Elon Musk became the latest name to flirt with a potential Manchester United takeover on Monday night - even if he did later insist that his tweet declaring interest in the club was nothing more than a "long-running joke".
The Glazer family's tenure has been scrutinised pretty much ever since they purchased the club back in 2005, but the mood at Old Trafford has plummeted to an all-time low in the wake of United's calamitous start to the new Premier League season under Erik ten Hag.
The former Ajax chief has made the worst start of any Manchester United manager in over a century after succumbing to consecutive defeats against Brighton and Brentford to leave the club languishing at the bottom of the Premier League table - but it's the Glazers rather than Ten Hag who are being held responsible.
United's long-suffering fans have been angling for change at the top for years, and they were briefly given hope when Musk tweeted: "Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome," in a bemusing social media post on Monday night. Unfortunately, he clarified his stance a few hours later, confirming: "No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I'm not buying any sports teams."
While Musk may insist he has no legitimate interest in taking over at Manchester United, the Tesla chief is one of the few names in the world who could, realistically, afford to purchase one of Europe's biggest football institutions.
The South African businessman, who has cofounded six companies including Tesla, SpaceX and the Boring Company, has a net worth that currently stands at a whopping $270.1billion (£223.25bn), according to Forbes. That enormous total means that Musk currently tops Forbes' 2022 list of billionaires, while he also ranks second in the Forbes top 400 list of wealthy business people.
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Musk made headlines earlier this year when he reportedly agreed to a $44bn (£36.4bn) deal to purchase Twitter - but even that would have barely made a dent in the 51-year-old's finances.
Forbes currently values Manchester United at around $4.6B (£3.4bn), making them the third most valuable club in the world behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. That sum would be a snip to Musk - although the club have repeatedly insisted that the Glazer family have no appetite to sell up at Old Trafford following numerous takeover rumours in recent years.
Michael Knighton is the latest name to try and spark a change of ownership at the club, with the former Man United director urging Britain's richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, to join his bid to launch a "hostile takeover" to end the Glazer's controversial 18-year premiership.
But even Ratcliffe's personal wealth, which stands at an estimated £11bn, pales in comparison to Musk, whose SpaceX venture alone is worth $127bn (£104.8bn) after quadrupling in value over the past three years.
United fans are preparing to protest against the family ahead of next week's crunch clash against Liverpool to reinforce their desire for change.
Fan group The 1958 said in a statement: "We appreciate emotions are running high. We must keep it legal, we must keep it peaceful, we don’t want any Reds getting lifted and giving the Glazer propaganda machine a chance to spin the narrative.
"Bring the heat, bring the noise, bring the passion. Let’s show the Glazer family that this time it will not blow over."
