What’s your best case outcome from these protests?

Pogue Mahone

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I’m curious about what the most optimistic scenarios are from here on?

I didn’t want the Glazers to take over and it sickens me to see how much money they’ve taken out of the club for personal gain. What I’m struggling with is what plan B looks like? And what needs to fall into place for it to happen.

Could everyone who has a clear idea about what they hope will happen next write a few lines describing how this all pans out.
 

RUCK4444

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Speaking honestly, Glazers decide to sell after the Saudi’s come back in for us.

I’m not getting into the debate (again) why I’m not against Saudi ownership. This is just the best outcome purely from the perspective of the clubs success.

Any businessman that purchases us for £4Billion will want a shite load more of a return than the Glazers take annually. Therefore it needs to be the Saudi’s otherwise we are probably better off sticking with the Yanky leaches, sad though it is.
 

kidbob

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Maybe make them rethink how much money they take out of the club and actually show an interest in the team. Perhaps a promise that for 5 years they won't take any dividends and other dividends after that are based on pitch performance and success. I don't believe they can sell us so that is the best I can think of.

Edit: maybe a promise on cash injection too over the next decade.
 
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Speaking honestly, Glazers decide to sell after the Saudi’s come back in for us.

I’m not getting into the debate (again) why I’m not against Saudi ownership. This is just the best outcome purely from the perspective of the clubs success.
without getting into the debate. Surely THE BEST outcome would be to an ethical buyer. I understand that some might see the Saudi’s as an alternative (and we won’t go into the rights and wrongs of that) - but you would have to agree there would be far better owners then them in a best case scenario.
 

Lord Zlatan

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Glazers arent selling. Im for the protests but i dont think they will work. Best outcome is the chequebook comes out this summer to placate the majority. Edit (swap best with likely)
 

lsd

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Speaking honestly, Glazers decide to sell after the Saudi’s come back in for us.

I’m not getting into the debate (again) why I’m not against Saudi ownership. This is just the best outcome purely from the perspective of the clubs success.

Its one of those things people say they are against and while they may be once we sign Mbappe etc they will somehow manage to live with it.

Its a bit like finding out your missus ran your dog over
 

Reditus

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Nothing will happen just from today. Depends what happens next, if there are sustained protests and full boycotts there will be change

If this is a once off we will get some generic response and things will go on just like it is now
 

TheNewEra

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There was a recent piece 5 days ago that the Glazers are open to selling (after the ESL collapse) so I think they will sell, the question is who can afford to pay $4 billion.
 

littlepeasoup

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I can't see anyone coming in being able to afford the billions it'd take to buy the club not being interested in personal gain - it's just the nature of the financial beast we are.
 

Crashoutcassius

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It is an element of what makes government take concrete action to protect football

Or, it continues and hurts the brand, sporsors take note. Glazers realise the club is more valuable out of their hands, and so a sale makes business sense
 

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I was a bit pessimistic that the FA might penalise us but early indications are that the media have understood the protest and not condemned it, apart from the violent incidents of course, so the fans still have the moral high ground. I'm therefore optimistic that potential sponsors might think twice which is a start.
 

RUCK4444

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without getting into the debate. Surely THE BEST outcome would be to an ethical buyer. I understand that some might see the Saudi’s as an alternative (and we won’t go into the rights and wrongs of that) - but you would have to agree there would be far better owners then them in a best case scenario.
This is my point, there isn’t a viable buyer other than the Saudi’s that won’t want to seek a return on the £4billion outlay.

That is why I regretfully resign myself to the fact that it’s the Saudi’s or nobody.

Do you think somebody like Bezo’s will rock up and drop that sort of cash on a football club he has no interest in?

The outlay is so vast that it creates a very niche buyers market, we cannot afford a buyer who wants a return on investment, so who other than a state backed owner?
 

Pogue Mahone

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Speaking honestly, Glazers decide to sell after the Saudi’s come back in for us.

