Debts
I am well aware that United have debts in excess of £700 million, but I am also aware that the Deloitte’s report on the top twenty richest football clubs in the World yesterday had Manchester United in third place. They are only behind Real Madrid and Barcelona and that is largely due to the weakness of the Pound in the financial markets.
I am also aware that since the Glazers took over in 2005, United have won three Premier League titles, three Carling Cups, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
Successful
Whilst the debt figure seems incredibly high, they are still earning more money than almost any sporting club in the World and they are still remarkably successful on the pitch.
I guess the question I am asking is, why do the United fans hate the Glazers so much?
It is very rare that fans have any time for the owners of their club but the United fans have gone way beyond the normal mistrust and suspicion that fans have about the money men.
Fortune
It seems that the fans fear that the huge debts the Glazers have inflicted on the club will restrict the potential for future success. They also fear that the Glazers will make a fortune for themselves at the club’s expense.
The Glazers do not seem to like the limelight and they make very few, if any, public statements. Rightly or wrongly that silence is regarded as proof of their guilt in the eyes of many Manchester United fans.
Common
My limited understanding of financial matters is that what the Glazers did with Manchester United was common practice in the financial world prior to the credit crunch. In other words, they were doing what they thought was right for the football club but got caught out by the sudden fall into recession.
Now, like many businesses and Governments for that matter, they may be well advised to try to reduce their debts. As astute businessmen I have no doubt that is what they shall attempt to do.
Hopes
Hopes are being pinned on a buyout of the club by a group of financiers who apparently go under the title of the ‘Red Knights’. The money men behind this group are men who have made a fortune doing the same type of thing that the Glazers have done. They have made money in the same way and built up debt in the same way in order to do so.
I am not saying that the people behind the ‘Red Knights’ are bad people or are any better or worse than the Glazers, but I think the fans might be being naïve to think that all will be well if the takeover went ahead.
Statements
I haven’t heard that the Glazers interfere in any way with Sir Alex Ferguson and football matters in general. They don’t make public statements about each other, the manager or the players, like some other American owners not too far from Manchester seem to do.
In fact, as an outsider, the Glazers seem to be pretty good, supportive owners. They have a huge debt that they need to start clearing, but if they do so, I really can’t see the problem with them.
As I have said, I am an outsider and there is probably more to it than I know. Can any United fans explain why it is exactly that they hate the Glazers quite so much?
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