English club Sheffield United received £3m fund from Osama bin Laden's family

A Premier League club, Sheffield United has become a hot topic of discussion on social media as reports stated that the English club received a £3 million loan, financed by a member of the bin Laden family.

The news broke out on Thursday, May 16 during a court hearing over the club's ownership battle between Blades' co-owners, Kevin McCabe and Prince Abdullah Bin Mosaad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

On the fourth day of the court hearing, the court heard that Sheffield United was loaned £3 million in an investment opportunity, known as 'Project Delta'.

A barrister Andreas Gledhill QC, who is representing Prince Abdullah, told the court that the club knew that the loan was financed by a member of the bin Laden family.

As per the written case outline, Gledhill told the court that Prince Abdullah stated in his evidence that "at the Dubai meeting: 'The possibility of new investment in the football club and the associated real estate from Saudi-based investors were discussed.'...
"One of the investors mentioned at that meeting was Mr Saleh Mohammed bin Laden, a Saudi businessman and part of the Bin Laden family'," he further added.

It should be noted that McCabe, long-time chairman of Sheffield United and "a wealthy Yorkshireman" sold 50 percent of the shares to Prince Abdullah, a member of Saudi royal family, for a £10 million after they became investment partners having first met in 2013.

The highly mysterious £3 million loan in 2017, became the main reason behind the communication problem between the paid and triggered the ownership battle.

Gledhill also told the court that McCabe's son Simon had said, "It did cause me to sit up straight for a moment ... My only thought was that we would not want to go into a partnership or an investment vehicle with the Bin Laden family."

However, Sheffield United declined to comment on the matter.

After the news broke, social media users criticised the club and posted their opinions on Twitter.