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Man utd spending more since glazer? (11-11-2007 14:54:02)
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But United's summer spending may not be as impressive as it first appears. They have so far only paid £16m for Nani and Anderson with the rest dependent on appearances, goals and international caps. The same is true of the deal for Hargreaves, which is worth an initial fee of £16.8m to Bayern Munich. With the £5.5m United received for the sale of Kieran Richardson to Sunderland and the £6m fee expected for the sale of Gabriel Heinze, the net spend is reduced to about £21m. It looks even less extravagant when one considers the club's spending since the Glazers took over.
Apart from the £18m deal with Spurs for Michael Carrick (another transfer which involved a much smaller up-front payment), the Glazers have until this year made no major acquisitions. In fact they are in the black thanks to the £11m sale of Ruud van Nistelrooy to Real Madrid and the £12m they received in compensation from Chelsea to settle the dispute over Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel.
The Glazers arrived at Old Trafford promising Ferguson an annual transfer kitty of £25m plus an extra £25m for a star player, but the actual outlay has, until this summer, been zero.
And despite the financial success of last season, there is serious discontent among supporters over the way ticket prices have been raised for the coming season by 14 per cent. The increase comes on the back of a 12 per cent rise last year.
In addition the club have introduced a scheme which will force season ticket holders to pay for cup matches. Last week, one fan began county court proceedings against the club, claiming the move amounted to restrictive practices.
Appreciation to IMUSA for the above
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Manchester United May Regain Richest-Team Status (19-5-2007 17:09:46)
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May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Manchester United's first English league title under Malcolm Glazer and the club's recently expanded stadium may spur the team's sales growth and restore the club as the richest in soccer.
United's revenue of 165.4 million pounds ($327 million) in the year through June 2006 were the most in U.K. soccer, behind Italy's Juventus as well as Spain's Barcelona and Real Madrid, the richest club with sales of 202 million pounds. United, which won the Premiership for the first time in four seasons, topped that list until two years ago and this season expanded its Old Trafford stadium by 11 percent to hold 76,000 fans.
``With the completion of their stadium development we can expect them to move back up the list in 2006-07,'' Paul Rawnsley, a director in the Sport Business Group at London accounting firm Deloitte and Touche LLP, said in an interview today. ``It is also notable that United remain the most profitable club football operation in the world.''
The Premiership champion gets 30 million pounds in prize money and television revenue, about half the annual interest payments on the 660 million pounds of debt United added since Glazer bought the team in 2005.
Winning the Premiership, broadcast in 190 countries, may also generate more in sponsorship fees, according to Michael Stirling, who has advised companies on doing ventures with Premiership clubs.
AIG, Vodafone
``United is well on the way to overtaking the Real Madrids and Barcelonas at the top of the tree,'' Tom Cannon, dean of the University of Buckingham business school northwest of London, said in a telephone interview. ``We're going to see big sales growth.''
United officials declined to say how the Premiership crown would affect its finances.
The club is guaranteed more sponsorship income this year, the first of a four-year deal with American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurer. AIG is paying 56.5 million pounds to have its logo on United's jerseys, a 57 percent increase from the previous deal with Vodafone Group Plc.
``Winning the league is significant,'' Stirling, of London- based Global Sponsors, said in an interview. ``Big companies want to be seen as the top brand. That means associating with the best team.''
United's 16th championship might appease fans who criticized Glazer, according to Bobby Charlton, who played a record 759 games for the club and is now a board member.
More Fans
``If the team does well, the business takes care of itself,'' Charlton said in an interview. ``I hope the supporters who were against Glazer will start to change their minds.''
About half the 20 Premiership teams will freeze or cut ticket prices next season. United will raise prices as much as 14 percent, with the most expensive ticket for 19 Premiership home games at 836 pounds. It's the club's third straight increase.
``If the game doesn't start looking after its fans, we're all going to stick two fingers up to it soon,'' Mark Longden of the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association said, referring to an obscene gesture popular in the U.K.
Those who do attend are benefiting from a better match-day experience under the Glazers, according to Dan Jones, a Manchester-based colleague of Rawnsley at Deloitte. Malcolm Glazer's sons Bryan, Avram and Joel are on United's board.