I’m not getting into the debate (again) why I’m not against Saudi ownership. This is just the best outcome purely from the perspective of the clubs success.
Fair play for your honesty. To me this is very close to best case because it’s the only plausible way for a new owner to be able to afford the Glazer’s valuation. Plus the whole gulf state ego trip project is the only way we end up with owners who won’t follow the Glazer model of primarily using the club to make themselves rich. It’s also the only way we can try and match the spending of City/PSG/Chelsea without bankrupting the club a la Barca/Real.

I don’t think I can stomach it though. The Saudis are just too nasty. I couldn’t live with our club being used a dick extension by them. No matter how many trophies we win.
 

Bilbo

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I’m curious about what the most optimistic scenarios are from here on?

I didn’t want the Glazers to take over and it sickens me to see how much money they’ve taken out of the club for personal gain. What I’m struggling with is what plan B looks like? And what needs to fall into place for it to happen.

Could everyone who has a clear idea about what they hope will happen next write a few lines describing how this all pans out.
There isn't a fairytale ending to any of this, and there definitely isn't a plan B at the moment. I honestly think, as bad as the Glazers are, that there is a decent chance we'd all look back 5 years after they've gone and wish they were still here.
 

rimaldo

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this is either a one off with some steam beijg blown off and ‘normality’ resumes after some pr puff pieces and a marquee signing or two this summer, or it continues until the club suffers, the price drops and the glazers look to sell at a price that is attractive to others, maybe 2-2.5bn instead of 4bn. quite what it will take for that to happen or how long it will take though, i have no idea. i don’t think anyone buys us for 4bn though so their valuation of the club will have to drop.
 

Pogue Mahone

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I was a bit pessimistic that the FA might penalise us but early indications are that the media have understood the protest and not condemned it, apart from the violent incidents of course, so the fans still have the moral high ground. I'm therefore optimistic that potential sponsors might think twice which is a start.
If that’s a start what’s the end game?
 

TheNewEra

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This is my point, there isn’t a viable buyer other than the Saudi’s that won’t want to seek a return on the £4billion outlay.

That is why I regretfully resign myself to the fact that it’s the Saudi’s or nobody.

Do you think somebody like Bezo’s will rock up and drop that sort of cash on a football club he has no interest in?
I don't know how bad the Saudis would be honestly, I think for Saudi its a way of promoting the country really. I live in Dubai (UK expat) currently and I think what the UAE has done to promote themselves has actually been good business.

Emirates / Etihad flights all route through the UAE (Abu Dhabi/Dubai) so it gets a lot of tourism, people recognise The Emirates stadium now, kits are flooded with Fly Emirates, same with City.

It's a big publicity stunt where you can get the west to start to take note of your country really.

If the Saudis take over they'll probably sponsor United with big money, want them to have the best players and promote tourism to Saudi in general I think. I think the UAE has always been quite east meets west, Saudi is going through a whole modernisation period now (although politically its really archaic still).

There's worse owners like Qatar and PSG for sure, but I think at least under Saudi ownership it'd mean United aren't going to be riddled with debt and bled dry.
 

alexthelion

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There isn't a fairytale ending to any of this, and there definitely isn't a plan B at the moment. I honestly think, as bad as the Glazers are, that there is a decent chance we'd all look back 5 years after they've gone and wish they were still here.
This is what I'm afraid of.

It's all very well saying get rid of the Glazers, but there really needs to be serious thought as to who replaces them.
 
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This is my point, there isn’t a viable buyer other than the Saudi’s that won’t want to seek a return on the £4billion outlay.

That is why I regretfully resign myself to the fact that it’s the Saudi’s or nobody.

Do you think somebody like Bezo’s will rock up and drop that sort of cash on a football club he has no interest in?
Ive said on here earlier, the club either becomes a plaything or someone comes in who will also extract profit from their £4bn investment. I don’t think there’s a viable buyer. I don’t want to get into the Saudi debate, and neither do you - so I think we will leave it here.

back to the OP - the best case scenario I can see is that the owners start to talk to the fans, spend some money on the stadium and first team - things settle down for a couple of years before coming to the boil again.

I don’t think this will happen. They will ride it out, and hope it fizzles out - which I think it will.
 

