The Glazer thread

[RedKnight]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...ted-chief.html

Manchester United supporters angry at the ownership regime of the Glazer family have brought their ‘green and gold’ protest to the driveway of Old Trafford chief executive David Gill.

Security has been stepped up at the directors’ entrance at Old Trafford on match-days and it is understood that a member of the security firm that looks after United’s stadium spent time outside Gill’s house on Wednesday as a consequence of the supporters’ protest.

United fans have been wearing green and gold scarves and shirts at recent games as a symbol of their dissatisfaction with the Glazers’ debt-ridden stewardship. The colours are a throwback to the strip worn by United’s formative club, Newton Heath.

And on Tuesday, as United were in Milan preparing for their Champions League game, a group of fans carried a green and gold banner to Gill’s home in Cheshire to protest against what they see as Gill’s compliance with the Glazers.

The slogan reads ‘Debt is the Road to Ruin’ and is a reference to a quote from Gill while he was initially opposing the Glazers’ proposed takeover in 2004.

The United chief executive has subsequently claimed it was taken out of context and he recently gave Radio 5 Live an interview on Sportsweek when he tried to explain the way the Glazers work with United and defended their record.

Gill was also involved in a heated confrontation with a fan at Birmingham University last week. The row flared when Gill was approached after a question-and-answer session about football finances and was asked to explain comments six years ago.

It seems he will continue to come under pressure as the protest gathers pace ahead of the Carling Cup final on Sunday week when the majority of United fans are expected to wear green and gold.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...Cup-final.html

They are considering travelling from the United States for the clash against Aston Villa at Wembley on Feb 28.

The Florida-based Glazers have been absent from United fixtures for the majority of the season and none of the six family members on the club's board have attended a game since the release last month of the prospectus for the controversial £500 million bond issue, which led to revelations of the scale of the club's £716 million debt.

Since then an anti-Glazer campaign, marked by the wearing of green-and-gold scarves, has become increasingly visible at Old Trafford.

Chief executive David Gill has been forced to endure a protest banner being draped from the gates of his Cheshire home, while security has been stepped up to protect senior club officials.

But despite the hostility towards the family, chairman Joel Glazer and brothers Avram and Bryan have not ruled out attending the Wembley showpiece.

Although no Glazers were at the 2005 FA Cup final defeat against Arsenal in May 2005 – eight days after the completion of their takeover of United – they have since travelled from Florida for all of the club's subsequent finals in the FA Cup, Carling Cup and Champions League.

With security remaining a sensitive issue, sources close to the family have refused to disclose any possible travel plans. But with London offering greater anonymity than Manchester should the Glazers choose to attend, they are now considering returning to Wembley for the first time since the NFL fixture between their Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise and New England Patriots last October.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists he is unconcerned by the green-and-gold protests against the Glazers.

He said: "Every fan has a right to complain about what they think is right. We also have to run the club the way we think is right and I think we are doing the right thing with the club."

United travel to Everton on Saturday with Ferguson admitting he is hoping to persuade Paul Scholes to sign a one-year contract extension, despite the midfielder's recent claim that he could retire this summer.

Ferguson said: "I'd be happy to do that. His form in the last few weeks has been incredible, absolutely brilliant. There's no need for him to think about retirement."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...th-Harris.html

Rip up your tickets! Boycott is the only way to get rid of Glazers, says Manchester United prospective buyer Keith Harris

EXCLUSIVE By Ian Ladyman

The man behind a proposed £1billion buy-out of Manchester United has told fans of the Barclays Premier League champions that they must tear up their season tickets and bin their replica shirts if they want to force the Glazer family out of Old Trafford.

Football financier and former Football League chairman Keith Harris told Sportsmail on Monday night that he has put together a wealthy, UK-based group who are ready to take United off the Glazers' hands as soon as they receive the slightest encouragement from the Americans - who have loaded the club with £700million of debt - that they are ready to sell.

