‘Long-running joke on Twitter’: Elon Musk on buying Manchester United

Elon Musk, the world's richest person, has admitted his tweet about buying Manchester United was part of a “long running joke”. 

The Tesla founder tweeted that he was joking when he said that he was going to buy English soccer club Manchester United Plc. 

"No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I'm not buying any sports teams," Musk said, when asked by a user if he was serious about buying the club.

Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022

United has been owned by the Florida-based Glazer family since 2005.

Having seen eight coaches come and go in less than 10 years, Manchester United fans know their false dawns. 

Their management has often come under fire from fans for the debts, dividends and mismanagement that followed their controversial takeover.

England’s record 20-time champions have not won the Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge in 2012-13 and have gone five years without any silverware.

About four hours earlier, Musk had tweeted: "I'm buying Manchester United ur (sic) welcome," without offering any details. 

It is pertinent to mention here that Musk has a history of making irreverent tweets. 

Buying United, one of the biggest football clubs in the world, would have cost Musk at least £2bn, according to its current stock market valuation. 

Moreover, the northern England-based team has more than 32 million followers on its main Twitter account and Musk's first tweet about the club garnered more than 500,000 'likes' on the platform within six hours.