SAF: Happy With Glazer Support …
The Glazer family may have been accused of investing in Manchester United only for the commercial opportunities that their takeover has yielded, but Sir Alex Ferguson believes that the projected £58 million that the Americans have spent on new players this summer demonstrates their long-term commitment to the club.
Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson have been lured to Old Trafford, while Ferguson has also made permanent last summer’s loan signing of Tomasz Kuszczak from West Bromwich Albion and agreed a deal in principle for Carlos Tévez, the West Ham United and Argentina forward.
“I’ve said since they took over the club that they have been nothing but supportive,” Ferguson said, “and they have demonstrated that support by giving a lot of money this summer and I appreciate it because I think it gives us a really strong squad next season.”
The Glazers have experienced a thawing in their relations with United supporters over the past 12 months and their extravagances in the transfer market this close season are likely to endear them to fans concerned only with the team’s performances on the field. The debt, which stands at about £663 million, remains a cause of concern for others, but the Glazers insist that it is “serviceable”, given the club’s mammoth revenue streams.
A spokesman for the family told The Times: “We have said all along that money has been available for the manager to spend and now he has chosen to really take the plunge and spend a lot of money on four great players. He has always had those funds and the manager has always been reassured about that. The family are 100 per cent committed to investing in all aspects of the football club, which includes providing the manager with the funds to invest in the transfer market.”
Ferguson will look to offset some of the cost of his arrivals, however, by offloading a player or two, although he said yesterday that “there have been no decisions taken on anyone”.
Gabriel Heinze, the defender, Kieran Richardson, the midfield player, and Alan Smith and Giuseppe Rossi, the forwards, appear the most vulnerable and decisions on some could be taken before the squad fly to Tokyo on Sunday for the start of their summer tour to Asia.