But Harris warned the United supporters, who will flood into Old Trafford wearing their symbolic green and gold scarves and shirts for Tuesday's League match against West Ham, that the only way they can force the Glazers out is to stop spending money on the club and abandon matches.

'Turning up to games 10 minutes late and things like that just doesn't do the job,' Harris said.

'The green and gold protest is fabulous, a symbolic and significant message to the owners. It is like the white handkerchiefs in Spain. But that won't force the Glazers to sell to us.

'However, if enough people - and I am talking about thousands - stop turning up to matches and do not renew their tickets, then that does it. The supporters have to hurt the Glazers in their pockets.

'They have to be prepared to take the pain of not watching their club in order to achieve a long-term gain. Supporters have to be galvanised to say, "We will not come. We will not buy programmes and merchandise".

'It's a big ask, it's a risk, but that is what must happen. The Glazers are thick-skinned and seem impervious to protest. They will not be impervious to enormous drops in their revenue.

'I would not talk about this if I didn't have full confidence in our ability to raise the money to do this. I never talk publicly unless I have confidence. Getting the money together is the easy bit.

'But we can't make an offer until the Glazers are placed in a position where they are forced to consider it.'

Harris grew up as a United supporter, frequenting the family enclosure and then the Stretford End. He has, however, only been to two United home games since the Glazers took the club into private hands in 2005.

'One was for the Munich memorial game and one was when I was an invited guest,' he said. 'But I won't go again now.'

He will be at Wembley with his wife for the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on Sunday and may well have his own green and gold scarf - the symbol of supporter defiance against the Glazers - tucked in his pocket in the royal box.

It is not yet known if any of the Glazer family will attend the final but if they do Harris wants them to know he is serious.

'I certainly won't approach them there,' he said. 'But if they ever want to talk to me then I am certainly ready.'

Realistically, Harris knows a sale will not happen yet. As the chairman of stockbrokers Seymour Pearce, Harris is a respected figure in football, having arranged a number of takeovers, including Randy Lerner's purchase of Aston Villa.

Harris knows the Glazers will continue with their increasingly difficult tenure at United for the time being, something that makes him uneasy.

'Supporters should realise that, out of every pound they spend on tickets, 75 pence goes on servicing the debt or satisfying other financial obligations that are incapable of being met by the Glazers,' he said.

'Fans are emotionally concerned and they are right to be. United is a cow being milked of cash for purposes other than replenishing the playing squad. That is deeply wrong, in my opinion.

'Some of the details contained in the recent bond prospectus shocked me. I didn't expect what I saw, such as the amounts the Glazers are allowed to take out of the club each year.

'Do they care for the club? I am not sure about that. But the fact is that they own it. They bought it fairly. It's their toy set. Unless fans vote with their feet, then they may find them here next season and the season after that and beyond.

'In 1998 I was at the Nou Camp with the Barcelona board. The white handkerchiefs were out for the president. But at the next game there were thousands of empty seats. Soon after, he resigned. It can happen.'

Recent protests from supporters have also focused on United chief executive David Gill. Fans have accused him of changing his stance on the Glazers in the run-up to their takeover in 2005, something Gill denies.

Harris said: 'David Gill is very good at his job. He is well respected in football. I don't know what targets he is set by the Glazers every year but judging by his salary last year he is clearly meeting them. But has all this - the so-called U-turn - affected his reputation with supporters? I suppose it has.

[MUFC_Rooney]

I'm not sure if a boycott will work. United are massive, there will always be a number of fans that were previously unable to get tickets wanting to go.

[Fergie_Time]

Anyone going to the protest during reserve game in a couple of weeks?

[Bestie]

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/...hester-United/

MANCHESTER UNITED will be forced into a drastic summer clearout to help keep their massive £716m debts in check. And stars Michael Owen and Ben Foster are likely to be the biggest names to be on their way.

