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Hello! Twenty acrimonious years of the Glazer family at Manchester United. Any sign of them throwing in the towel?
The $1bn buyout: Recent decline of Man Utd can be traced back to Glazer takeover in 2005
For the best part of a century, from 1931 onwards, Manchester United were a debt-free club. In 2005, as one of the world’s biggest sports brands, they were as protected as most from a steep descent into the red.
But 20 years ago this week, the landscape changed dramatically when the Glazer family — best known in the United States for owning the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers — took majority control at Old Trafford. At a stroke, a leveraged £790million ($1bn) buyout piled £580m of debt onto United, a lasting and punitive legacy.
The takeover is one of the most controversial in the history of the sport and, by a mile, the most discussed. How it came to fruition is itself a story with many strands, including a dispute over stud fees featuring legendary former manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the champion racehorse, Rock of Gibraltar. The spiral United find themselves in now can be traced back to that point in time.
Malcolm Glazer, who purchased the Bucs in 1995 and died in 2014, was the man at the forefront of the family’s acquisition. In this engrossing potted history, Laurie Whitwell recalls how, as their initially small investment began to climb, opposition to a Glazer takeover became bitter and militant. When three of Malcolm’s siblings visited Old Trafford for the first time, a police van was called in to extract them through a crowd of angry supporters.
The battle lines drawn, acrimony intensified. Today, the Glazers retain a majority stake in a side who have not won the Premier League since 2013, are trudging through one of their worst seasons on record, and need Champions League qualification via the Europa League to save it. In the casinos of Tampa, they would call this a busted flush.
The view from Tampa
It’s natural to assume the Glazers are precisely as their ownership of United makes them out to be: aloof and profiteering. But swing over to Tampa in the sunny state of Florida, as Adam Crafton did for The Athletic, and the perception of them is more affectionate.
They’re not unanimously popular there. Some resent the way in which the local authorities funded a new $168.5m stadium for the Bucs in the late 1990s, amid perceived threats by the Glazers to move the franchise away from Tampa if assistance wasn’t forthcoming (the extent to which the rental agreement continues to favour the Bucs is actually astonishing). One official there is threatening to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent taxpayer cash being used to finance fresh improvements.
But in a sporting context, the Glazers have delivered two Super Bowls for the Bucs. They also make philanthropic contributions to the community, including a children’s museum and free eye care for youngsters in the area. More to the point, and perhaps because of the green ticks beside their name, they’re present, visible and communicative around the Bucs. At United, interviews and press briefings are nil. The Glazers exist in a silent bubble.
What next at United?
How committed the family are to United moving forward is for them to know. In 2023, INEOS — fronted by Sir Jim Ratcliffe — bought 25 per cent of the club. The Glazers handed INEOS full operational control and while this article implies they don’t like all of Ratcliffe’s rhetoric or slash-and-burn cost-cutting measures, they’re not reining him in.
The belief in some quarters is that Ratcliffe lacked the resources for a full buyout, and that if any party — such as Qatari rival bidder Sheikh Jassim — had followed through with a viable majority takeover offer, the Glazers would have taken it. Debt at United has hit £731.5m and interest payments (£747m at the last count) weigh heavily. Their stadium is decaying and a new one will cost a fortune. The less said about on-the-pitch results, the better.
The upside? Well, for one thing, Ratcliffe’s £679m investment paid around £151m each to four members of the Glazer family. Earnings in the form of dividends (£166m) have piled up, too.
As our United reporters note, the endgame is surely a more substantial sale of shares, and soon. By all accounts, Malcolm Glazer didn’t set foot in Old Trafford once. The family are persona non grata among the fanbase. Even in this era of football finance, ownership has to be built on an ounce of passion: something which, to the naked eye, the Glazers sorely lack.
News round-up
Taiwo Awoniyi slams into the post against Leicester (Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images)
Pushing Pulisic: Pochettino’s dilemma as USMNT star hits 50-game mark
Christian Pulisic’s appearance in Milan’s 3-1 victory against Bologna in Serie A on Friday (in which he dished up the goal above and an assist) was his 50th game of the season. Little wonder Milan are flogging him. They’re clinging to a minuscule chance of qualifying for the Champions League. It’s all hands to the pump.
But Greg O’Keeffe raises a fair question: how much can Pulisic’s body take? He has campaigned on multiple fronts, from Italian domestic duty through to USMNT fixtures — and he’s hit game No 50 despite missing a month with a calf injury. Tomorrow night is the Coppa Italia final, another tussle with Bologna. The forward is an example of how little R&R footballers enjoy these days.
And therein lies the problem: everybody wants a piece of him. The Concacaf Gold Cup awaits the USMNT in June and July, and considering the underwhelming start Mauricio Pochettino has made, the head coach needs his key man. But equally, Pochettino needs him fit and fresh for next summer’s World Cup — and barring a break now, it’s not easy to see when Pulisic draws breath.
Around TAFC
Catch a match
(Selected games, kick-offs ET/UK)
Championship play-off semi-final second leg: Sunderland (2) vs Coventry City (1), 3pm/8pm — CBS, Paramount+, Fubo/Sky Sports.
La Liga: Real Valladolid vs Girona, 1pm/6pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports; Real Sociedad vs Celta Vigo, 2pm/7pm — ESPN+/Premier Sports; Sevilla vs Las Palmas, 3.30pm/8.30pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports.
And finally…
You can tell a goal is a bit special when the broadcaster televising it (in this case, Fanatiz) chooses to show it from seven different angles.
That’s what happened with the overhead kick in Argentina, above, scored by Santiago Montiel of Independiente (from Buenos Aires) against Independiente Rivadavia (from Mendoza). It’s so well hit that the goalkeeper barely sees it. Boom.
(Top photo: Sir Alex Ferguson with Bryan, Avram and Joel Glazer in July 2005 (John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)