United were a target for Burmese junta

MANCHESTER UNITED were briefly a target for a takeover by the leader of Burma’s military junta, according to a secret document leaked by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

A cable sent from the US embassy in Rangoon to Washington, details of which have been revealed on the Guardian newspaper website, revealed that military commander-in-chief Than Shwe was advised by his grandson before January 2009 to look into the possibility of buying United.

The Guardian quotes the cable as saying: “One well-connected source reports that the grandson wanted Than Shwe to offer one billion US dollars (€750m) for Manchester United. The senior general thought that sort of expenditure could look bad, so he opted to create for Burma a league of its own.”