Qatar's Acquisition of Manchester United Would Represent a New Low for English Football

A Qatari state takeover of Manchester United would be a disastrous event for English football, marking an inflection point for the sport with potentially irreversible consequences. At the heart of the matter is the fact that the biggest club in English football would become a representative of one of the most contentious human rights issues in the world today: the labour system described as modern slavery. The club would be implicated in Qatar's attempt to mitigate this problem and thus become complicit in the issue. Manchester United is more than just a club, it represents a community of fans in Manchester and Salford, and its history is one of adventure and defiance. If it were to be sold to Qatar, it would no longer be about that community or its rich history, but rather about Qatar's foreign policy and issues that should not be the concern of football. The term "sportswashing" is too mild to describe what would happen in this scenario. The Qatari takeover of United would mean that the three primary countries that drove the Gulf blockade would finally own major clubs in England, including the largest of all. This would call into question the morality of the Premier League, the most-watched league in the world, and compromise it to an unprecedented degree. The competition would be turned into a political arena, and Manchester would become one too. This could lead to an almost impossible situation for any other club to compete with the financial juggernaut created by the unlimited funds of one of the world's main oil economies. Such a situation would represent a total surrender to repressive regimes and destroy the idea of fair competition. However, the situation is not just about football. Qatar's sporting ambitions are well known, and the country has used sport as a tool to improve its global influence. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani's purchase of Manchester United would be a state bid, meaning that he would simply be a conduit for state power, like Sheikh Mansour at City. Qatar has a troubling human rights record, and the country has been accused of "sportswashing" its image by investing in high-profile sporting events and clubs. By owning Manchester United, Qatar could extend its influence even further, all while violating the basic human rights of migrant workers. The Qatari regime is an autocracy where the ruler has full executive power. It has a history of disregarding human rights, as seen in the World Cup construction project where workers were subjected to unsafe working conditions and long working hours. The country has refused to investigate the number of workers who died in the construction of the World Cup stadium, which calls into question any official pronouncements about the regime's intentions. This state's acquisition of Manchester United would mark the end point of 15 to 30 years of building towards the unfettered embrace of ultra-capitalism in the game. The FA's decision in 1983 to allow Tottenham Hotspur to form a holding company to float on the stock market was a turning point in the sport's evolution. It set the stage for the Premier League, the Champions League, and the likes of the Glazers to buy into the sport. Manchester United's 2005 takeover was a prime example of the sport's uncaring economic model, as the club was purchased with a leveraged buy-out, primarily to help billionaires make more money. The world of football has been naive in allowing Abu Dhabi to buy City and Qatar to buy PSG, as it failed to realize the real intentions behind these purchases. These states have been buying various assets and institutions, and football is their prize. They sponsor other clubs, partner with those they cannot buy, and own the two biggest stars in the game in Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.