Halftime Refreshment
``They've really sharpened up,'' Jones said. ``It used to be a waste of time trying to get a drink at halftime, now it's not.''
Much of the credit for United's success on and off the field goes to Alex Ferguson, the Premiership's longest-serving coach at 21 years, according to Charlton and Ray Wilkins, who represented England 84 times and played 160 games in United's midfield.
Ferguson has built a team around players like 22-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo and 21-year-old Wayne Rooney that draws crowds by playing more ``entertaining'' soccer, Wilkins said. United has 83 goals this season, 20 more than Chelsea.
``People want to watch a team that plays in such a fine fashion,'' he said in an interview. ``Success will keep the fans happy. Even if some people don't want to pay the prices, there'll be others desperate to watch.''
According to Global Sponsors' Stirling, Ferguson and his squad have done the hard work to add to United's bottom line. United clinched the title with two matches remaining.
``There will always be hardcore fans that won't forget about Glazer, but from a marketing perspective, winning is everything,'' he said.
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Man Utd defend ticket price rise (19-5-2007 12:47:29)
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Manchester United have hit their fans with a 12.3% average rise in season ticket prices for the next campaign. A top-price ticket will cost £38 and the cheapest £23 - although United are still roughly halfway up the list of Premiership ticket prices.
"It is the time of year when football directors become public enemy number one," said finance director Nick Humby.
"But we strongly believe that the new ticket prices still represent the best value in the Premier League."
Those whose tickets average £30 a game will be hardest hit as their seats will cost £5 more.
But everyone attending games at Old Trafford will have to pay more - with one exception, that being a supporter with two children sitting in the Family Stand, for whom the price will be frozen.
Mark Longden, chairman of the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association criticised the move, saying there could be empty seats at Old Trafford next season.
"Even the hardcore fan is going to think twice about spending £35 to go watch Birmingham at 5.15pm on a Saturday evening," he said.
"It is far easier - and cheaper - to go and watch the game on TV in a pub somewhere, where, it has to be said, the atmosphere is often better as well.
"The more prices go up, the more people fall off the edge and, without a doubt, there will be empty seats for league games at Old Trafford next season."
United estimate that 43% of their matchday receipts next year will be generated by their 8,000 'executive' fans, a rise from 36% for the present campaign.
But United have defended the price rises, saying they compare favourably with the rest of the Premiership.
"We do not know what most of our rivals will charge next year, but even a price freeze across the rest of the Premiership would mean that next year only seven clubs will have a cheaper ticket than £23 and nine clubs will have a top price over £39 - in some cases almost double," said Humby.
Chelsea have frozen ticket prices for next season, which means tickets for Premiership games remain between £35 and £60.
The Blues' ticket prices are the second highest in the Premiership, after Tottenham, who charge up to £70. Wigan's prices are the lowest, at £17 to £25.
Old Trafford's capacity is being expanded to 76,000 - comfortably the largest in the Premiership - for the start of next season.
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Glazers deny Chinese approach for United (18-5-2007 3:32:32)
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The Glazer family on Sunday insisted that Manchester United was not for sale amid reports of an 850 million pound (1.7 billion dollar) bid from a Chinese consortium.
It has been claimed that contact was made with United by an English-based finance expert on behalf of the consortium.
But sources close to the Glazer family have rejected the story, claiming no-one has approached them over any potential buy-out.
And the Americans, who will be strongly represented at Old Trafford Sunday when Sir Alex Ferguson's side will be presented with the Premiership trophy, are adamant they have no intention of selling.
"There has been no approach from any consortium, there has been no offer and, even if there had, it would not have been considered," said a family spokesman.
"The family are absolutely and totally committed to Manchester United over the long term.
"They are determined to make United more successful, both on and off the pitch and are unequivocal in their stance that the club is not for sale."
There is a certain irony in the words given the 'Not For Sale' slogan was used by the fans' groups vehemently opposed to the takeover by Malcolm Glazer, owner of NFL team Tampa Bay Buccaneers, two years ago.
