Saga of Manchester United’s sale looks like a kind of football endgame

In a saner world it would be possible to decry the hawking around of this 145-year-old Manchester institution as if were a piece of knock-off jewellery

PROTESTS: Manchester United fans with Glazers Out banners in the stands during the Premier League match at Old Trafford, Manchester. Pic: PA

The final deadline for bids to buy Manchester United passed on Friday night. Although in fairness, it feels barely more final than the first two deadlines that passed in February and March. Given the looseness with which the Glazers appear to regard deadlines, (“mufc bid proposal FINAL FINAL USE THIS.docx”) it is possible that when they finally take their leave of the club a lucrative career in column-writing awaits them.

And so to the latest and hopefully the last round of a protracted charade that has come to resemble a reality television show in which viewers are sadly unable to vote off any of the protagonists. Indeed for a club so keen to recast itself as a global media brand you only wonder whether a little television jeopardy might have enlivened the process. Sheikh Jassim, mysterious son of the former prime minister of Qatar, your fellow contestants have voted you into the Hideaway for the night. Oh, you’re already there. As you were, then.