11/05/24
May 12, 2005
Mal Glazer 1 Man Utd 0: Tampa Bay Bucs owner has secured 70% of Red Devils shares, enough to take over the club. Fans wage war. Everybody else laughing their asses off.
posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 01:51 PM - 18 comments
I hear you, SF. Unlike Abramovich, Glazer will come into this deal fully leveraged. The debt could absolutely destroy the club. Unless he pulls off a masterstroke of marketing and TV rights negotiation, I don't see how he's going to break even.
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:45 PM on May 12, 2005
I was just about to post this. I've heard that Glazer is up to £300m in hock because of this deal. If he gets 75% of the shares, it means that he can then transfer that debt to the club and de-list it from the stock market. I see 2 ways that this can go. 1. He's a successful sports franchise owner and businessman. He'll find a way to expand the United brand into the US and all debt will be paid off easily. He keeps buying good players and United challenge for the top spot for the next long while 2. He sells players to finance the debt. United miss out on CL revenue and pull a Leeds. As much as I don't like ManYoo, I would hate for them to be sold off as parts as an aging billionaire's plaything. All in all, it's weird, I don't really see what he's getting out of it.
posted by sauril at 02:58 PM on May 12, 2005
He was the best thing to ever happen to the Tampa Bay Bucs. He took a perennially losing club and made them Super Bowl champs.
posted by bperk at 03:22 PM on May 12, 2005
I think the fans are going overboard in their reaction. How the heck do they know anything about what he'll do? After all, he hasn't treated his NFL club in any significantly bad way and the Keyshawn Johnson and Chuckie deals show he'll spend money if that's the right choice. However, this wouldn't be the first time the Glazers have been seen as interlopers and I wonder how much of this attitude is because the family is Jewish.
posted by billsaysthis at 04:34 PM on May 12, 2005
Tampa Bay United.......laugh it up clown.
posted by HOE.O.K. at 04:58 PM on May 12, 2005
Those of us who aren't football fans or football fans think this is funny as hell.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 08:27 PM on May 12, 2005
He doesn't want Man Utd for any reason than to make money. He's not a fan of the team or the sport. He's a dick. And I don't like Man Utd either, but I wouldn't like to see them shafted by some greedy fat foreigner. Wait a minute though....how much are they paying Roy Keane?
posted by Duncan Mathers at 08:28 PM on May 12, 2005
I am pissed...i really hope the fans get together and fucking boycott all their games.
posted by StarFucker at 10:07 PM on May 12, 2005
Ah, but it's a good day for Man City, few and far in between those days are.
posted by avogadro at 10:34 PM on May 12, 2005
Next season is going to be more fun than this one.
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:35 PM on May 12, 2005
Live by the stock market, die by the stock market. I've got no love for anyone involved so I too shall take the stance of chuckling quietly to myself... and then telling the world wide web that that is what I'm doing.
posted by JJ at 07:46 AM on May 13, 2005
Frankly, I'm with JJ, though it's true that the Bucs went from zeroes to heroes under his tutelage, so you might want to hold off on the torches and angry mob bit just yet. Not that y'all will. And as someone with not-much rooting interest either way, it is funny to see Man U fans turn against their team so violently.
posted by chicobangs at 12:15 PM on May 13, 2005
I don't see them as being against the team. if anything they are so invested (not share-wise, at least not enough) in their team that any rumble of instability results in fear. i guess they look at Abramovich waltzing in and perking up Chelsea and that all the money he invested has resulted in a noticeable uptick in success. But the Glazer plan does not seem to promise following through with the same investment as long as it appears that he is considering the team to be another asset and there is a significant debt transfer involved. it'd hard to say about whether they should be worried or not but a) they can't do much about it and b) some of their tactics or at least proposed tactics (ie harrasment) in trying to resist the maneuvers of the Cubic Expression duo smacked of stuff I don't have much sympathy about.
posted by gspm at 02:45 PM on May 13, 2005
He doesn't want Man Utd for any reason than to make money. He's paying 540 million pounds ($1 billion U.S.) to take the team private. If I were a fan, I'd be concerned if he wasn't trying to make money, because that would mean the team's new owner is insane. Having a money-hungry owner doesn't have to be a bad thing. Jerry Jones took a globally famous franchise out of the doldrums when he bought the Dallas Cowboys, even though results in recent years have been less than spectacular. It is weird to think that a family that owns the lowly Buccaneers will control Man U.
posted by rcade at 07:06 PM on May 14, 2005
Those lowly Buccaneers have won more superbowls in the last 10 years than any NFL team I follow have. I still think the fan reaction is just funny.
posted by trox at 09:25 AM on May 16, 2005
Although I do understand the average European football fan's displeasure at the Glazer takeover of Man U, I think they are also over-reacting. It is natural for fans of a team to fear change (especially a change they don't understand). First off Man U is the most recognized sports franchise in the world. What did Man U fans think was going to happen with a club that widely popular that is open for sale? I do not know the Glazer's personally, but I do not think this take over has to do with greed as has been suggested. It has to do with status. The Glazer's would probably by the Yankee's if Stienbrenner would sell. They just want to own the world's most popular and recognizable sports franchise so they can in turn be that recognizable as well. I don't think someone would risk that much without some type of personal affection for the team. Finally I want to address the issue of the debt. Do not worry, many profitable buisnesses opperate using a debt to extend itself in ways not possible before. The debt will allow the Glazer's to buy more top talent and restore Man U back to its former self. Why would someone pay so much and then sell off the parts that do not total up to the ammount they paid for it? Instead they are going to get better players to improve the team and also their own personal status which is what this is all about.
posted by bksfilm at 01:45 PM on May 16, 2005
I'm very, very amused by Man Utd fans walking around holding signs saying "Not for $ale." Riiiight. You haven't really understood this whole stock market thing, have you.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 08:23 AM on May 18, 2005
I'm not laughing...i fucking hate this man. I hope he spontaneously explodes on fire.