A first impression is often a good indicator of what is to come, so the evening of June 30, 2005 would have told the Glazer family all they needed to know about the road ahead for their ownership of Manchester United.
Having flown in to visit Old Trafford for the first time as owners, word got out that Joel, Bryan and Avram Glazer were inside the stadium, meeting senior figures and surveying the prize they had recently acquired. They had managed to get in unnoticed, but it was a different story as they attempted to get out. Hundreds of United supporters, chanting “Die, Die, Glazer,” tried to enter the stadium, prompting the deployment of riot police and dog handlers. Fans erected barriers to stop the Glazers from leaving Old Trafford, forcing officers to bundle the trio into a police van in order to evacuate them safely.
“Life is not going to be at all easy for them [the Glazers],” Nick Towle, of Shareholders United, a group of fans who held shares in the club, said at the time. “I don’t think they realise the full scale of the reception that awaits them. The hardcore fans will not give in this battle.”
The message was clear: the Glazers were not welcome at Manchester United, despite club director and legendary former player, Sir Bobby Charlton, apologising to the new owners for the actions of the supporters.
“I apologised to them for what happened,” Charlton said. “I tried to explain they couldn’t ignore the fans, who are so emotionally involved in the club, but who sometimes do go a bit too far.”
Seventeen years on, the United supporters are still protesting against the Glazers, who completed that £790 million takeover of the Premier League’s most successful team by investing just £270m of their own money into the deal — the rest was borrowed against United, instantly plunging the club into more than £500m worth of debt.
Until that point, United had been debt-free. Although listed on the London Stock Exchange with annual dividends for shareholders, profits were put back into the club, allowing Sir Alex Ferguson to sign Wayne Rooney for £27 million in 2004. Between 1992 and 2005, United almost doubled the size of Old Trafford from a 40,000-capacity stadium to one that held 75,000 fans. Success bred success and investment, but under the Glazers, debt repayments and interest charges were added to the mix.
Since 2005, through successful times — 13 trophies, including a Champions League win — and otherwise, fans have targeted the club’s sponsors, vandalized and protested outside the properties of various club board members and, in May 2021, broke into Old Trafford, successfully forcing the postponement of a Premier League game against Liverpool.
Despite the fury and hatred they generate among the United fan base, the Glazers remain in control, but there is a growing sense of optimism among supporters and that the endgame is about to be played.
But the Glazers were unmoved. They had successfully turned the club into a commercial powerhouse — the peak being a £750m, ten-year, shirt deal with Adidas in 2014 — and even when the trophies dried up, the money kept rolling in.
“You should never under-estimate just how much the Glazers enjoy being United’s owners,” a source who worked with the Glazers told ESPN. “They own one of sport’s biggest global brands, so they get an incredible amount of kudos from that.”
Others have a different view. Another source who has had business dealings with the Glazers said, “They are business people and Manchester United is simply part of their business empire. They don’t have an emotional attachment to the club. If the right offer comes along, they will sell.
“The Chelsea sale has set a benchmark and they will have noted that. If Chelsea is worth £4.25bn, (Chelsea was sold for £2.5bn in May with the buyers committing to a further £1.75bn of investment), then they won’t be selling Manchester United for anything less than £5bn.”
“They have reached a crossroads now,” Green said. “If they want to sell, they will only do so for a massive price and, despite the NYSE share price giving the club a valuation of around $2bn (£1.73m), the reality is that Manchester United will command a much higher sale price because of its status as one of the world’s premier sporting brands. They are worth a lot more than Chelsea.
“The Chelsea sale showed just how much money and interest is out there, particularly in the United States, so they won’t struggle to find a buyer. Yet if they decide to limp on as owners, they simply have to find some finance from somewhere, either through borrowing or selling a portion of their holding. The problem is, nobody is going to want to invest millions in United and leave the Glazers with 100% control.”
“But they have to pay for the Old Trafford redevelopment and this summer’s spending spree somehow and revenue is down because of COVID and the lack of regular Champions League football. Suggestions that they will follow the Barcelona route and borrow against broadcast deals would be so short-sighted, but they have done the equivalent of building the squad with a credit card, and may end up doing similar to fund the stadium rebuild.”
To some within the financial world, it makes little sense for the Glazers to hold onto United, drawing down dividends of around £20m per year, when they could at least quadruple that annual payment by selling the club.
“You can park your money in 10-year US government bonds right now and get 3.1% interest,” a source told ESPN. “So even if the Glazers sold United and walked away with as little as £3bn, they would earn £90m per year with zero risk. Unless they can foresee another attempt at a Super League or a way to sell their own TV rights, rather than collectively within the Premier League, it’s increasingly difficult to see why they wouldn’t start to think about cashing in their chips.”
