THE Glazer family are ready to consider bids for Manchester
United - potentially throwing the club into off-field turmoil once
more.
Less than three years after Malcolm Glazer finally won his
controversial takeover battle in a deal that cost £831million,
United's future is up in the air again.
Boardroom figures are privately conceding a sale in the short-term
is likely after the Glazers realised United was not the cash cow
they believed it would be.
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If they sell, there is bound to be a period of uncertainty just as
manager Sir Alex Ferguson would be aiming to build on the
Premiership triumph.
Financial sources in the City last night confirmed feelers have
started going out from Old Trafford because the takeover was
proving so costly.
Malcolm Glazer paid £790m, plus legal fees of £41.3m, to win his
drawn-out fight for control of the world's biggest club.
But to do so he borrowed a staggering £559m from City institutions.
Last year, a refinancing package, organised by merchant bank JP
Morgan, only came after the amount owed to hedge funds had grown by
another £71m, leaving a total debt of £660m.
JP Morgan's fees for that transaction came to £90m - the cost of
three Wayne Rooneys - and the club now faces annual repayments of
£62m. That burden is wiping out the bulk of United's profits.
Despite the capacity of Old Trafford increasing to 76,000,
escalating player wages and the need to continually invest in the
squad - the Glazers promised Ferguson £25m each year plus an extra
£25m one-off for a star signing - account for a huge chunk of
income.
Fans were outraged by ticket prices for next season going up 14 per
cent and the cost of home cup ties rising.
The relationship between the club's management and the
Florida-based owners is becoming more and more of an issue and with
Glazer seriously ill after a stroke last year and having to put
control of the business in the hands of his sons, it seems he is
increasingly looking for a way out.
United chief executive David Gill was said to have been in a
"really bad mood" before United's FA Cup Final defeat, preoccupied
by affairs at the club.
One well-placed City source said: "What we're all hearing is United
hasn't turned out to be what the Glazers thought it was. When they
paid so much, they were convinced a lot of money was to be
made.
"Buying United wasn't about owning a football club, but a business
decision and from an investment point of view it's been little
short of disastrous."
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