Manchester United takeover chaos as bid deadline is dramatically extended

Deadline for second round of bids pushed back at last minute

TIME IS NIGH: Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar have been granted extensions to submit their bids for Manchester United (Peter Byrne/PA)

The battle to take over Manchester United was plunged into chaos and confusion on Wednesday night after the deadline for the second round of bids for the club was dramatically extended at the last minute.

Representatives of the Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani and the Ineos owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, had earlier claimed that their bids had gone in before Wednesday night’s 9pm deadline. However, it later emerged that it was not the case and that at least one bid – Ineos – had asked for more time.