Swiss Ramble on the Glazers

Spark

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It's amazing they were even allowed to buy us in the first place considering they didn't use any of their own actual money.

Would the PL allow a buy out like that of a club nowadays? Actually the PL probably dont give any shits about anything...
Believe leveraged buyouts of football clubs are about to be banned in the UK, I think. Mainly due to Burnley though.

You're right, however, the EPL are fecking crooks and all.
 

FatTails

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Can we get the Manc red devil and gold Trafford back to tell us how great the Glazers have been for the club and that debt is a good thing?
Debt is a great thing for the club if taken at a low interest rate, and it is long term, and it is used for things like rebuilding the stadium or expanding the clubs footprint globally.

Debt is shit, for the club, if it is for a leveraged buyout and limits the club’s ability to further invest in its infrastructure (since its already highly leveraged). However, it’s fantastic for the Glazers! It’s been a great investment for these cnuts.
 

marktan

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I think Burnley were bought the same way last year? But yea, it’s a total joke it was allowed. FA are cnuts.
They were and pretty much had to sell any first team player with any value this summer to pay off part of the debt. They won't be challenging for the PL again for a long time.

The most telling thing for me is that leveraged buy outs are banned in the NFL, in the very country that most of these LBOs originate from.
 

Frosty

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Mb194dc

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It's the kind of twitter thread that makes you think all football clubs in England should be 50 +1 fan ownership.
 

yumtum

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No - the rules would not allow it anymore. Ironic given we are stuck with this shit.
Didn't Burnley get purchased in a similar way recently? It stuck out as the government soon changed their principles for Chelsea (London centric).
 

Alonzo

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Is there a chance that any upcoming gov regulation could lead to any club sales having to clear debts, or any kind of obligation of any kind on these disgusting rats? They’ve made literally hundreds of millions as it is.
 

Infestissumam

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fantastic work by Swiss Ramble, as always. And not that anything in there is surprising, but it really is depressing when you see it all laid out like that.
 

estel_manutd

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This thread should be stickied for the benefit of folks who often say Glazers are the least of our problems.
 
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Depressing on multiple counts really. The obvious parasitic aspect of it and also that it remains lucrative enough for them to likely have no interest in giving it up any time soon.
 

Vapor trail

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We aren't really doing much about it though
Matchgoing fans are the problem / home fans. There's no consistency to any protests. I've said it beforehand but if United had a good summer and won the first few games you wouldn't hear anything.
 

Lentwood

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The problem is football is tribal by its very nature - so nobody cares. Let's face it, if the City owners or Liverpool owners had run them into the ground we'd have been loving it.

Until football fans realise they need to be on the same side when people attack the very core of the game the uber-capitalists will increasing take the sport away from the people

Cue the second round of outrage when 'ESLv2.0' is proposed...
 

tomaldinho1

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Horrible to see what they're doing and we have no power to stop it. I still don't understand how LBOs are legal and I work in the industry, it's even more galling when you see Boehly trying to raise £800m in debt without putting it against Chelsea.
 

Eckers99

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It's beyond incompetence.
Incompetence is a factor in how they operate but doesn't even nearly sum up how bad they've been for the club. If, back in 2004, you'd given rival fans a selection of ways to bring us down, this ownership would've been a very popular choice. The fact it was allowed to happen was a dereliction of duty from the FA, PL and British government.
 

Sunny Jim

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This Twitter thread definitely merits its own thread. An excellent analysis of why the Glazers are far worse owners than those at any of our rivals, despite spending lots of money on transfers.


Essential reading for anyone in any doubt about how badly our club has been damaged by their ownership and why we shouldn’t be too worried about what might happen when the club is sold.
That is a truly depressing read.
 

VP

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Nothing sums up the ills of capitalism than private equity. Talentless and greedy pricks make lots of money without adding value (or often destroying it) because they happen to have some to start with.

Our fanbase is also to blame for letting such theft happen. We probably still have actual Glazer apologists on this forum.
 

Bluelion7

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I've said it beforehand but if United had a good summer and won the first few games you wouldn't hear anything.
This is what they want. The zone they want to stay in: just competitive enough that you are constantly wondering if “one more player”, or just the right manager will be enough to get you over the hump.

When you turned on Woodward you practically guaranteed he would be at the club too long. They probably loved all that attention on him while they continued to pull their money out.

You can tell they are noticing the ire of the fans turning though. That’s why you’ve been connected to so many signings recently. “Time to give them just enough to mollify them again, then next year full or press about the managers holding us back”. Rinse and repeat.
 

Koldbeer2021

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I wonder if the revenue flat-lining over the last 5 years is a possible positive? The value of the club has surely peaked. With the super league cash cow torpedoed the Glazers must surely think there will never be a better time to sell up?
All depends on what purpose they are here for really?

If they want to simply maximise their profit, then they could have left anytime within the last 5 years and I'm sure at 2-3 billion there would have been takers for a Champions League Man Utd with the history and global fanbase you have and a huge profit for the familt. Now the value is starting to drift again that window is closing, maybe even closed unless/until champions league becomes more consistent again which allows the value to reflate. Rich people try to avoid selling when value is decreasing, unless its a terminal decrease.

I sadly think though the 2nd alternative is more likely. They are simply leeching off of the club for an easy 10-30 million a year regardless of what the club does on and off the pitch. Its the only reason why they are the only board to on a yearly basis take out dividends. I think the family are happy to just subside from the sports club inherited from their father and plow that free money into other ventures or other parts of their lives.

They are basically a horrible little mosquito that bites over and over again and every time is injecting poison into the main body (club) whilst sucking the beneficial blood out of the body.
 

Tyrion

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Saw that earlier, great write up. Glazers are absolute parasites.

