays less than $20 (£12) for a pair of jeans. And a third is known to hate losing at anything - and he has £300m tied up in the future of the world's richest soccer club.

Together or apart, these three Americans, as tight-lipped as they are tight-fisted, may have a lot to say about who winds up in control of Manchester United as it lurches toward an apparent sale for something well north of its market valuation of roughly £600m.

For the first US mogul, Phillip Anschutz, buying the Old Trafford club would be a breeze, financially, and a logical extension of his passion for 'soccer'.

Anschutz has a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine at $5 billion and has used his wealth from oil, gas, railways and telecoms to take control of half a dozen US soccer teams - and the Millennium Dome.

Anschutz gave his one and only media interview in 1974 and he is saying little about his intentions regarding United.

What his spokesman does say is that Anschutz executives held talks with United big wigs recently - but he will not say what they talked about.

Anschutz would be just the type of buyer that Irish racing tycoons John Magnier and J. P. McManus had in mind when they boosted their holding last week to 23% with the £62 million purchase of BSkyB's ten% stake in the club.

Conventional wisdom in the City is that Magnier and McManus are playing an arbitrage - acquiring a stake big enough to make potential buyers of the club come to them offering a hefty premium above the share price.

The second billionaire, Malcolm Glazer, has already showed his hand. Glazer, whose family owns the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Buccaneers American football club, has assembled a stake that stacks up at almost nine%.

Glazer, who gives about as many interviews as Anschutz, is also saying little about his intentions, but the signs are that United would be a financial stretch for him.

Glazer signed a tentative agreement to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team from Rupert Murdoch for an estimated $400 million in July.

The delay in closing the deal led to speculation that the Glazers might have to sell the Bucs to get the deal done. The Bucs are said to be worth about $600 million, over half Glazer's estimated net worth.

If he were to launch a full bid for United he would need a partner or a hefty loan - or both.

The third American player has hardly been mentioned among the potential bidders. But, depending on the fine print in an agreement he has with the club, he could have just as big a say.

Phil Knight, chairman and chief executive of sports merchandising powerhouse Nike, has kept quiet on the details of the £300 million, 13-year contract he has signed with United. But the agreement is so important to the club that Knight --as much as the Irish - might well become United's kingmaker. Without the house of Swoosh, United is £20 million a year poorer - and worth a lot less as an international franchise. Whatever the outcome, United fans should not worry that the club will be short-changed, even if one of the Yankee tightwads does win control. Both Anschutz and Glazer have spent freely in their respective franchises and, like Nike's Knight, they play to win.

'Dream deal' nightmare

RUPERT Murdoch has been trying to re-create BSkyB in America for a decade. For the past three years, he has been trying to buy control of American satellite provider DirecTV.

Thus a groan must have gone up from News Corporation's executive suite on Friday night when the Federal Communications Commission said it was delaying its decision for up to six months on the company's £4.16 billion purchase of 34% of DirecTV.

Murdoch has been telling anyone who will listen that the scheme will be approved eventually, so perhaps the delay might not turn out be a deal-killer.

But the News Corp chairman seems to have underestimated growing opposition in America to what he calls his 'dream deal'. His patience and nerve will be sorely tried again as he sits out the re-examination period.