The discreet sheikh behind Qatar's bid for Manchester United

DOHA: The Qatari sheikh seeking control of Manchester United is the low-profile son of one of the richest men in the Gulf with ready access to the billions needed to make the audacious bid work.

Sheikh Jassim Hamad Al Thani, who is in his early 40s, has also maintained the credentials of discipline and discretion needed to get the Qatari establishment behind the tiny state's latest headline-grabbing operation.

"If he has gone public with this bid, then you can be assured that everyone from the emir down wants this to work," said a top executive with a multi-national company that has been dealing with Qatar for decades.

"Qatar has held the World Cup and now it has to follow it up," he added, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of making public comments in Qatar.

News of the bid for one of the world's most famous clubs was reported in the Gulf state on Saturday (Feb 18) with strictly factual reporting of Sheikh Jassim's statement.

The deal could cost more than US$5 billion and the announcement did not say where the money would come from. Sheikh Jassim has strong connections, however, to the seemingly bottomless pockets that have made Qatar one of the world's top investors.

The sheikh, the son of former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad Jassim Jaber Al Thani, is the longstanding chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) and was educated at Sandhurst, the elite British military academy.

His bid statement said he graduated as an "officer cadet".

It also stated that Jassim is "a life-long Manchester United fan" but gave few other details.

The sheikh was born in 1982, the year that QIB was established. He joined the bank's board in his early 20s and has been chairman for much of QIB's rise to become a leading