Sir Alex Ferguson will be told to axe 10 to 15 players as Manchester United look to trim their budget in light of their current financial problems Those players will in club’s young professionals in addition to more established stars who Ferguson deems surplus to requirements.

United have close to 50 professionals on their books and the club’s money men have identified the size of the club’s first-team squad as the way to cut costs.

The news is likely to anger already frustrated United supporters who have become disillusioned by the Glazer family’s cash-grabbing reign at Old Trafford.

Thousands of United fans are furious with the club’s American owners for dumping the massive debt on the club since their United takeover in 2005. The Glazers have raised just over £500m through a bond issue to help keep the club’s spiralling debts under control, but that has cast doubts over United’s longterm financial future.

Ferguson has always insisted United’s problems off the pitch would not affect his spending power to improve the club.

But the summer clearout is the first example of how the worrying debt is effecting issues on the field. Owen and Foster will be part of the fire sale. Starsport has learned that Anderson was due to be part of the clearout, but the Brazil international’s cruciate ligament injury could force United into shelving plans to cash in on the midfielder.

But Nani, Owen Hargreaves and Gabriel Obertan could all face the chop.

The jury remains out on Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatov, but United are likely to keep hold as they wouldn’t be able to recoup anywhere near the £30m they paid Tottenham for him.

A number of United’s promising youngsters including Tom Cleverley, Craig Cathcart (both Watford), Danny Welbeck (Preston) and Zoran Tosic (FC Cologne) are currently out on loan and could also leave.

Top city financiers have been holding secret talks about a potential bid for Manchester United, Sky News can reveal.

Apparently the Glazers have stated United are not for sale.

[Bestie]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo....html?ITO=1490

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claimed yesterday he is happy to accept the 'green and gold' anti-Glazer campaign but could still not resist a dig at Keith Harris, the man fronting the Red Knights' bid to take over Old Trafford.

Ferguson is familiar with several of the Red Knights group, particularly Goldman Sachs top economist Jim O'Neill.

He said: 'I've no issue with the Red Knights. I know some of them, I'm quite friendly with a couple of them. If they want to try to buy the club, it's entirely up to them.

'But David Gill summed it up when he said the club's not for sale. So what can anyone do?'

When asked what he thought of Harris, the head of investment bank Seymour Pierce, calling on fans to boycott games, Ferguson said: 'Now that's a great idea. That's come from an intelligent guy, has it?'

Ferguson insists he does not mind the protests as long as they do not affect his team. He said: 'I saw plenty of green and gold scarves at Wembley on Sunday, and I was delighted to see them. I'd even take City fans if they wanted to come along. We'll take all sinners. As long as they're supporting United, they can wear what they bloody like!'

Some experts believe the Red Knights will have to find up to £1.5billion to get the Americans to sell, but a spokesman said yesterday they would not pay over the odds.

[Bestie]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle7051918.ece

From The Times

Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted that there is “no chance” of the Red Knights persuading Manchester United supporters to boycott games in their battle to wrest control of the club from the Glazer family.

And the United manager heaped scorn on Keith Harris, the executive chairman of Seymour Pierce, the stockbrokers, and a member of the Knights, for urging fans to hit the Glazers in the pocket by ripping up their season tickets and binning their replica shirts.

Echoing the withering criticism of Harris from David Gill, the United chief executive, on Wednesday, Ferguson said, sarcastically, yesterday: “Now that is a great idea [boycotting Old Trafford on match days]. That’s come from an intelligent guy, has it?”

Asked if people trying to influence supporters to stay away hurt the club, Ferguson said: “Of course it does.”

Despite mocking Harris, whom Gill had branded a publicity seeker, Ferguson said he had “no issues” with the Knights and conceded that he was “quite friendly with a couple of them”.

They include Jim O’Neill, the head of global economic research at Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, who briefly served as a United director, and Mark Rawlinson, a senior partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the legal firm that advised the club before and during the Glazers’ buyout.

