Manchester United Red and White Sox ?

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:58 am

Strangely enough for a club that was 'Not For Sale' according to the glory-hunting sheep that follow them, Malcolm Glazer has now managed to acquire a >50% shareholding in Man Utd, and hence is in a position to force a takeover.

Unlike Roman Abramovich's mafia money, the £790m bid is largely debt financed, and if MG gets >75% of the shares, he can take the plc off the stock exchange and transfer the debt to the club.

So, no massive transfer kitty, and MU remain, as they were before, the 'Pride of...everywhere but Manchester'.

Can't wait to see the ticket price hikes.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu May 12, 2005 10:08 am

On another note, Dave, you're happy about the two-year deal for Psycho, aren't you?

Take care,
PK

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Thu May 12, 2005 10:17 am

Dunno - I reckon we could have had O'Neill in the summer, or maybe even Paul Le Guen, who has just left the French champions.

If we get into Europe, it will be more a comment on the standard of the Premiership than our own prowess...although Everton are a more obvious example of that.

If they are the 4th best team in the Premiership, I'll show me backside in Woolworth's window. Arsenal ripped them to shreds yesterday.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Thu May 12, 2005 11:09 am

davet010 wrote:Dunno - I reckon we could have had O'Neill in the summer, or maybe even Paul Le Guen, who has just left the French champions.

If we get into Europe, it will be more a comment on the standard of the Premiership than our own prowess...although Everton are a more obvious example of that.

If they are the 4th best team in the Premiership, I'll show me backside in Woolworth's window. Arsenal ripped them to shreds yesterday.

7-0 - absolutely pitiful! Were Everton playing a lot of backup players last night? I imagine they don't have much to play for now that they've wrapped up the Champions League spot, but you still think they'd put up more of an effort - if only for pride.

Best wishes,

Doug

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Thu May 12, 2005 11:16 am

Other than playing Richard Wright in nets (who has played for England, and was once bought by Arsenal for £6m), that looked like a pretty full turn out for Everton.

The truth is that they are tedious grinding merchants, who are going to be shown up in the Chumps League..pity, that. Unfortunately, that is the scale of the gulf between the top three and the rest.

Still, if Stuart Pearce's blue heroes win on Sunday, we'll finish 7th and be in the UEFA Cup, so the atmosphere should be pretty intense.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Thu May 12, 2005 3:47 pm

I just want to tell everyone that I'm getting to watch Wednesday play on TV for the first time in 5 years!!! I love you all!!

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:33 pm

Latest missive from the Independent MU Supporters Association (self styled gobshites)

The way forward lies in STOPPING THE FOOTBALL. If "Manchester United" (sic.) cannot play football, the entire business will grind to a halt and Glazer's club will be in crisis very quickly. The FA Cup final could be stopped as a first step. This is both practical and entirely feasible.
A boycott would only ever be partial and the ones taking part would be the most militant and hardcore section of United's support - precisely the people Glazer wants to get rid of and who are most needed to save the club.
Seats relinquished would soon be filled, probably by corporates, thus enhancing Glazer's revenue over the long-term while shutting real United fans out of the club. It makes more sense for people to fight from within.
So what is the way forward?
It is by stopping the football. If football cannot be played at Old Trafford, the club simply cannot function. That could be effected in a number of ways. Quite simply, if you have a sufficently large number of people inside the ground who are determined to stop games, then the games will stop. It will bring the club to crisis point very quickly.
At one level that may involve pitch invasions. They are not going to reintroduce fencing post-Hillsborough and how long are the GMP going to be prepared to commit thousands of officers to Old Trafford, week in, week out in order to police 65,000 people, even if only one in twenty is resolutely determined to stop the game?
At the other end, and I am just toying with ideas here, it is also important to involve not just the 'lads' but also the little old ladies and the broad civilian element in peaceful protests aimed at preventing the games from being played. As an example, imagine footballs being constantly kicked or thrown onto the pitch or 10,000 people (or more) all blowing referee's whistles. The game would have to stop with nobody hurt and no laws broken.
Whatever the mechanisms, the key to this is to stay at the games, hang onto your season tickets and STOP THE FOOTBALL.
One final point. There is no point in looking to SAF for leadership on this. He is an employee of the club and will, in all probability, soon be an employee of Glazer. Manchester United existed long before SAF and the players and it is important not to be distracted by appeals to behave like good boys and girls.
Glazer can still be defeated by a protracted guerilla campaign. You don't send the troops home, you keep them together and you STOP THE FOOTBALL.

It's been a great day to follow City and laugh at the gormless red sheep.

FORWARD WITH MALCOLM !

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu May 12, 2005 7:16 pm

So was there as much uproar when the Russian bought Chelsea as there is now with Glazier and MU?

Does that purchase price include a big stadium or something?

Has Man U's popularity been affected since they shipped out Mr. Posh Spice?

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Fri May 13, 2005 5:04 am

No-one cared when Roman bought Chelsea, as previous chairman Ken Bates was a laughing stock anyway, so the fans were pleased to see the back of him - plus he brought loads of russian mafia money to launder.

Utd do own their stadium, the puke-makingly known 'Theatre of Dreams'..in actuality, a 65,000 seater shed with mis-matched stands, hard up against a railway line in the unpretty environs of Trafford Park (the world's first purpose built industrial estate, history buffs will note)...and not actually in the city of Manchester, hence MCFC's derisive nickname for Man U 'Trafford Rangers'.

Utd fans fear they will sell the ground to the banks and lease it back.

I say drop a 2KT nuke on it during their next home game.

STOP PRESS - apparently Glaser has promised to keep the Drunken Scot in charge and give him £100m over 5 years...love to see where he's getting that cash from, given that he's mortgaged to the hilt to buy MU.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:26 am

The Glazer-Man U story actually is making some news here in the Colonies. It was one of the first three stories on "SportsCenter" last night. But of course, the angle was how his attempted purchase of Man U will affect his ownership of the Buccaneers.

Take care,
PK

Cincinnati_Kid · Post by **Cincinnati_Kid** » Fri May 13, 2005 10:22 pm

LOL

silly little leprechaun

GO BUCS !!!!

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Fri May 13, 2005 11:46 pm

wco81 wrote:So was there as much uproar when the Russian bought Chelsea as there is now with Glazier and MU?

Does that purchase price include a big stadium or something?

Has Man U's popularity been affected since they shipped out Mr. Posh Spice?

I certainly don't know all that much about it, but my understanding is that Abramovich essentially paid cash or close to it, and has seemingly unending reserves of more cash to throw at new players. Glazer's bid is full of debt, and the paying off of that debt seems to assume consistent Champ's League participation etc., which is pretty tough to gamble on I would say. Fans are not wrong to expect ticket prices to go up every year (I think he's raised 'em nearly every year for the Bucs), and if they somehow don't qualify for the CL, then a dreadful spiral begins of not having money to get new players, not having a team good enough to compete to get that extra cash to get new players, etc.

I think another big factor is that he is an American, and thus for many, inherently incapable of understanding or loving the game. It would be like a German coming over here and buying the Red Sox or something.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Sat May 14, 2005 3:04 am

Biggest factors seem to be

1. Widely reported that Glazer really hiked ticket prices at the Bucs, and fears of a 20% ticket price hike as just the start...somewhat reduced in impact now, as the current board have just done that anyway.

2. Massive debt loading for the takeover. If MG gets 75% he can take them private (ie off the Stock Exchange), thus reducing their transparency. He can also start to transfer the debt onto the club's own books, though UEFA have started making noises about licensing clubs based on financial position by 2008.

Every day in every way...I will pray for them to go bankrupt.