The Football Blog

As he plots world domination...

Only the other day we spoke of the day in 1989 when a ball-juggling Michael Knighton nearly bought Manchester United for a tidy sum of £20m. Well, it won’t come as a surprise to know that he’s not the only person in the past who has tried to buy Manchester’s second richest club. Today in 1998 it could all have been so different as Rupert Murdoch, you know, the bloke who rules the world, had a bid accepted to takeover Manchester United.

His company, BSkyB, those responsible for Andy Gray and his annoying toys, agreed a price of around £620m (£600m more than what Knighton agreed nine years earlier). Fearing a conflict of interest between his position as owner of the ever influential Sky TV and his new role as Man United owner, fans revolted. Only, unlike when the Glazers took over, this time it worked. And, bizarrely, it was an MP that Reds fans had to thank, as trade secretary Stephen Byers blocked the takeover, prompting Murdoch to spit out his big, rich dummy as he withdrew funding for the Labour Party’s 1999 conference.

Also on this day, in 1947, the first ever computer bug was discovered as a moth lodged itself in the relay of the Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University.

Meanwhile, in 1994, Sachin Tendulkar scored the first of his many ODI centuries in a match against Australia in Sri Lanka.

And it's Flavius Honorius! as they said in ancient Rome to South African golfer Warren Schutte (37), Rod Stewart's ex, Rachel Hunter, (38), shouty comic actor, Adam Sandler (42) and fop, Hugh Grant (48).