Sure enough, Zane's big announcement worked.
The very next day, all the newspapers in the UK had his face on the front page. They were all talking about his "threat" to buy Manchester United.
It got even crazier when Zane was seen in person, meeting with the chairman of the Manchester United club. The media went wild.
"Headlines! If this isn't a headline, then what is?!" a reporter named Mitchell yelled. He was hiding nearby and got pictures of the whole meeting. He was so excited he was jumping up and down. He knew whoever got these pictures first would win.
He called his boss at The Sun newspaper right away.
"Eddie, it's Mitchell!"
"The news? Of course it's big news! The American tycoon, Blackwood, is meeting with the boss of Manchester United! Yes, it's right in front of my eyes!"
"Photos? Of course I have them!"
"But how much will you pay me? Man, I have my pride! You can't just buy me off with 1,000 pounds!"
"No, no, I think 3,000 pounds sounds more like my price."
"If you don't like it, I'll just call my friend at the Mirror... Hahaha, you're smart, Eddie. This is big!"
...
After half an hour, Zane finished his friendly chat with the Manchester United chairman. He and his bodyguards got in their car and quickly left.
"Alexander," Zane said in the car, "I want you to go meet with Mr. Thurman at the FA (the big Football Association) in my name. I need to test their attitude."
"Okay, boss," Alexander said.
Zane knew you couldn't just buy a soccer team. The FA was the big boss, just like the NBA in America. They had the power to stop the whole deal. If Zane made a deal, but the FA said "no," it would all be for nothing.
He remembered hearing that a Russian billionaire had to wait three years just to buy the Chelsea team because the FA kept dragging its feet.
"I don't want my deal to fall through because of the FA's issues!" Zane thought.
...
Back at the hotel, Zane's team gave him the full report on buying the team. The most important part was, of course, the money.
"Boss," his lawyer, David Martin, said, "Manchester United is the most valuable team in the whole league. The price is... 460 million pounds."
Zane whistled. "That's really a lot!"
He had been expecting it, but it was still a huge number. He knew other teams were way cheaper. (In the future, Chelsea would be bought for only 150 million pounds, and Southampton was only worth about 70 million.)
"Boss, we don't have that much cash just lying around," David Martin said. "But we can use a 'leveraged buyout.' That means we use a big loan to buy the team."
Zane nodded. He knew this was how the Glazer family would buy the team in the future. It was a smart way to do it.
It had good sides and bad sides.
The good side: He wouldn't have to use all his own money.
The bad side: The team would have a huge debt to pay off every year.
Zane knew from his old life that this debt would one day hurt the team and keep them from buying the best new players.
Was Zane rich? Of course! But he couldn't just use all his money to buy one soccer team. That would hurt his other companies, like his movie studio. So, using a loan was a good option.
...
In the following days, Zane had many meetings with the bosses at the FA. He talked about all his exciting plans for the team.
But... the results were not good.
At the top of the FA, at least 60% of the bosses were against the idea.
The FA Secretary-General said: "Zane Blackwood is a great businessman. But this is football. I can't trust him with it."
The Vice President said: "Zane Blackwood is too young. He doesn't have the experience to be a good club chairman."
Even the royal family's helper at the FA was strongly against it! "Manchester United is the pride of British football!" he said. "We can't just hand it over to a young man. What if he ruins it? We can't take that bet!"
So, the FA held a vote. 72% of the bosses voted NO.
Zane was so frustrated. He felt humiliated.
"Darn it!" he fumed.
He knew the FA was famous for being slow. They would usually take years to make a decision. But for him? They voted "no" in just a few days! It was so fast, it was almost an insult.
"What is this?!" he said, getting really angry. "They're just bullying me because I'm young!"
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