O’Neill, Rawlinson and Paul Marshall, the founder of the Marshall Wace hedge fund, met yesterday to analyse financial pledges from would-be investors. “I don’t deny them their right to protest,” Ferguson said. “What is an issue for me, or would be an issue for me, is if it resulted in the team being affected by it. But I don’t think it will.”

Ferguson said that he had no problems with fans wearing green and gold, the colours of the club’s original incarnation, Newton Heath, and a symbol of Glazer opposition. “I’d even take City fans if they wanted to come along,” he said. “We’ll take all sinners. As long as they’re supporting Manchester United, they can wear what they bloody like.”

[Bestie]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...united-glazers

by Elena Moya

The battle for control of Manchester United is expected to intensify this week with the appointment of official banking advisers to the Red Knights, the group of City financiers who are trying to seize control of one of the world's biggest football brands.

The Red Knights, who include the Goldman Sachs chief economist, Jim O'Neill, are expected to appoint financial advisers within the next few days to help them raise the £600m they are looking for to "anchor" a bid, a source close to the talks told the Guardian tonight. The group has amassed "astonishing" support for their bid, which has become "sort of a social phenomenon", one of the Knights claimed.

The group's legal adviser is Freshfields, as one of its mergers and acquisitions partners, Mark Rawlinson, is part of the group. Banking advisers will help the group defy volatile financial markets and low appetite for risky assets, still present in the aftermath of the credit crunch.

Raising enough money to persuade the Glazer family to sell the club will not be easy, however, in the aftermath of the global recession.

Liverpool's American co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have tried for more than a year to sell their stakes. The club is now considering a capital increase of about £100m, although no definite deal is on the table yet.

The Red Knights say they want to return United to the fans, possibly selling a stake in the club through a share issue. They want to emulate, in part, the model at Barcelona, where more than 100,000 members own the club with a president in charge of managerial affairs.

The Red Knights see their potential control of United as a "a form of social philanthropy," one of them said.

[S.E.Arising]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... egime.html

By Rory Smith

"They have been great owners," he said. "They have supported me in every way I have asked them. Any time we have wanted a player, they have provided the money.

"What people forget is that we have spent £20 million on young players this season, including Chris Smalling, Mame Biram Diouf and Javier Hernandez. We have always seen our future as based on young players developing at the club.

"But because we are signing young players, not big showpiece signings, they think we are not moving. People do not recognise how we see our future."

Ferguson, speaking on Canadian radio to promote United's pre-season tour, is adamant he does not need to overhaul his squad.

The Scot has intimated he will look to add one more player to his squad and does not envisage selling the heavily-criticised Dimitar Berbatov – "he will definitely be with us".

"My plan is to start the season with the squad that we take on tour," he said. "We like to give the players some rest, and so we intend to start next year without the [eight] players who are at the World Cup."

The Manchester United Supporters' Trust has reacted furiously to suggestions that the Red Knight group – who are expected to table an offer worth around £850 million to the Glazers on June 11 or 12 – was collapsing amid internal tensions.

"The description of the progress of the Red Knight proposal is not consistent with the view that we hold being involved in direct, ongoing discussions with the group," read a statement.

[JSNFRMN_MUFC]

I agree with most of this. I've lost faith in the Red Knights already. Time to get back to the thing we do best...supporting United.

[JSNFRMN_MUFC]

No, I agree. That was one of my concerns too. It won't happen now anyway.

[KaWolken]

I agree with most of this. I've lost faith in the Red Knights already. Time to get back to the thing we do best...supporting United.

Yeah you are right this is our Club and as long as our heart. Belongs United we should support it our best way ... we always did and we will always do ! Protest ageinst the glqzers are ok but we should not forget why we support this club

Some of us are new United Fans their hearts must be build and build others support United since Good and bad years...


Lets take our flags and shirts and walk down the street singing United songs!


This is my live my heart my everything...

[JSNFRMN_MUFC]

Planning to go to the first home game of the season in August. Can't wait. Saw my mate who goes up nearly every week today, 2nd thing he asked..."are you coming up next season?" He's dying for me to go up to Old Trafford with him.

