Manchester United: Why Twitter noise + share price increase does not mean a buyout

Late Monday evening and into Tuesday morning there finally seemed to be some white smoke over the proposed takeover of Manchester United.

Shares of the club on the New York Stock Exchange rose 16.3 per cent to $23.42 (£18.63) in after-hours trading after reports that the Glazers were selling 100 per cent of the club to Sheikh Jassim through his Nine Two Foundation, and the team missed out. INEOS Sir C. Ratcliffe.

The share price continued to rally overnight, clearing $24 before the markets opened.

But even sources close to the Qatari bid — who, like others in this article, will remain anonymous to protect business ties — were surprised by such talk and shocked by the sharing of this “news” by aggregate accounts on social media.

Those familiar with the bid also insisted there was no communication about Glazer’s decision, or whether it was made.

The rumor apparently traced back to a Twitter account, apparently based in Cardiff in Wales, advertising illegal football broadcasts with only 300 followers, which was then amplified by a major country newspaper and its editor.

spread quickly through social media; It gained so much traction that it briefly seemed like the long-running saga was over. The Glazers announced that they were studying “strategic alternatives” that could lead to a possible sale of the club back in November.

But this does not seem to be the case.

To be clear, this does not mean that the Qatari takeover will not happen and that these reports will ultimately not be true.

But, on the basis of the existing evidence, let’s the athlete Use this example to demonstrate how the takeover rumor mill works…

home tweet

Al-Watan newspaper is one of the largest publications in Qatar, along with Al-Sharq and Al-Raya newspapers.

The newspaper’s Twitter account has more than 290,000 followers and has been verified with a blue tick since 2015, meaning it was recognized as a legitimate post long before Twitter users were able to purchase Elon Musk’s ownership verification.

As the sources go, this is one to be taken seriously.

Many on social media noted, in addition to other media reports, that on Wikipedia, the newspaper’s owner, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani – father of Sheikh Jassim and prime minister of Qatar between 2007 and 2013 – was cited. Later, an account in the name of Al-Watan editor said The newspaper is not owned by the man known as HBJ.

Al Watan tweeted this at 7.14pm UK time on Tuesday:

Google translate Arabic text is how many Twitter users in the UK and abroad will pick up on the news. The translation reads: “Press reports: Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim’s acquisition of #ManchesterUnited has been successful…and the deal will be announced soon.”

Checking this with a native Arabic speaker indicates that this is an accurate translation. The tweet explicitly says that Jasim has bought Manchester United, the deal will be announced soon, and that the saga is over.

So, if the translation is so good — and this legitimate source says an acquisition is underway — why should we still be careful?

Dig deeper

If true, it would be a huge scoop for the nation. An opportunity to celebrate an exclusive real world. But looking at the newspaper’s accounts elsewhere, there is no mention of it.

The newspaper’s website (below) leads to new rules for supplying school canteens from the Ministry of Education.

The site also carries a story about Erling Haaland being Manchester City’s Player of the Year, but nothing about their cross-city rivals.

There was no mention of the story on Al-Watan Qatar’s Facebook page, which has 1.2 million followers and was updated in the past few hours, long after a tweet from the official account.

editor

The second seemingly legitimate source for the story is Al-Watan’s editor-in-chief Fahad Al-Emadi, who has been verified on Twitter since July 2016. An account under his name sent out a tweet a few hours before Al-Watan’s tweet that appeared to say the takeover was a done deal.

The tweet was translated into, “All the news received indicates the success of Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim’s acquisition of Manchester United, and the deal will be announced very soon.”

However, there is some ambiguity in this translation. It is not clear if the “news received” means that this social media user independently verified the report with reliable sources, or simply saw rumors on the Internet.

The tweet does not explicitly confirm the source of the news.

News flash… from Wales?

Just before 12.05pm on Monday 12th June, an account called @2sporttv tweeted that the takeover was a done deal.

This tweet was retweeted by Al Emadi account and this retweet is still visible on the account after 24 hours.

However, @2sporttv’s account is clearly not a legitimate source.

This is an account advertising illegal football broadcasts that, with barely 300 followers on Twitter, lists its location as Cardiff in Wales; It seems to be a very questionable source for news of this magnitude.

I have not finished yet

So an account named Editor-in-Chief Al Watan tweeted after a small Welsh account said a takeover was in the works. Then the Al-Watan account tweeted it in a way that seemed official.

Rumors then spread on social media and “Qatar” was trending on Twitter in the UK by Tuesday morning.

Football’s constellation of combined accounts gave the rumors more steam, and United’s share price boomed.

On Tuesday, the account of Editor-in-Chief Fahd Al-Emadi issued a statement saying: “For further clarification.” Contrary to some media outlets and social media that were issued overnight, Al-Watan is not owned by Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani, and the Al-Watan media report yesterday. Speculation about a possible move in the Manchester United takeover was based on international media reports, as stated in the same article, and with such news being widely circulated periodically in the international media for several months.”

However, after 24 hours of frantic social media activity and United’s share price continues to soar, it appears we’re nowhere near any “potential move” in the United takeover saga.

Al-Watan and Al-Amadi have been contacted for comment.

(Top photo: Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)