Elon Musk sends football world into meltdown with Manchester United tweet

Elon Musk sent the Twitter world into meltdown about a multi-billion dollar purchase, hours later he pulled the pin on it all.

Elon Musk has sent football fans worldwide into meltdown on after going rogue on Twitter once again.

The world’s richest man was initially talking politics when he tweeted: “To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!”

He then replied to his own tweet, adding: “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome.”

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Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022

The bizarre tweet received more than 200,000 likes within a couple of hours.

Unsurprisingly, it sent the football world into a meltdown as fans tried to decipher if Musk really intends to buy Manchester United.

It’s not the first time Musk has tweeted he’s going to make a monster purchase only to withdraw later on. The billionaire once tweeted he was going to buy Coca-Cola. “Next I’m buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in,” he wrote.

Turns out his tweet regarding the Red Devils was on the same path, with Musk later tweeting the whole thing was a joke.

Elon Musk isn't buying Man U

The iconic football club is in tatters after finishing sixth in the English Premier League last season.

United hired respected Dutch coach Erik ten Hag but has lost their first two games of the season against middling opposition and are on the bottom of the EPL ladder for the first time in 30 years.

The Red Devils are currently owned by the American Glazer family, who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL.

The Glazers are widely disliked by United supporters for their mismanagement of the team since taking it over in 2005, but have refused to sell the club on multiple occasions.

Manchester United are a basketcase at the moment. Picture: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Who knows if Elon Musk was joking or not. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

This week, Musk sold $US6.9 billion (about $A10 billion) of Tesla stock, which would have given him more than enough funds to meet the Glazers’ valuation last year of $US4 billion for the club.

Just woke up from a crazy dream. Elon Musk said he was going to buy Manchester United.

Anyway, going back to sleep now.

— Ryan (@Itshaber) August 17, 2022

Let’s be honest, not even Elon Musk could save Man United at this point… https://t.co/q5FawJDeaT

— Jake Barford (@BFordLancer48) August 17, 2022

As if things couldn’t get any worse for #MUFC, they’re now being trolled by Musk pic.twitter.com/w8oTbLtVzS

— nazir afzal (@nazirafzal) August 17, 2022

the Red Planet Devils https://t.co/pVMqgSzfH0

— Brett Sprigg (@BrettSprigg) August 17, 2022

Journalist Kanishka Raj Singh joked: “When Elon Musk finds a way to send normal people on this planet to Mars, he should send Manchester United there first because they are surely not capable of winning any trophies in this world.”

The AFR’s Mark Di Stefano said: “Thoughts are with the tech and football writers who just had to down tools and chase comment and reaction to a trolling tweet.”

Musk famously bought Twitter for $44 billion ($A60.9 billion) earlier this year but terminated his deal to buy the social media giant last month.

He previously accused Twitter of “resisting and thwarting” his attempts to access information about fake accounts, saying the deal could not progress until the issue was settled.

Time will tell if the 51-year-old, who has a net worth of $US265 billion, follows through on his latest tweet.

Originally published as Elon Musk sends football world into meltdown with Manchester United tweet