Rightnr

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A sustained deterioration in the value of the club due to worse sponsorship deals, making it easier for people like the Red Knights to buy the club. Potentially with some fan ownership.

What I'd expect to happen as a realistic good outcome is Glazers sell a controlling stake to an interested billionaire who will run us much better than them, say like how Chelsea have been run recently with no injections of cash but also no draining of club resources for dividends.

EDIT: I thought I'd add another option for the pessimists on here.

If the government impliment some rules around club indebtedness, so the Glazers have no pay off the debt, that might the smallest of big wins. However, I'm sure they'll find another way to extract money and leverage the club, as all rich people do.
 

el3mel

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Nothing will happen. Glazers aren't going to sell as long as there're no buyers who're gonna give them the money they want.
 

Globule

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I would hope that it puts the Premier League, FA and Government to really take a good hard look at the ownership model of English football clubs.

The Glazers selling would be great, but at this point in time we could end up with worse owners. With a structure in place that protects clubs, fans and football in general we would hopefully be looking at a more appealing buyer when the time came for them to sell.
 

kundalini

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Government regulation that makes english football less attractive to the likes of Glazers, FSG, Kroenke.

Some element of supporter representation on the board. Clubs forced to get supporter backing for big decisions such as European Super League.

Limitations on what clubs can do without overwhelming supporter agreement.

End to leveraged buy-outs (far too late for us) due to community aspect of football clubs.

Glazers stop taking dividends, pay down debt over time, invest in the stadium.
 

GBBQ

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It’s obvious that there is no benevolent potential owner going to spend 4 billion to run the club in a way the fans want.

I also don’t think the 50+1 model will be implemented.

I don’t like the idea of a state or oligarch using us as a PR exercise.

I also must admit that though they are leeches I prefer that we are a self sustaining entity and not at risk of collapse in case of war or a coup.

So ultimately I think the best of a bad situation is the Glazers implementing some sort of footballing committee (of which they do not hold a controlling share in their own right but contribute to the decision making) in which footballing decisions are made. That the committee has fan representation. That they commit to upgrading the stadium and club facilities. That guarantees are made about funds being made available based on % of revenue. In essence they will be able to take their dividend but decisions will be democratic and transparent.
 

Zlatattack

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I don't know how bad the Saudis would be honestly, I think for Saudi its a way of promoting the country really. I live in Dubai (UK expat) currently and I think what the UAE has done to promote themselves has actually been good business.

Emirates / Etihad flights all route through the UAE (Abu Dhabi/Dubai) so it gets a lot of tourism, people recognise The Emirates stadium now, kits are flooded with Fly Emirates, same with City.

It's a big publicity stunt where you can get the west to start to take note of your country really.

If the Saudis take over they'll probably sponsor United with big money, want them to have the best players and promote tourism to Saudi in general I think. I think the UAE has always been quite east meets west, Saudi is going through a whole modernisation period now (although politically its really archaic still).

There's worse owners like Qatar and PSG for sure, but I think at least under Saudi ownership it'd mean United aren't going to be riddled with debt and bled dry.
MBS is an oddball. For someone so obsessed with presenting a modern open Saudi Arabia, he does like to wage war. People bang on about the Journalist but Yemen is the real tragedy. The Saudis have decimated it and starved it.
 

TheNewEra

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MBS is an oddball. For someone so obsessed with presenting a modern open Saudi Arabia, he does like to wage war. People bang on about the Journalist but Yemen is the real tragedy. The Saudis have decimated it and starved it.
I agree there'll be big comparisons drawn to certain events currently ongoing, and there's many countries participating which is sad. I think from a financial perspective though United would be the richest team in the world signing the biggest names again.

I would prefer The Red Knights for sure, but can they pull that off? That's the question.
 

Bilbo

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This is what I'm afraid of.

It's all very well saying get rid of the Glazers, but there really needs to be serious thought as to who replaces them.
Yes, and we would have zero say in that anyway.

Realistically the best case outcome from this, and when I say best I guess I really mean the safest outcome, is probably just that the Glazers become better owners
 

alexthelion

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Yes, and we would have zero say in that anyway.

