Michael Knighton: The man who could have bought Man Utd for £10m but walked away

A couple of years ago, on the 30th anniversary of his aborted buyout, a biographical account of his plan was published, entitled ‘Visionary’. Knighton says he doesn’t like the book’s title. But he does believe that his template laid the foundations for what United eventually became.

“I did an interview with the Financial Times, which was published on 12 September 1989,” Knighton says.

“Everything in the blueprint, I said to that journalist. He was incredibly tolerant of me because he must have thought I was a raving lunatic. I said I was going to turn the club into a £150m leisure vehicle that would make profits so large we could buy any player in the world. He told me we were turning over £7m and the club hadn’t made money for 20 years and had just announced £1.3m losses. I told him it would happen.

“At that time, hardly anyone thought satellite TV would replace terrestrial. I said it would transform football.

“It is extraordinary how Martin Edwards has claimed credit for what happened in the following decade after my involvement. Unbelievable. I kept my mouth shut and my head down because my reputation had been hammered and it is virtually impossible to change a public image.

“But Martin and the other people on the board decided to hide behind the fiasco Michael Knighton caused and claim the credit themselves. If they could really see what was going to happen, why did they agree to sell the club for £10m?”

Speaking to someone who was involved at that time, there is a grudging acceptance that a lot of Knighton’s blueprint was used to drive revenues, long before the Glazer family got involved and took the club to another level entirely from a commercial perspective.

But in that case why, if he was so certain his plan would work, and he had the money to proceed, did Knighton back away?

“I didn’t need to own the club to do what I envisaged,” he says. “I needed to make a contribution.

“When Martin invited me on to the board, yes, I snapped his hand off. Financially, I knew what I was giving up. No question about it. Was I right financially to abort the deal? Clearly not. If I was looking to enrich myself and become a billionaire instead of a guy who made a bob or two, I should have completed.

“Perhaps that was the biggest commercial mistake of my life. But I was never there to enrich myself. That was never my motivation. I don’t regret it.”