The rival fans spouting "but you spent £1bn how can you complain about the Glazers?!" need to shut up and read it.
Yeah whenever I hear Redknapp or Jenas say "But they've spent a lot of money", I know they clearly know f**k all about the situation.
 

elmo

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I wonder if the revenue flat-lining over the last 5 years is a possible positive? The value of the club has surely peaked. With the super league cash cow torpedoed the Glazers must surely think there will never be a better time to sell up?
Considering we’re in almost ending the third year of a global pandemic, the revenues numbers aren’t even that bad yet for the Glazers to consider selling.

TV revenue is probably going to bump up the numbers again for this year onwards too.

There’s little to no chance the Glazers will sell unless someone overpays and offer them 6 billion or some stupid numbers. They’re practically doing nothing and just collecting a steady stream of 20m every year. It’s the greatest bit of investment they’ll ever do.

Bulk of the Glazers net worth is from the club, I don’t think they were even billionaires till they bought us and the value of the club surged. Those gremlins.
 

Oranges038

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It's amazing they were even allowed to buy us in the first place considering they didn't use any of their own actual money.

Would the PL allow a buy out like that of a club nowadays? Actually the PL probably dont give any shits about anything...
Although on a much smaller scale, this is pretty much how Burnley's new owners acquired the club.
 

The Mitcher

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Yeah, great idea. Just most United fans won't bother because it's effort.
 

Cheimoon

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For those not opening the twitter thread, I think two tweets deserve highlighting.

This one shows that the Glazers aren't continuously increasing United's revenue (which anyway wouldn't be something only they unique could have achieved):


And this one shows how much money the Glazers have been siphoning out of the club in the various ways detailed in the full thread. While you can say United have been able to spend a ton of money in the transfer market anyway, this money could have bought a nice (and apparently much-needed) stadium upgrade:

 

Infra-red

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I wonder if the revenue flat-lining over the last 5 years is a possible positive? The value of the club has surely peaked. With the super league cash cow torpedoed the Glazers must surely think there will never be a better time to sell up?
I'm not sure that the Super League is entirely dead. Or at least I'm not sure that the Glazers think it is dead. That windfall and the potential streaming rights bonanza are often cited as the the primary reasons why the Glazers want to stick around.
 

AlexUTD

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This Twitter thread definitely merits its own thread. An excellent analysis of why the Glazers are far worse owners than those at any of our rivals, despite spending lots of money on transfers.


Essential reading for anyone in any doubt about how badly our club has been damaged by their ownership and why we shouldn’t be too worried about what might happen when the club is sold.
And still we are letting this happen.

Why we dont organise and stop putting money into the Glazers pockets is beyond me. They are bit by bit destroying our stadium and training facility while leeching dividends and intrest rates from fans hard earned money. FECK OFF GLAZERS!
 

DomesticTadpole

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Considering we’re in almost ending the third year of a global pandemic, the revenues numbers aren’t even that bad yet for the Glazers to consider selling.

TV revenue is probably going to bump up the numbers again for this year onwards too.

There’s little to no chance the Glazers will sell unless someone overpays and offer them 6 billion or some stupid numbers. They’re practically doing nothing and just collecting a steady stream of 20m every year. It’s the greatest bit of investment they’ll ever do.

Bulk of the Glazers net worth is from the club, I don’t think they were even billionaires till they bought us and the value of the club surged. Those gremlins.
So really we would have to tank as a club? No PL money. No money from PL TV rights. No CL money. They would then rely on whatever Sky pay for Championship games. Crowds would decrease as the tourists would find somewhere else to go. Would it be financially viable to go on this big tours.
 

elmo

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So really we would have to tank as a club? No PL money. No money from PL TV rights. No CL money. They would then rely on whatever Sky pay for Championship games. Crowds would decrease as the tourist would find somewhere else to go.
Best way to accelerate it would be to stop interacting with any of the club’s social medias.

With us not winning and lesser fan interactions on social media, the sponsors are not going to give top dollars anymore.

Would probably help the club make deals before the deadline as well. I swear they’re milking up all the mentions by going for deadline deals just to prove to sponsors that our social media mentions are always crazy hot.
 

ForeverRed1

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Can’t believe what has been allowed to happen to this beautiful football club with its history and heritage. How this takeover was allowed is beyond me. It’s criminal what they have done and will continue to do.
 

tomaldinho1

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Can’t believe what has been allowed to happen to this beautiful football club with its history and heritage. How this takeover was allowed is beyond me. It’s criminal what they have done and will continue to do.
It's probably what will become of all football clubs once they reach a certain size unless rules are changed sadly. The terrible part is fans are what make it such an attractive business model - we're 'sticky' in that we'll basically follow the club through thick and thin, that's why the Glazer's have no fear whatsoever of OT being empty because people can't stay away. That's the only way to get them out, actively hurt the club we love financially and force them to sell.
 

VorZakone

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Jesus, how is Liverpool's revenue nearing Utd. I was always under the impression that Utd generates significantly more money than Liverpool.
 

Green Yellow Red

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It is just soul destroying to think how far we have fallen. I think we’re beyond the phase where it’s just embarrassing. The current state of the club, on and off the pitch, is indicative of disaster brewing. The players are playing to earn a good paycheque, they don’t care about the badge. Ragnick was correct - open heart surgery required.

But, its not just about the players on the pitch, this starts and ends with the owners. Calling them owners is giving them undeserved credit, leeches is a term that describes them more accurately for what they are. Happy milking cash out of the club. Sadly, there is only one way through this, and it is down down down until we are under new, solid ownership. No change without new owners.

Everyone associated with United (all fans, all former United players, ex-managers and pundits alike) should be forming a coalition against the Glazers. Make your voices heard. If everyone stick their neck out TOGETHER and say enough is enough you'd amplify the message that this isn't going away.