Realistically the best case outcome from this, and when I say best I guess I really mean the safest outcome, is probably just that the Glazers become better owners
Hopefully that comes to pass because I seriously fear any buyer will be even worse.
 

Kaos

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Wonder if the fans would accept a 50+1 with the Saudis?
Would the Saudis? I'd imagine they'd want majority control, not pay a billion or two to be minority shareholder, not when their rival gulf nations own entire footballing clubs across the continent.
 

TMDaines

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I’m curious about what the most optimistic scenarios are from here on?

I didn’t want the Glazers to take over and it sickens me to see how much money they’ve taken out of the club for personal gain. What I’m struggling with is what plan B looks like? And what needs to fall into place for it to happen.

Could everyone who has a clear idea about what they hope will happen next write a few lines describing how this all pans out.
I’m 99% sure my season ticket would be cancelled should we fall into the hands of blood money, so I’m wondering all this too.

I’ve said a few times here that I don’t think protests tend to ever be that effective, because it is difficult to get sustained, positive movements. Even if they did crack, I’m struggling to see who buys for the right reasons.
 
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Wonder if the fans would accept a 50+1 with the Saudis?
no.


I agree there'll be big comparisons drawn to certain events currently ongoing, and there's many countries participating which is sad. I think from a financial perspective though United would be the richest team in the world signing the biggest names again.

I would prefer The Red Knights for sure, but can they pull that off? That's the question.
the Red Knights were as bad as Michael Knighton - they had barely a few million to put into the pot. They were a joke, and frankly didn’t help matters one bit.

more chance of Mick Hucknall signing a £5bn record deal and him buying the club with the proceeds.
 

Ali Dia

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my hope would be that if the fans keep pushing at the very least we can renegotiate the terms of our relationship with the glazers.. The pipe dream is 50 + 1 and legislation. legislation is probably the only way the glazers are going anywhere.
 

Jippy

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Government regulation that makes english football less attractive to the likes of Glazers, FSG, Kroenke.

Some element of supporter representation on the board. Clubs forced to get supporter backing for big decisions such as European Super League.

Limitations on what clubs can do without overwhelming supporter agreement.

End to leveraged buy-outs (far too late for us) due to community aspect of football clubs.

Glazers stop taking dividends, pay down debt over time, invest in the stadium.
That's the realistic best case in terms of governance, but I doubt the fan representatives on the boards of the ESL 6 would've been able to stop the clubs signing up. The obvious danger is it's pure lip service paid, with the fans only getting a say in crap like what pies are on sale.
 

RUCK4444

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Fair play for your honesty. To me this is very close to best case because it’s the only plausible way for a new owner to be able to afford the Glazer’s valuation. Plus the whole gulf state ego trip project is the only way we end up with owners who won’t follow the Glazer model of primarily using the club to make themselves rich. It’s also the only way we can try and match the spending of City/PSG/Chelsea without bankrupting the club a la Barca/Real.

I don’t think I can stomach it though. The Saudis are just too nasty. I couldn’t live with our club being used a dick extension by them. No matter how many trophies we win.
I totally understand a large section of fans would be against it.

For the reasons we’ve both mentioned though, regarding the difficulty in finding a buyer that has deep enough pockets to buy us without then gutting us financially to re-line their pockets, means there isn’t any other possible positive outcome.

At least we would be able to fully operate to our fullest potential. We are a behemoth of a club, a giant, built on the life’s work of men like SAF and Busby who elevated us to our current standing in the game. Why then should we of all clubs be restricted whilst other clubs get a lottery win to bypass us and spend ten times what they could previously. We deserve an owner that doesn’t seek a financial return, like our competitors have.

The game has moved on, we would all go back to the glory years under SAF if we could, winning everything whilst being ‘morally sound’ (or robbed by our owners is another way of putting it.)

I’m sick of us having to work in spite of owners instead of being pushed forward and liberated by them like our competitors are.
 

hobbers

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50+1 ownership model is more important than new ownership.

But the closer we get to legislation to protect these clubs, the more owners like the Glazers will be minded to sell anyway.