Manchester United Sale?

[Galahad]

Just reading about the sale of the Manchester United football club to one of our U.S. sports tycoons, Malcolm Glazer. It isn't being received very well in the UK press apparently. I'm just curious. Is it unusual for sport clubs to be bought and sold in the UK? It happens here quite often. The Glazers have a mixed reputation over here in the US but I'm wondering why it is so upsetting to have them buy MU? Any idea?

 

[ely3857]

Hiya

It is not at all usual for sports clubs to be bought and sold here in the UK, Usually it is just a few shares trading hands. There is another football club (Chelsea) that was bought a couple of years ago by a Russian Billionaire but thats the only one I can remember.

I am not sure why this guy is recieving such bad press over here, But I do know that the actual supporters of the Manchester United are very upset. They seem to think that he has purchased the club using borrowed money and if he doesnt repay it the club will go under.



Jodie

 

[Miffy2003]

Also, bear in mind that Man U is possibly the "biggest" club in the UK. By bigest I mean in terms of fan base, publicity machine, marketing etc. They already command quite a lot of column space in the news over here so this is no exception!

before any fans of Man U hating clubs respond to my post, let me point out that I am not a Man U fan. I dislike football intently and by that I mean all clubs

 

[Joanne UK]

As at today he owns 62% of the club. If he gets to 75% he can take the club off of the Stock Exchange and transfer his debts into the club and this is what the fans are worried about. They think he will increase ticket prices and force the club to sell of some of their best players.

They're threatening not to renew their season tickets and stop buying shirts to affect the club's revenue but I don't know how much support these protests have actually got. I would imagine there is a waiting list for season tickets so there will be others who will snap up any unrenewed tickets quite happily. They're protesting using the slogan "Manchester United Not For Sale" - but they quite clearly are.

Personally I'm a season ticket holder at Arsenal so anything that unsettles them before next weeks FA Cup final is quite welcome here!

 

[Cochise]

I think the thing that worries the Manyoo fans so much is that if he gains 75% and 1 share he has the power to write off his debt against the club and delist them from the stock exchange.

Anyway I am a Liverpool fan, so dont give a hoot

 

[Cochise]

Oops so important i said it twice

 

[carolfoy]

I think as well fans are upset because Glaser doesn't seem to CARE about footie, as we all know 'its not a matter of life and death, its more important than that' so unlike even Ibramovich who seemed to have a passion for the game they're worried that he may just get a bit complacent

 

[maleficent_man]

There is much more of a loyalty thing with football in the UK as opposed to the franchise element which seems to be inherent in, particularly American football. People want someone who cares about the club and its fans in charge. Glazer has had to borrow 270M on top of the 300M he has put in. Servicing the debt alone is going to be huge! I guess it is the problem with a football club putting itself in this position. Share issues have in the past allowed them to raise money to buy players and be successful but yet it makes them a 'business' rather than a 'football' club.

I certainly have no love for Man U but don't like the whole idea of any club being a business first and foremost.

Nick

 

[Galahad]

OK, now all that make sense. There are indeed a lot of problems in American professional sports - especially with the franchises just being treated like any other business. As I said, the Glazers are not univeresally popular even in Tampa. Also, sport teams here are generally just owned outright by a person or partnership and don't have "shares". Hope he doesn't do too much harm!

 

[john storey]

Reading all this "concerned" comment about Glazer taking over Man U really leaves me cold. There is a club in E 13 (West Ham Utd) who would DIE to have this guy come & take over their club. Real supporters, following a real club, producing neverending talent to be sold off to these huge Plc's at next to nothing, NOW THAT'S SOUL DESTROYING. If only we had this problem to worry about, wouldn't life be sweet.

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
I think the Man Utd fans biggest concern is his intention to rename the club the Manchester White Sox....

Mick.

 

[SplashMtn]

Reading all this "concerned" comment about Glazer taking over Man U really leaves me cold. There is a club in E 13 (West Ham Utd) who would DIE to have this guy come & take over their club. Real supporters, following a real club, producing neverending talent to be sold off to these huge Plc's at next to nothing, NOW THAT'S SOUL DESTROYING. If only we had this problem to worry about, wouldn't life be sweet.

Plunging a profit making, debt free club into nearly £300 000 000 debt is a very big problem indeed in my book.

 

[Cochise]

Created a monster............Manyoo were happy to bleed every last penny from the fans over the years with kits, excuses for kits and more kits. It has become a victim of its own success.

 

[floridalol]

It's the fans displaying banners proclaiming "Man Utd Not For Sale" that amuses me. Don't they realise that any quoted company IS for sale? Just because they are a football club does not give them special rights outside the normal business world.

When Glazer gets his 75% of shares he will delist making the other 25% worthless pieces of paper - unless everyone is prepared to take the loss then they will have no choice but to sell to Glazer to recoup their money - it's ok for fans with a couple of hundred pounds worth of shares to refuse but the investors with thousands of pounds worth will not be willing to lose their stakes just for the fun of it. So when Glazer gets his 90% he will then automatically purchase the rest - thats the stock market rules and no one can do anything about it.

Man Utd are in a unique position for a quoted comapany - one with no debts - so were a prime target for investors, it wasn't a case of if they were to be taken over but when. The supporters were happy for the club to raise tens of millions of pounds issuing shares so they could buy the best players over the past decade or so which wouldn't have happened otherwise. If you swim with sharks....

My one reservation about the whole thing is that the glory hunters are going to switch to supporting Chelsea - true story here:

Last week I was behind a middle aged bloke in the supermarket queue who was wearing a Chelsea shirt, as a lifelong Chelsea supporter of 41 years since the age of 7 I struck up a conversation with him - it was soon apparent that he had little knowledge of Chelsea and he confessed that he had swapped to supporting Chelsea at Christmas after he decided that Man Utd were no longer going to be the major force in football - not only that whilst looking shamefaced he confessed to supporting Liverpool up until the time when they declined and Man Utd were winning everything in sight!

Florida Lol

 

[SplashMtn]

Last week I was behind a middle aged bloke in the supermarket queue who was wearing a Chelsea shirt, as a lifelong Chelsea supporter of 41 years since the age of 7 I struck up a conversation with him - it was soon apparent that he had little knowledge of Chelsea and he confessed that he had swapped to supporting Chelsea at Christmas after he decided that Man Utd were no longer going to be the major force in football - not only that whilst looking shamefaced he confessed to supporting Liverpool up until the time when they declined and Man Utd were winning everything in sight!

Florida Lol

............speechless!!