[S.E.Arising]

great stuff Jason. You will have to remind us closer to the time. Will you know when fixtures are announced?

[JSNFRMN_MUFC]

Fixtures get announced on my birthday I think. July 1st?

[S.E.Arising]

are you going to do stadium tour and museum?

[JSNFRMN_MUFC]

nah, just the game I think. and come home with no voice.

[dalegute]

It's real easy for everyone to rant and hit out at the glazers but what grounds do we have? Do we have any hard evidence of them failing as owners.

Yes. We haven't been big spenders on world class talent since we bought Berbatov for over 30m.
That's the only hard evidence we have. People are ranting about the debt and especially the PIK bonds. Let me try to elaborate on this.

Facts:
We know the face/principal value, the min price for the sold bonds.
We know the coupon rate, the interest rate
We know the maturity, the date when its time for, in a easy word, payback

The fact is we don't see the full picture...This are the facts the media an a lot of fans are ranting about. But there is one key factor missing.
What did the investors buying the bonds really pay.

Bonds:
A bond is easiest explain by calling it a loan. UTD needed money. And buy selling bonds they took up a "loan" but actually how much they got is unknown.
This because we only know the principal value not what was actually paid.

So the glazers probably got a pretty decent price for the bonds. And that in fact might have put quite a bit of cash into the transfer funds...

To put it as easy as possible:

UTD have to pay the principal value + the coupon rate in 2017(i think) this is causing a lot of fuss.
But we have to look at the net present value of this investment to see the full picture.

Matematically:
Price(what the club got paid) - (coupon rate * principal value) * ((1+IRR)^number of years until down payment - 1)/(IRR*(1+IRR)^number of years until down payment) + principal value / (1 + IRR)^number of years until down payment = 0

The clue her is to find IRR. this gives us the information we need to start ranting or stop ranting....

We know the coupon rate, number of years until down payment and principal value. As I said earlier, the clue is what the club got paid. Without that
it's both hopeless and stupid to just take a stand and hate the glazers. It actually just says that your knowledge of economy isn't all that much.

How many of you guys can solve this equation, how many of you event understand half of it. I just wrote this but still have trouble understanding.

[S.E.Arising]

must admit, PIK's and debt talk is a weak point of mine. It's probably the reason why I sway away from an in depth discussion on the Glazers and why I havent done a blog on the subject.

[dalegute]

I think that is the right way to do it.

I fully support the fans in loving their club and all...but to see 10-15 year olds who have no clue at all wearing green and gold scarfs and shouting LUHG.
This is a bit stupid in my opinion.

I bet the wast amount of fans wearing Green and Gold don't understand half of it. Thats not because they are dumb or nothing its just because finance is a hard topic and as a said, we don't even have all the pieces of the puzzle..

[S.E.Arising]

yeah, there probably is a high number which have jumped on the bandwagon without knowing full details. As you suggest Dalegute, finances is a difficult subject to fully understand. I guess most (probably myself included to an extent) see the amount we're in debt and want to know what is going on.

[dalegute]

Yes, there is a fair amount of debt. But just to see the number 700m or something in debt and think. Thats a lot of money is a to easy way to look at it.
You have approach it in relative terms. How much of the total capital (TC) is debt? I don't know this number but. Put it like this...

Most companies a lot of debt. Its normal. Say a most common debt-share of total capital is 80%. That means if you have 20% equity capital (EC) and 80% debt (D).
In UTDs case this would mean TC = D + EC = 700 + 175 = 875. This is not bad for at all. But if our EC was only 50 we would have only 6,67% of EC, this isn't much to brag about. again we don't see the full picture and therefore can't chose sides based on the limited info we have.

[S.E.Arising]

was listening to radio last night and they were discussing United and Glazers. Might I have totally misheard this but think they mentioned the EC being approximately 9%. This apparently is the figure we will find out next week.