MUST - the independent Manchester United supporters' trust
June 5 at 6:48 PM
GLAZER MISCONCEPTIONS
They have always put the money in and backed the manager.
This is where people get really confused. The Glazers have not put a single penny of their own money into our club or into transfers... all the money for transfers has come from the club's own revenues and generated profits... The Glazers have not invested a single penny out of their own pockets into the team, the stadium or Carrington.
In 2005 they took over our club having borrowed the money and via a leverage deal constructed by a banker from J P Morgan called Woodward who they later employed. Placed all of their debt instantly back onto the club. This became Manchester United's debt not a Glazer debt. Resulting in Manchester United being in debt for the first time since 1931.
14 years on the debt remains at 496 million but they have since however drained over 1 billion out of our club and continue to do so. Today they will pay themselves all of the Glazer siblings including the daughter who has never set foot inside Old Trafford another annual dividend.
If you have bought a match day programme since 2005 then you have probably already invested more of your own money into our club than the Glazers have.
The Debt is not a problem, it is just like a mortgage.
Some defend them and say the takeover deal and debt is like a mortgage.
All I can say is then is that I would love to have a mortgage like the one the Glazers have got. I would have bought a mansion instead... I might try that tomorrow... I'll go into the HSBC, I'll borrow a million in a leverage deal so I don't have to invest a single penny for the property from my own pockets.. Via the leverage deal I will then instantly load all of the debt I've just borrowed instantly back onto the HSBC so it is then their debt and not mine. As a result the HSBC will then have to pay all of the mortgage repayments and interest payments for me out of their own revenues, while I live there Scot free without spending a single penny of my own...
Some mortgage that. I can't wait to pocket the equity
The Glazers are Great businessmen
Really ???... In 2005 their deal to takeover United was doomed to failure. However someone called Ed Woodward was assigned by investment bank J.P. Morgan to provide that accounting agility, Woodward won the minds and the hearts of the Glazers with his work to resuscitate a failing deal at the 11th hour. Without Woodward the Glazer takeover deal would undoubtedly have failed.
The Glazers' takeover deal was last-minute and desperate in terms of interest levels and the loans necessary to pull it off. One condition was that the new owners' shares in the club could have been repossessed had they failed to keep up repayments.
Woodward's work in structuring the deal to pull the Glazers out of a hole was the foundation of the high esteem in which the Glazers hold him and the reason why they soon employed him to now be in charge of the daily running of Old Trafford.
Today's figures show that despite another 12 months of astronomical debt interest payments being drained from our club the debt has actually risen again from 380 million in February 2015 to 487 million last year and to 496 million in the latest figures.. So after 14 years United are still nearly 500 million in debt and Tampa Bay are over 100 million in debt.
Looking at the Glazers business interest in the US It centres on First Allied Corporation, the Glazer company which owns and rents out shopping malls across the US. First Allied have taken out mortgages on 63 of the 64 shopping centres that First Allied lists on its website.. 9 of these Shopping Malls have closed in which they still have mortgages secured against... forcing them to sell them off at half the price and making a huge loss...
The insight those mortgages provide into First Allied's difficult financial position makes it clear that the Bucs and United which is a combined £600 million in debt as a result of the Glazers' takeover represent the family's principal businesses and sources of cash, now and in the future.
Its clear that there is very little chance the family's other businesses will contribute to clearing United's debt, and raises the possibility that family members will need to continue drawing loans and consultancy fees from the club to continue to finance their lifestyles .
Interestingly in 2014 Joel Glazer sold his exclusive Palm Beach home for $7.5 million. The Glazers bought the house in 2007 for $9.3 million when times were good, so they took a $1.8 million loss on the property. Further indication of their financial position. The Glazers have a presumed combined net wealth of just under 3 billion but built upon significant debt.
What about at United, being great businessmen, what sort of money have they been able to recoup for the players successful in securing our last title success in 2013, most of that squad was very quickly moved on. So what sort of money could The Glazers and their bank boy Woodward recoup for a recent title winning squad
Well not allowing for Giggs and Scholes who retired, most of that squad was moved on within one or two years. Sixteen title winning players from that squad.
Lindergard, Rafael, Fabio, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Anderson, Kagawa, Fletcher, Cleverley, Nani,. Welbeck, Van Persie, Rooney and Hernandez have all been moved on for a combined total of 61 million. You couldn't make it up. The crazy highlights being Rafael 2m, Evra 1.5m, Evans 8m, Nani 4m and Van Persie 4m.. We also bought Zaha for 15m and moved him on in no time at all for just 6m. Business suicide.
But we have won things since the Glazer takeover.
In the past we won trophies despite the Glazers not because of them...
Following the Glazer takeover David Gill said that they would budget a net spend of 50 million a season.
Sir Alex used to tow the line and say that there was no value in the market... despite players like Hazard, Aguero, Suarez and Coutinho and co arriving at our rivals for very reasonable fees....
The Glazers had been at the helm for 4 seasons when Ronaldo was sold in 2009, that 80 million fee received brought the Glazer nett spend since 2005 down to zero... A large chunk of the fee was used to pay interest payments....
14 years on however guess what United's average nett spend is since 2005... Have a lucky guess... yes that's right, our average nett spend per season is still 50 million as budgeted and stated by David Gill way back in 2005...
If they gave us back the money they have taken from this club we could go out and buy every top player in the world.