Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan still regrets not buying Manchester United.
The JJB Sports founder shook hands with then Reds owner Martin Edwards on a buyout in the 1980s but both parties got cold feet.
He told the Manchester Evening News: "The purchase of Manchester United was all sorted with Martin Edwards and was going to be sealed within 28 days.
"Later I went home and said to my wife Patricia that I'd pulled off a good deal to buy Manchester United. £11.5m was a lot of money then. She said 'what?'.
"I was in JJB and expanding so she said, 'do you think all the people in London, Liverpool, Birmingham will come and shop at your stores when you own Manchester United - the greatest enemy the teams they support have?'.
"I said 'you might have a point'. So instead I went back to Martin Edwards and Manchester United and said the deal is done but told him that if he floated Manchester United on the stock market, he would get a lot more than £11.5m.
"He rang me back four days later and asked if he could be let off the hook with the deal because he wanted to go on the market and I said ok. I would have done the deal but I thought he hadn't thought it through."
