Jim O’Neill, a close friend of Sir Alex Ferguson, emerged last night as a key player among the Red Knights, who hope to wrest Manchester United from the clutches of the Glazer family.
As details emerged of the first tentative meeting between the group of leading City financiers who plan to put together a consortium to buy United, the name of O’Neill, who briefly served as a director at Old Trafford and has strong ties with Ferguson, figured prominently.