Rupert Murdoch and Manchester United: Media empire owner's forgotten attempt to buy Premier League club

There's no two ways about it. On the pitch and off the pitch Manchester United are currently in dismay. It is unclear whether the club is still actually for sale as believed earlier this year and the team has started the season in woeful form.

With a backdrop of massive discontent from fans over the clubs current owners - The Glazer family - bids from Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatar's Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani were both submitted earlier this summer when a potential sale was touted.

But that's all quietened down now with the Glazers remaining fixed on their valuation of the club. And some even believe the club was never for sale to begin with!

Amid all this, the world was shocked this week by the news that Rupert Murdoch would step down as the chairman of both News Corp and Fox Corporation with his son taking over.

So you might be wondering - what on earth do Man Utd and Rupert Murdoch have in common? Well, here you go:

Rupert Murdoch's attempt to buy Manchester United in the late 1990s was blocked by Tony Blair's Labour Government.

Let's go back to '90s football and baggy kits for a minute. Manchester United are the most successful English club of the decade and Sir Alex Ferguson's momentum with the side packed with stars like David Beckham and Andy Cole isn't showing any signs of slowing down soon.

So it's easy to see why Rupert Murdoch decided to offer £625 million for the club - a then-record amount offered for the sports club. Let it sink in that a £5.5 billion big from the Qatari's hasn't even managed to be successful either

Under his BSkyB broadcasting company, Murdoch launched the bid but after four and a half months of investigations by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, a published report ruled the move to be anti-competitive and halted it.

Why was Rupert Murdoch's Man Utd bid blocked?

The published report ruled out the possibility of any broadcaster being allowed to own a British football club.

Stephen Byers, the Trade and Industry Secretary at the time, said: "Under almost all scenarios considered by the MMC, the merger would increase the market power which BSkyB already has as a provider of sports premium channels.

The ruling put a stop to BSkyB's careful strategy at a time when the company was investing heavily in its new digital satellite service.

Murdoch and co felt they had addressed the main point of contention that Manchester United would pass information about bids for television rights from rival broadcasters to its new parent company - by agreeing that the club would withdraw from the talks.

BSkyB's chief executive at the time said: "This is a bad ruling for British football clubs who will have to compete in Europe against clubs who are backed by successful media companies."

The 254-page report also raised more questions as it appeared to be highly suspicious of BSkyB and United, concluding that promises offered by the two companies to help the deal go through were unlikely to be kept.

According to the Independent, Mr Blair's allies admitted that Mr Murdoch would be angry. The Prime Minister would seek to reassure him in an attempt to stop the decision impacting the close relationship between Murdoch and the PM.

Both The Times and The Sun condemned the Government's decision, saying that football would be the loser.

It turns out supporters at the time were happy about the news.

Michael Crick, a broadcaster, and founder of the Shareholders United Against Murdoch group, said: "The most remarkable thing is that a politician has at last stood up to Rupert Murdoch."