Independent: The Glazers
Manchester United’s chief executive, David Gill, yesterday heaped praise on the club’s American owners, the Glazer family, for their role in United’s ninth Premiership title win.
“They have bought a stability to the club, and stability is the key element of any football club,” he said. But there are large numbers of United fans who will beg to differ, pointing out that United, formerly debt-free, now owe £660m, borrowed by the Glazers to buy the club for themselves and now guaranteed against United’s assets.
This burden is one reason for unpopular ticket price hikes. The cost of seats at Old Trafford will increase by up to 14 per cent next season, and will invariably continue to rise in the future.
As long as the massive debts remain, there will be doubts over how they will be repaid. Interest alone is running at some £50m a year. Should United’s on-pitch fortunes take a steep nosedive - unlikely but never impossible in football; just ask a Leeds fan - doubt would turn to twitchy bum time quicker than you could say “franchise”.
So the Glazers’ £790m takeover of May 2005 was a gamble, and remains so. Yet it would be churlish not to recognise the positives. Their gamble is paying off so far, more through design than luck. They took a business that they saw with potential for expansion with proven and aggressive US marketing, and are growing it.
An expanded and full Old Trafford is one piece of evidence. A world-record £56.5m four-year shirt deal with AIG is another. So is an array of non-sexy but profitable financial services: an incredible 650,000 people in South Korea alone now own a United debit or credit card. All that income ultimately hires and pays players.
The Glazers will also benefit from the new three-year £2.7bn Premiership TV deal, which kicks in next season. If they envisaged that when they took over, they are seers.
Malcolm Glazer’s sons, especially Joel and Bryan, who have most day-to-day input, have endeared themselves to Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson and have, by all accounts, been excellent bosses.
“Joel rang me last night to express his congratulations to everyone at the club,” Gill said yesterday. “All the doomsayers who said we would be in trouble have been proved wrong.”
This is rather rich from Gill, who has himself been proved wrong. He branded the Glazers’ original business plan as potentially damaging, offered to fund an anti-takeover group with his own cash, and expressed affiliation for those behind the “barricades”. But that is in the past.
The Glazers also have a safety net or two, albeit unpopular. They could raise £100m-plus at a stroke by selling naming rights to Old Trafford. They could even sell the ground itself. They have always vowed not to do either. They know tradition is important. And they respect it, almost as much as they revere the bottom line.
