Ben Chu: Manchester United's hedge fund fan

Outlook One imagines that the eyes of the beleaguered Glazer family lit up when they discovered that George Soros' hedge fund had snapped up 19 per cent of their Manchester United share offering.

What better rebuke to those legions of doubters who said the family were grossly overvaluing the club than the endorsement of the legendary investor who "broke the Bank of England"? If Soros sees value in owning a piece of Manchester United at $14 a share, who would dare say different?

Except that a Soros endorsement is not all that it once was. For one thing, the great man gave up active management last year, leaving day-to-day control in the hands of his sons, Jonathan and Robert. And their record hasn't been too smoking hot since.

They bought into Facebook earlier this year. The social-media firm's shares have, of course, almost halved in value since it went public. And United's shares have also been on the slide since the New York float on 10 August. They are down almost 7 per cent, which means the Soros fund is sitting on a loss of about $3m (£1.9m) on its 3.1 million shares.

Let's hope the Soros boys are in it because they're fans of the team.