Manchester United Fans Should Be Careful What They Wish For
Even new owners will need to make a return on any investment in the football club.
Manchester United fans will be hoping new owners won’t be the same as the old owners.
Photographer: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
It’s the news fans of Manchester United have been waiting for — the controlling Glazer family is considering a sale of the storied English football club. The question is whether a new owner would simply put a different face on the same issues that have dogged the Glazer era.
Ever since the late Malcolm Glazer bought the club in 2005 in a leveraged buyout, Man Utd has been mined for dividends and its financial performance aided by the extreme commercialization of the team’s brand internationally. What the fans care about is winning trophies and getting a better stadium. A full or partial sale could mark a fresh start; but the higher the price tag, the more aggressively new owners will have to run the club to justify the outlay.