COMMENT: Manchester United fans... They really can't lose, can they? With two bids in. Whomever the Glazers sell to, there's far, far more upside to any negatives. But as ever, there's a qualifier...

Whether it be the local, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, or the Qatari, Sheikh Jassim, United will be moving forward with either man. Both football fans. Both sportsman. And both whom see buying United as an end point - and not something to flip.

This isn't Fenway Sports Group buying Liverpool. Nor the Boehly conglomerate taking over Chelsea. There's no love of the game from either American party. Indeed, there's no great love of their club. It's a means to an end. Their primary drive of getting involved in English football is to make a profit. Buy low and sell high. Liverpool and Chelsea, like so many of England's foreign-owned teams, are just a part of a portfolio.

But Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim are different. They're United fans. Their football men. They understand the game. The club. It's history. And they've both bid for United with the prime motivation - like any supporter - of being involved. This isn't a five-year project. It's a lifetime plan. And whether it's Ratcliffe or Sheikh Jassim, United will be stronger for it.

Ratcliffe, with his offer, has already silenced his critics. The Ineos chairman making a mockery of claims he's been using his interest as a PR stunt. After shying away from the bidding process at Chelsea, accusations were leveled at Ratcliffe that he was never serious about the Blues - and nor would he be about United.

But he's certainly put his money where his mouth is now. £3.5bn tabled to the Glazer family on Friday afternoon. Sir Jim is all in. The football nous is already established through the purchases of Nice in France and Switzerland's Lausanne. Of course, United is on another scale. But this is an English football fan. A Manchester United supporter. Who has been involved at the elite of French football for years. Ineos will walk into Old Trafford ready to hit the ground running.

For Sheikh Jassim, the background is different, but the motivation's the same. English educated and a United fan, he helped establish Qatar's world class Aspire academy - with an emphasis on football. Of course, Aspire now has close ties with Leeds United and has long been a training base for the world's biggest clubs and best players. But it also must be highlighted that within 15 years of Aspire being established, Qatar would become Asian champions in 2019. Again, like Ratcliffe, Sheikh Jassim knows football and has a record of success in the game.

With the goodwill generated from the World Cup, there is some momentum behind the the Qatari. His offer a clear €1bn more than Ratcliffe's. And if the Glazers - beyond brothers Joel and Avram - are to stick to type, the majority of the family will push to sell to the highest bidder.

Which could include a third party. It's emerged that Elliott Management made their interest formal before Friday's 'soft' deadline fell. Fresh from selling AC Milan after taking over the Rossoneri as Li Yonghong struggled to make repayments, Elliott now fancy getting involved in United.

But for this column, for the sake of the United support, you hope the Glazers give them a swerve. As mentioned, United need a figurehead at the top of the club, not a hedge fund. A United supporter and a football fan. Not a grey, faceless entity.

The success of Milan last season owed little to Elliott and everything to the genius and principles of Paolo Maldini, Ricky Massara and - before he was run out of the club - Zvonimir Boban. Working with free agents, long-term loans and fighting with chief exec Ivan Gazidis to stay loyal to Stefano Pioli, the Scudetto was due to these three football men. How they did it on a shoestring budget and staring down internal battles, has won all three the admiration of every sporting director in Italy. Certainly, no-one claims a foreign chequebook influenced Milan's 2021/22 title.

So it should be Ratcliffe or Sheikh Jassim. Either man will be transforming the running of the club. For a generation of the United support, they won't have known anything like it. The debt and it's repayments will be wiped. The ridiculous dividend payments also gone. United will be run not to fund a family's lifestyle and investments, but to build and maintain a title winning team.

The club will be run by football fans for football fans. It's finances restructured and it's potential to fund a world class team maximised. If any fan, including the neutral, ever wondered how big a club Manchester United can be, we're about to discover it.

So long as the focus is on the two individuals. Whichever way it goes, United fans really can't lose.