Cider, you have focused here pretty much exclusively on criticising MUST and the Red Knights. Coherent and fair criticisms I would say on the whole.
Can you elaborate though on what you think the Glazers have done well? Why they are good owners? So far we have: doesnt interfere with SAF, I put it to you that nobody would, so I dont give them too much credit for that; have spent money on transfers, whoopie shit, its our money, how much gratitude to they want for that?
What else is there?
Is your position, Glazer is a great owner? And if so, why?
Or is it, he isnt a bad owner, in which case, fair enough, but what do you say about the money they have taken out of the club for themselves? Just the price of business? No more than would have been paid out in dividends anyway? They earnt the money fair and square by working very hard to secure new sponsorships and the like?
Yes, I think the Glazers have been good owners for various reasons.
Firstly, let's not just scoot over the fact that they support SAF. It's an obvious thing to say that no owner would interfere with the managerial position whilst SAF is in charge, but the Glazer ownership goes further than that evidenced by the manager himself praising them on a number of occasions whilst comparing them favourably to previous owners. He asks for money and he gets it, no questions asked, that's what SAF reports; he tells us that this just hasn't been the case under previous regimes.
Again, secondly, you seem to be just scooting over the matter of the transfer budget, seemingly because it isn't convenient to recognise the making available of funds as the hallmark of a decent ownership. We've signed some fantastic players under the Glazers and spent a lot of cash in the process; the result being that the various teams SAF has built during this era have been incredibly successful, and I don't think poor owners would have been able to facilitate such success. We're competing with two immensely financially doped teams in City and Chelsea, and often we're coming out on top; huge credit to SAF of course, but credit also to those in charge above him.
Thirdly, the Glazers have organised United like never before as a globally reaching commercial giant. They've revolutionised the way the club creates income on a commercial basis and, again, it's all too easy to say that any owners could have done this; the Glazers
have done it, and they must get credit for that. The result is that Manchester United is the most valuable and recognisable brand in the history of modern sport, and the money generated from this achievement much more than accounts for any money leaving the club through debt repayment.
It is my view that the Glazers vision for United as a commercial mega-brand will continue to grow and communications and media technology improves around the globe, especially so in developing countries where support for United is at an all time high. The growth we've seen in this area so far is just the beginning of the greater scheme; the Glazers hope to make–perhaps already have made–Manchester United the biggest and most viewed billboard in the history of the human race, and with such an achievement comes great wealth and great success. From a business perspective at least, this is very good work.
Finally, I have much respect for the way the Glazers have conducted themselves professionally throughout constant pressure from groups, most prominently from MUST, who's sole aim is to discredit and disrupt the club's ownership via any means possible, means which include but are not exclusive to: incredible distortion of the truth, relentless and aggressive propaganda campaigns, incitement to boycott, death threats and systematic incitement of blind and unbridled hatred. Throughout all this the club's owners just kept getting on with their jobs, kept their heads down, weathered the storm and, rather than confronting the aggressors head-on with matching dirty tactics, opted instead to win favour through the facilitation of the continued success of the football club both on the pitch and in a the pure business sense. It cannot have been by any means an easy task, but the Glazers have brought the club through this turmoil and out the other side entirely unscathed; I commend them highly for this.
I feel that, though by no means perfect, the Glazers represent a club ownership whereby the positive far outweighs the negative, and for this reason I believe that they'll be looked back upon in hindsight as decent owners.