What do we think it will take for high level changes to be made?

[Fosu-Mens]

Short term pain for long term gain:
Relegation or 2/3 years around the lower half of the table. PL and commercial income are still high enough for the club to stay profitable without CL/EL money. And there will be a new PL-TV deal soon that might increase the income even more.

 

[Cloud7]

One thing that we always need to consider with the hope for new owners is that there's a very high chance our new owners could be worse than the Glazers. You don't have to look far around the world of football to see just how terrible certain owners can be. The best thing for us really would be to get more competent people actually managing things.

 

[monosierra]

I agree, the Glazers have built the worth of the asset from £0.8B (when they bought the club) to now around about £3.1B (according to Forbes). At least two of the Glazer 'clan' have washed their hands of the club and its only the three stalwarts who retain both a commercial and a personal interest in the club.

Who knows where professional football will finish up after Covid, but Utd's owners have other concerns; the ability to attract elite players, and their willingness to pay the asking price. The OT ground is beginning to 'creak' as a top class sporting venue, its position is vulnerable, with it being squeezed in between a railway line a on one side and a canal on the other, expansion on the present site would be costly and will not solve major access problems. Moving to another site would be even more costly and they would loose the 'theatre of dreams' title which is highly valued by fans and sponsors alike.

There are three things; the lack of willingness to invest in elite players, the need to redevelop OT from the ground up is impossible on the current site if a state of the art venue, including access and egress issue being sorted is required, and moving to another site loses the magic of the 'theatre of dreams' and threatens future income streams.

When these thing coincide, probably after the effects of Covid are clearly known, then the Glazers will sell, but who will buy?

If the terms of our next sponsorship deal is clearly not as attractive as our rivals - taking into account Covid - it would set a worrying precedent for our other, lesser, deals. We certainly do not come to the table stronger than we were when we negotiated the last shirt deal - yes, the overall commercial environment of club football has improved pre-Covid but so has our rivals. Our brand has not been gaining in prestige in the meantime.

 

[monosierra]

One thing that we always need to consider with the hope for new owners is that there's a very high chance our new owners could be worse than the Glazers. You don't have to look far around the world of football to see just how terrible certain owners can be. The best thing for us really would be to get more competent people actually managing things.

Given the sheer amount the club would cost, the only entities that could afford a full-cash takeover would be a state-owned organization or (less likely) a consortium of investors. A bad scenario would be another Glazers-like acquisition when even more debt is loaded onto the club by a leveraged buyer. That scenario could be likely if we suffer a continued decline in brand value and no longer command the interests of a prestige-seeking state-owned entity but attract only vultures who want to strip the club of its assets.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

One thing that we always need to consider with the hope for new owners is that there's a very high chance our new owners could be worse than the Glazers. You don't have to look far around the world of football to see just how terrible certain owners can be. The best thing for us really would be to get more competent people actually managing things.

Apart from a regime like the Saudis that are only interested in sportswashing, I don't think there are many financially motivated owners that would be worse than the Glazers. Any new owners would still see the need for the club to stay somewhat competitive to ensure the revenue/profitability long term, and most investment firms/financially motivated owners would appoint people that could get the best out of the money invested in players regarding transfer fees and wages(Like Liverpool with people actually knowledgable about football in charge). And any new owners taking an aggressive short term profitable approach would find that the resale value of the club would plummet.