Billionaire technology mogul Elon Musk sent Manchester United fans into a frenzy in the early hours of Wednesday morning by posting a tweet claiming that he's about to buy the club - although he later admitted he was joking.
Red Devils supporters are desperate to get rid of their current owners, the Glazer family, with more protests planned ahead of Liverpool 's visit to Old Trafford next Monday. Despite the Glazer family maintaining a tight grip on United since their controversial 2005 takeover, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk has offered a hint of hope for those unhappy with the much-maligned regime.
In a rather bemusing social media post which sparked excitement and speculation across the Red Devils fan base, the richest person on planet Earth - according to Forbes - wrote on Twitter: "Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome." However, Musk confirmed he was joking just a couple of hours later, tweeting: "No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams."
Musk's tweet, which received over 140,000 likes within an hour of being posted, has been perceived by many to just be the latest in a series of irreverent social media musings by the bigwig. Nevertheless, it comes at a time of great unrest around Old Trafford. New manager Erik ten Hag has lost his first two Premier League matches, while star striker Cristiano Ronaldo desperately wants to leave.
Ex-captain Gary Neville is already pushing for the Glazers to sell his beloved club, once again criticising the American family's tumultuous tenure after the Red Devils were humiliated by losing 4-0 to Brentford on Saturday. "You can't blame the individual player or the manager, you've got to look at above," Neville affirmed on Sky Sports.
"You have to look to the very top now and this week, honestly, they are going to get peppered, those players, the coach, the sporting department, the new CEO [Richard Arnold], they're all going to get peppered. But there's a family over there in America who are just literally letting their employees take all the hits for them, and that is unforgivable."
The United legend then made a plea to co-owner Joel Glazer to fly over from the United States and help remedy the situation. "They've got to get on a plane, Joel Glazer has got to get on a plane tomorrow," Neville continued in his post-match rant.
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"He's got to get over to Manchester and he's got to start to divert the issues away from the club and tell everybody what the hell his plan is with the football club. What is he doing?"
If Musk does want to buy the 20-time English champions, it'll cost him a pretty penny. As per Reuters, the club currently has a market capitalisation worth $2.08 billion.
