The rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool is one of the most storied and romanticised in English football. They are still the two biggest fixtures of every Premier League season from a broadcast point of view, between the two biggest clubs in terms of history and supporters.
But over the next couple of months, the next chapter of the rivalry will involve both clubs being up for the sale at the time, placed on the market by American owners ready to cash out for enormous profits.
A couple of weeks after Fenway Sports Group (FSG) confirmed their intention to seek new investment or sell up at Anfield, the Glazers followed suit on Tuesday with a public proclamation that they were open to similar interest at Old Trafford.
READ MORE: Old Trafford could be key to Sir Jim Ratcliffe takeover at United
Nobody really expects either of these deals to end with new minority investors at the respective clubs. They are likely to end in full sales.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, author of The Price of Football, doesn't see a problem with the two clubs competing for the same buyers, but can also see why both are on the market at the same time.
"If you had 200 bidders for Chelsea, I don’t see a problem here, but I think it is more than a coincidence," Maguire told the Manchester Evening News .
"Both Manchester United and Liverpool were very much in favour of the Super League, of Project Big Picture, which would have allowed them to sell broadcasts of their own home matches to fans.
"That was a main way to grow income, so if that’s no longer available is there a case in saying from the point of view of FSG and the Glazers, neither of them particularly wants to put money into the club to grow it themselves, that they’ve taken the clubs as far as they can, in terms of making money out of them."
Liverpool might look like a more secure proposition at the moment, with a new £50million training ground open for less than two years and the redevelopment of Anfield set to finish next summer.
In contrast, the Glazers are selling at a time when master planners are involved in drawing up schemes to improve facilities at Carrington and Old Trafford without funding being secured.
But Maguire believes that could actually make United the more attractive long-term proposition, especially for buyers who see knocking down Old Trafford and building a new stadium on that site as the way forward.
"It’s a bigger turnaround at Old Trafford than it is at Anfield, but if it’s a bigger turnaround the rewards might be bigger as well. If I was looking to buy and sell in three to five years, Liverpool is a far more attractive prospect," he said.
"If I’m looking to hold on to the club as long as the Glazers have, there’s no reason why Manchester United shouldn’t be more attractive than Liverpool.
"If you stick an extension on a stand at Old Trafford it just starts to look like a bit of Jenga, you’ve still got the historic problem of a lack of space, the catering facilities not being that modern. Spurs make £800,000 a match from catering now.
"Spurs will have gone from £35million a year in matchday income to £110million or £120million. You multiply that by 10 or 20 years and you can see the rewards."
Maguire doesn't necessarily see a drawn-out sale process at United and could even see the club changing hands by the end of this season.
"The Raine Group will now take expressions of interest," he said. "They will look at two things, are they serious potential bidders? They will then narrow it down to what they consider to be the best of the bunch.
"Then they will give them access to what we refer to as the data, but effectively it’s the inner sanctum of United, what exactly are you buying and what are the financial commitments the club has?
"That allows the bidder to put together a model and come up with more definitive prices. Then I suspect we’ll either have a quasi-auction or it will be say sealed bids by March 31 and it goes to the higher bidder.
"That’s the approach I would anticipate from here with a view to getting the deal done by the end of the season."
Who ends up in charge at Old Trafford is now the next question. The US private equity investors who missed out on Chelsea are likely to return and there could be interest from the Middle East, especially with this announcement coming at the start of a World Cup in the region.
But Maguire can also see why the club might be attracting interest from technology firms, such as Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix.
"We take these figures with a pinch of salt, but if they genuinely do have 1.1bn followers then you can’t get them to Old Trafford, but can you get Old Trafford to a few million of them?" he said.
"If you can get five million fans to pay £10 a time to watch Manchester United then it’s United making £50million from each home game through additional broadcasting revenue. Then everything changes. So I think a tech investor could see that as a great way to monetise one of the world’s biggest sporting brands.
"Then you’ve got people glued to the screen for 90 minutes and you can sell them a lot, directly and indirectly, in that time.
"Is it a coincidence this was announced at the start of the World Cup? The focus of the world is on the Middle East and that north African area, there’s a lot of wealth there that is going to be excited by what they’re seeing in Qatar at the moment. On the back of that, why not have the adrenaline of going to buy Manchester United or Liverpool on the back of it?
"Then you can’t rule out Sir Jim Ratcliffe, but I don’t think he would buy the prices quoted. Why pay 20 times what the Saudis paid to acquire Newcastle a year ago? Manchester United has a bigger fanbase, the regular appearances in Europe, but it doesn’t seem to make much sense to pay that multiple over Newcastle."
READ NEXT:
