When the Glazer family bought Man Utd and in turn placed them in unprecedented levels of debt there were very real concerns raised by their fans as to the long term security of the club. FC United of Manchester was founded by fans disillusioned by the Glazer purchase of the club and preferred to support the non-league side as they started working their way through the leagues from the bottom level of football. The future seemed bleak for the largest club in the world.
That was five years ago. Since that time the club has re-financed in 2006 and pays around £62 million per season on interest. Ticket prices have increased but still they sell-out their stadium for every home game. Success continued on the pitch with Premiership titles, FA Cups and even a Champions league victory. Football betting odds on Man Utd were always low and they continued to dominate English football and be a major force in European games. They also continued to invest big money in top young players like Nani, Anderson and of course Wayne Rooney. Much of the panic from the beginning Glazer era melted away….until this week.
News that Wayne Rooney wants a contract in the region of £140,000 per week to give the best years of his career to Manchester Utd caused media to speculate this was too much for the clubs finances to handle and that he may be sold to ease debts. The club made a profit of £42 million for the financial year 2008/2009, yet they received £80 million cash from Real Madrid for superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. This means had they kept Ronaldo the club would have faced a large loss of £38 million. This worries many fans as they do not want to sell their best players to balance the books every year. Alex Ferguson has also said that he has the £80 million to spend on new players but has found no-one suitable. Unfortunately for him a lot of this £42 profit will be subject to tax, further reducing available transfer funds.
Much of Man Utds firepower has come from Rooney this season so his requests for wages that reflect his status as the clubs top star is not unexpected. Despite the club indicating they will not be held to ransom you would expect the one star they would make concessions for would be Rooney. Should they sell him then there would be major questions asked over the motivation of the sale. Why sell one of the most skilful and tenacious strikers in the world and replace him with a prospect? Surely the years spent developing Wayne Rooney’s talents after his move from Everton was designed to equip him with the skills to benefit Man Utd, rather than sell on for a profit. This would make Man Utd into a selling team, a worrying shift from pre-Glazer years where Man Utd bought stars and kept them for their whole careers.
Alex Ferguson was criticised by fans for not paying to finalise a permanent move for Carlos Tevez who went on to sign for rivals Man City. He said that he did not believe that Tevez was value for the £25 million the owner of his economic rights was demanding. Perhaps it was a restriction of funds and he knew that £25 million was all he had to spend on other targets? Since Ronaldo left the club only free transfer signings Gabriel Obertan, Michael Owen and a comparatively cheap deal for Valencia have been purchased. They are all good players, but not the type of world class player Man Utd was linked to. Franck Ribery, Kaka and David Villa were rumoured targets, yet none were actually purchased.
Football betting fans may start to look at the opposition of Man Utd as value if they continue to shed their stars. With Liverpool straining under large debts and looking increasingly likely to implode, it may be clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal who begin to dominate the league once again as the financial mismanagement of the Glazer family causes the problems to resonate on the pitch for Alex Ferguson and his team.
Without the income from Champions league, Premiership and FA Cup wins the future could be very bleak for Manchester United.
By Malcolm Clarke
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