Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag delivered for the Glazers - now they must deliver for him

It is 171 days since the Glazer family went public with their intention to sell or seek investment into Manchester United, but still the process drags on and the outcome remains uncertain.

The Jimmy Murphy Centre at Carrington, used as a hub for interested parties to be briefed on the situation at the club, remains out of action for some of its day-to-day business and nobody working there or at Old Trafford can say for any certainty which way the Glazers will fall.

Senior club staff have to speculate over which direction United will head in because nobody really knows. Erik ten Hag has kept his counsel on the takeover but beyond a chance meeting and a handshake with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, he is unlikely to be any wiser than the rest of us.

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When United were placed on the market on November 22 some industry insiders expected a sale by Easter. The process was being led by Raine, who had drummed up a remarkable auction for Chelsea and conducted a swift sale, although the circumstances were very clearly different.

United has failed to attract quite the level of interest, however, and the Glazers haven't got what they wanted. The brazen attempts to drum up competition and the three deadlines for new bids are clear signs that they are desperate to fleece this process for all it is worth.

But quite why it is taking this long is unclear. The MEN has been told that people close to Joel Glazer had told him it would come down to Qatar or Ratcliffe in November. The Glazers have employed Raine to tell them what they already knew.

If a sale is to happen it will be to the bid led by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani or to Ratcliffe's Ineos group. There has been Qatari interest in