Billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday said he was joking when he tweeted that he would buy English soccer club Manchester United.

"No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I'm not buying any sports teams," Musk said when asked by a user if he was serious about buying the club. Earlier, he had tweeted, "I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome."

"Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U," he added, rubbing salt into the wound for some, "They were my fav team as a kid."

Some Manchester United fans had previously urged Musk on Twitter to consider buying the club, complaining at what they see as under-investment at one of the world's biggest soccer clubs. United haven't won the English league title since legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson claimed the last of their record 20 wins in 2013, despite the efforts of eight coaches since then.

Some users mocked Musk's tweet before he revealed it was a joke, comparing it to his troubled attempt to buy Twitter.

The northern England-based team has more than 32 million followers on its primary Twitter account, and Musk's first tweet about the club garnered more than 500,000 'likes' within six hours.

The Manchester United Fanatics Club Hungary responded after Musk said he was joking, saying the whole thing was simply a tweet from someone who does not think things through.

Meanwhile, the Manchester United Fans Club Kolkata said, "It has once again reinstated the fact that Elon and his tweets are just gimmicks. Although it would have been great if he really invested 1/10th of what he paid for Twitter to own this legendary club … the entire fan base is sick and tired of the Glazers."

In early trading in the club's Frankfurt-listed shares, the stock was up 2.5 percent.

(Source: Reuters with edits)