"Please save the club", "We want our club back" - Manchester United fans plead with Britain's richest man after takeover bid is launched from Michael Knighton

Manchester United fans have started a social media campaign to convince Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is Britain's richest man, to take over the club.

According to The Mirror, businessman Michael Knighton has announced he is planning to purchase the club from the Glazer family. Knighton famously tried to buy Manchester United in 1989 before the deal ultimately fell through.

The businessman has revealed that he is hoping to lead a consortium that will also feature Ratcliffe, who owns chemical powerhouse Ineos. According to Bloomberg, Ratcliffe is worth $6.86 billion.

Ratcliffe owns incredibly successful cycling and sailing teams and has also invested heavily in the Mercedes F1 team. He also completed a €100 million takeover of Ligue 1 side OGC Nice in 2019 and attempted to buy Chelsea earlier this year. However, Ratcliffe ultimately missed out on owning the two-time European champions.

With Knighton promising a 'hostile' takeover of the Red Devils, the Old Trafford fanbase appear incredibly excited by the prospect as they want to get rid of the current owners as soon as possible.

Under the Glazers, Manchester United have slumped into a malaise of terrible signings, woeful performances on the pitch and consistently bad decisions from upstairs. Many supporters took to Twitter to greet the news of the British consortium's interest with much delight.

Here are some of the reactions:

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Michael Knighton preparing 'hostile' takeover bid for Manchester United

Many will remember Knighton's bizarre attempts to buy one of the world's biggest football entities for a tiny fraction of what the club is worth today.

However, that has not stopped many buying into his vision and allowing themselves to get excited by the prospect of seeing the Glazer empire toppled. The eccentric British businessman told Man Utd the Religion on YouTube (as quoted by The Mail):

"We are a club in crisis and we all know the reason why. We have an inept and frankly useless ownership who know little about this game of football. Everyone knows that we need new ownership of this football club and that is my aim and those are my objectives. I am making good progress, continuing to talk to the people."

"I have got some good pledges and good finance. We are now working on the offer document. Remember, it is a hostile bid - that simply means that the club isn't officially for sale. But my intention is to present these owners with a legitimate, potent and commercial offer to say: 'You have run out of road, it's time go because your time is up."