Colonel Gaddafi was 'hours away' from owning Manchester United | OneFootball

The Glazer family may not be very popular amongst fans as owners of Manchester United but it could have been worse. Way, way worse.

The now-deceased Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi was ‘hours away’ from taking control of the club in 2004, it has been revealed.

Investment banker Mehmet Dalman, who is currently the chairman of Cardiff, was the man who brokered the Glazers’ purchase of the club in 2004 and 2005.

And he revealed in an interview with the Times that it was nearly Gaddafi, and not the Glazers, who bought John Magnier and JP McManus’s 29.9% share in the club at the time.

“People don’t realise how the [takeover] deal was a whisker away from going to Libya,” Dalman said.

“Gadaffi almost bought the club. That’s how close it got – literally, you’re talking about a few hours.”

The dictator’s son, Saadi Gaddafi, revealed in 2005 that his father had attempted to buy Manchester United.

But it was never clear exactly how close Gaddafi was to owning the club. How he would have fared with the Premier League’s infamous fit-and-proper-person test, we’ll never know.