However, having paid 800 million pounds for the club in the first place and already negotiated massively-increased sponsorship deals, there would hardly seem to be any point in selling now, especially with a huge new television contract due to come into force next season.
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Ferguson salutes the Glazers over 'non-interference' (19-4-2007 3:32:32)
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This, in the week that losses of £137.7m were announced.
Ferguson salutes the Glazers over 'non-interference'. This, in the week that losses of £137.7m were announced.
"The Glazers have been fine since they took over.
"They haven't interfered with anything we do. I have had a couple of meetings with them, although [the United chief executive] David Gill obviously deals with them more regularly. Any time I have been with them, they have simply said to let them know if there is anything I need."
"Of course it was costly.
"But I told our people, 'Look, two or three years down the line, we could be playing Real Madrid and thinking to ourselves that we had the best player in the world and let him go'. Nobody would want that."
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EVEN MORE UNITED DEBT REVEALED (19-4-2007 3:32:32)
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Glazer's 'Red Football' holding company loses £137m in its first year.
Financial Times:
The Glazer family's takeover of Manchester United resulted in a pre-tax loss of £137.7m in the club's holding company, figures filed at Companies House reveal.
The accounts for Red Football, set up by Malcolm Glazer for the deal, also show for the first time that the actual amount paid by the Glazers was £809.1m.
According to the accounts, after a net asset valuation of £286.8m, the goodwill generated from the deal comes to £522.4m, depreciating by £39.2m a year over 15 years.
Interest payments on debt of £598m totalled about £85.2m in the 14 months between May 1 2005 and June 30 2006, divided between £27.2m from cash flow and £57.9m in high-yielding payment-in-kind notes.
The accounts are the first declaration by the Glazer family, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team, of the scale of the club's indebtedness needed to secure the takeover.
The family waged a protracted battle with the board before securing the takeover. However, the club's success on the pitch - it leads the Premier League and is in the semi-finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup - has eased pressure.
Manchester United reported in January that the club had made a £31m profit in the 12 months to June 30, with earnings at £46.3m. Red Football's earnings were £10m lower, the result of costs borne in the last two months of the accounting period.
People connected to the Glazer family said the accounting losses were expected and reflected the cost of financing the old capital structure of the club, the depre- ciation of goodwill and exceptional one-off takeover costs.
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COLD FEET'S HOT POTATO (4-4-2006 15:44:42)
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Guardian:
Is nothing sacred? No, it seems, for James Nesbitt, the celebrity Manchester United fan who not so very long ago was generously donating £10,000 to Shareholders United and its fashionable fight against the evil Malcolm Glazer's takeover bid. Nowadays, we hear, he is to be seen on Sky television enthusiastically promoting the erstwhile evil one's brand-new executive boxes. This is, we are confident, wholly unrelated to the fact that the actor takes top billing in Danny Boyle's latest film Millions, "a children's story about what money does to both inspire and corrupt".
Indie:
Manchester United fans were spitting blood last summer when the American billionaire Malcolm Glazer took control of the football club.
Among the voices of dissent was the Cold Feet star James Nesbitt, a lifelong fan, who threw his weight behind Shareholders for United, a trust which battled to avoid a total buyout by the tycoon.
Interesting to note then that Nesbitt, left, who even gave £10,000 to the anti-Glazer cause, now appears decidedly more comfortable with the corporate direction of the club, and can be heard voicing adverts promoting its new executive boxes.
"Considering the stance he took against Glazer, it does seem a bit rich to now find him doing advertising for them," I'm told. "Jimmy should understand how this looks to many of his fellow fans."
A Shareholders for United spokesman is in diplomatic mood when I call. "We don't have a problem with him doing these adverts," he insists. "It's his business really."
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Reds call for ticket commitment (21-3-2006 18:20:52)
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NEW Manchester United season ticket holders will also be forced to join the Red Devils `Cup scheme', which could cost them an extra £250 a year.
With the new quadrants, the first part of which are due to be opened in time for Sunday's Barclays Premiership encounter with Birmingham, taking Old Trafford's capacity up to 76,000 by the start of next season, United have decided to release another 7,000 season tickets, taking the overall figure up to 50,000.
