According to The Daily Telegraph, the Glazers contacted Lloyd Blankfein in late January after O’Neill, a Goldman Sachs economist, began spouting off about their super-leveraged ownership of Manchester United.

The Glazers were understandably prickly as Goldmans were one of the underwriters of the club’s recent £507m bond issue, which netted the bank a share of the £15m fees.

However, earlier this week potential takeover talks were hosted by Mark Rawlinson, a Freshfields’ corporate lawyer, who advised United on its takeover by the Glazers in 2005. The discussions centred around a potential takeover by a consortium known as the Red Knight’s Group. Jim O’Neill, was there acting in a personal capacity.

So, either O’Neill has told LB to stick it, or LB quietly turned a blind eye.