Celebrity Traitors star's ex-husband tried to buy Man Utd and had stunning £623m bid accepted

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The Celebrity Traitors star Jerry Hall ’s former husband Rupert Murdoch once tried to buy Manchester United for £623million. Hall, 69, will appear on our television screens later this year after being confirmed as one of the celebrities to take part in the second edition of the hugely successful BBC series.

The former supermodel and 1989 Batman film star will join a host of other A-listers in the Scottish highlands for the iconic game of deception and betrayal, where the winner will receive a cash prize of up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice.

Some fans of the show will already be aware that Hall, who shares four children with Mick Jagger , later married media tycoon Murdoch in 2016. The billionaire allegedly broke up with her via email in 2022, with their divorce after six years of marriage being finalised that same year.

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Murdoch’s News Corp owns News UK, which includes The Sun, talkSPORT and The Times, as well as The Wall Street Journal, having formerly owned Sky UK. And, in 1998, the 95-year-old almost bought Premier League giants Manchester United.

At the start of United’s most successful season - the 1998/99 campaign - news that the Australian media magnate was interested in buying the club sent shockwaves through football. In the opening weeks of that season, Alex Ferguson ’s side were a long way from winning anything, having only recorded one victory in Champions League qualifying and ended the previous season without a trophy.

Murdoch had played a key role in revolutionising football on TV in the early years of the Premier League, taking it from a sport that was potentially in danger of being marginalised during the 1980s, and transforming it into a commercial powerhouse. Murdoch and Sky benefited but so did United, who timed their return to dominance perfectly.

They became one of the most well-known brands in the world , arguably pioneering global football marketing as they launched a TV channel and began to open retail outlets across Asia. In July 1998, the chief executive of Murdoch’s TV company BSkyB, Mark Booth, invited United's chief executive Martin Edwards and club lawyer Maurice Watkins to a London lunch where he dropped the bombshell news of the intent of BSkyB to buy the Reds.

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Ferguson by most accounts was out of the loop when it came to the initial conversations about Murdoch’s takeover. In the summer of 1998, Ferguson clashed with chairman Edwards over the fall-out of the previous campaign and the prospect of a new contract. There were even suggestions that the Scot was putting together a consortium to buy the club himself as well as looking at management jobs elsewhere.

While Ferguson refused to talk about the potential takeover in press conferences, the news that United accepted a £623m bid from Murdoch’s TV company, BSkyB, was met with widespread fan backlash. The deal still had to be agreed by the UK government but the growing belief that it could be given the green light led to the formation of the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust.

United supporters’ fears were exacerbated by a Daily Mirror reporter who had been asked by his then-editor Piers Morgan to ask Booth who the team’s left-back was in the BSkyB press conference. He was unable to answer - much to the fans' disgust.

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There was also concern from fans of other clubs who were worried Murdoch’s takeover would hand the Red Devils a competitive advantage. There were fan protests inside and outside Old Trafford when the team took to the field against Charlton in September 1998.

Speculation regarding the takeover persisted as United made inroads into the campaign. Around 1,000 fans attended a meeting in Bridgewater Hall in the city centre ahead of the 3-3 Old Trafford draw with Barcelona in the Champions League.

Opposition to the deal was growing and even Prime Minister Blair was involved. In the end, the takeover was referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in October 1998. On the eve of the famous FA Cup semi-final victory over Arsenal , a government report consisting of more than 250 pages was released, which ultimately boiled down to the bid being blocked.

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