Anti-Glazer Red Knights poised to change the game at Old Trafford

Mystery of £135M sitting doing nothing as club struggles to maintain dominance

 

David Gill was in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon defending the club’s widely loathed owners, the Glazer family. Gill was answering questions at a committee meeting about how the Glazers have affected Manchester United. At one point, the MUFC Chairman claimed that United’s net spend on players since the Glazer family took control was higher than that of the years prior to their ownership.

Even without inflation, this is – according to the ManU accounts – a lie: a cursory inspection reveals that since the takeover in 2005, United have spent £56m on players.

But that £56m in six years is paltry when compared to £90m in the four years prior to the Glazers acquiring the Club.

In effect, on an annualised basis, investment in the team has halved. And yet these accounts also show that the club has a  £134.5m cash sum sitting there untouched.

It is sitting there untouched because rich supporter and banking expert Jim O’Neill and his Red Knight colleagues have been watching the nest-egg like hawks. They fear that the money will either be used to pay the Glazer family ‘dividends’, or – much more likely – shipped of to the US in order to pay off their vast debts there.

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Chairman Gill…economical with team spending…and the truth

David Gill lied about the level of Glazer investment because he is desperate to stop the growth in anti-Glazer feeling among the core fan base. Laughably referring to the club’s 333 million fans around the world, Gill skated over the reality that almost 90% of this base has no impact upon club receipts at all.

More bizarre still was the short business piece in The Times yesterday, quoting Gill as saying that he would ‘no longer talk to anti-Glazer elements in United’s fan-base’. He’s going to find that a hard route to follow, given that some four-fifths of we Redeyes would fit that description.  But a senior insider at the Red Knights organisation (dedicated to selling the club back to a supporters’ consortium) tells The Slog that Gill’s remark was “silly” and a reflection of his anxiety at what is afoot.

“We know plenty” said the source, “but we’re keeping mum at the moment. There is a big goal in the works. That’s all I can say”.

Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) head Duncan Drasdo also feels opposition to the Glazers is starting to have a negative effect. Yesterday he said:

“Clearly with pressure building on the Glazers from many angles – not least the decline in matchday revenues confirmed in the financial results – it makes sense for them to exit now – given a willing buyer. It seems the only obstacle is the outlandish price the Glazers appear to seek. While the cash value impact of the decline in matchday revenues and indeed the drop in merchandise sales at the club’s flagship Megastore may have been masked by continued commercial growth, the significance of this decline should not be missed. To put it simply – the negativity surrounding the Glazers’ ownership is costing United money.”

As indeed is the whopping debt with which the Glazer carpet-baggers saddled the club. Interest on the debt is  high, and the amount owing is in excess of £720 million.