The reason behind the major spike in Manchester United shares on New York’s Stock Exchange has been revealed.
United’s share price – which was around $12 back in November when the Glazer family announced it was to be put up for sale – is always closely monitored and a sudden spike to $25.01 caught the eye.
The spike occurred after a report from Qatari newspaper Al-Watan claimed that Sheikh Jassim has prevailed in his bidding war with Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
But the Athletic are claiming that sources close to the Qatari off were taken aback by the suggestion shares soared because a deal was close.
In fact, their report goes on to detail that news of the Qatari bid sealing the deal appears to have originated from a Twitter account, said to be located in Wales, that predominantly advertises illegal streaming of football matches.
2sporttv, an account with less than 300 followers, soon saw the post, exclaiming the Qatari offer was a done deal, gain traction. It would later be promoted by Al-Watan and its editor.
While the Qatari bid could still emerge as the winner in the battle to takeover Manchester United – it is understood that reality is not as close as Al-Watan claimed.
Alarm bells were ringing for the Athletic when there was no sign of Al-Watan’s bombshell report on their website landing page.
An analysis of their Facebook page also drew a blank – viewed as an odd editorial decision given the size of the story.
The 2sporttv tweet was retweeted an amplified by the publication’s editor, leading to a deeper dive on the transparency of the account.
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