But, in a controversial move, they have also made it compulsory to join the cup scheme, which commits fans to buying tickets for all home cup games, including any Champions League qualifier and the early rounds of the Carling Cup, when Sir Alex Ferguson tends to field most of his young players.
Over 20,000 existing season ticket holders are members of the scheme but, while the club have rejected claims fans will be asked to pay up front for a set number of tickets the move is sure to irritate fans' groups.
Condition
"We are not asking fans to pay up front but we have put a condition on our new season tickets that supporters will automatically have to join our cup ticket scheme, to which many of our current season ticket holders currently subscribe," said a United spokesman.
It is not thought there are any plans to extend the ruling to current season ticket holders, who have previously been given the choice whether to join the cup scheme or not.
United played eight cup ties at home this season - four in Europe, three in the Carling Cup and an FA Cup replay with Burton - only two of which came close to reaching capacity.
On current prices, those extra games would cost around £240 and many fans, especially those sceptical about Malcolm Glazer's ownership, will feel it is a cynical attempt to guarantee income.
However, it could also work against the American with some supporters who may have wanted to guarantee a seat at Premier League games, being put off at the prospect of having to pay over 33% extra to watch the likes of Lille, Barnet and Burton.
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Ferguson gets a dressing-down (21-3-2006 18:15:51)
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Malcolm Glazer explains just why he’s cutting pizza from United’s budget
SIR ALEX FERGUSON WAS BLASTED last night by Malcolm Glazer for selecting Louis Saha up front for Manchester United instead of Ruud van Nistelrooy. The owner claimed that the promotion of the in-form France striker was a “crass” decision that could threaten the future of the club. “What use is Saha to us when the shorter the name on replica shirts the lower the price they fetch?” Glazer said. “The trouble with concentrating on the football is that you lose sight of the whole purpose of a club, which is to make money for its owners. We’ve taken our eye off the pound signs.”
Glazer was astounded to hear that United’s team in the 1990s included David May. “How can you sign a guy with three letters? With that kind of commercial naivety, it’s no wonder they experienced such financial trouble and needed me to bail them out.” The American defended United’s policy of charging their players to appear in matches. “Wayne Rooney is taking up valuable space on the pitch that some of our corporate guests would pay a fortune to stand in, so it’s only right that he forks out. Van Nistelrooy has been playing as a substitute recently, so he has paid a much smaller ‘pitch entrance fee’.
“On the other hand, his wages have been frozen because if someone is not providing us with a service then obviously we should not pay them.” Glazer has also introduced a performance-related salary for Ferguson. “It’s a very reasonable arrangement,” the owner said. “Ferguson receives a large amount of money if we win all four trophies, he gets nothing if it is three trophies, and two or fewer trophies means he has to hand over his house to the club.”
Meanwhile, Glazer has launched an investigation into the ugly scenes in the tunnel after United’s match against Arsenal at Old Trafford last season. “It was an absolute scandal that an Arsenal player threw a slice of pizza at Ferguson,” he said. “We paid for that food so it was about 70 pence down the drain.”
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LG SWITCH OFF INTEREST IN UNITED (17-3-2006 13:44:33)
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Korean electronics giant LG are reported to have cut off negotiations over a £15million-a-year shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester United.
LG Electronics were the latest company to be linked with United, who are looking for a successor to Vodafone, whose own contract will be terminated in the summer two years earlier than planned.
Middle East airlines Etihad and Qatar have previously been mentioned, while US internet gaming organisation Madison have consistently been put forward as one of the front-runners.
However, it appears LG Electronics are no longer in the running, with an unnamed company executive telling the Korean Times that United 'are playing with the media in order to raise the price in the bidding'.
United have made no public statement on their efforts to bring in a new sponsor, although a senior club official this week declared privately that the process was reaching its conclusion.
Contrary to the doom merchants who predicted the collapse of the Vodafone deal was a disaster to the business plan of new owner Malcolm Glazer, it was also stated the American was not troubled by Vodafone's move as it provided an avenue to bring in even more revenue.
Whichever company United eventually snare, it appears Glazer's relaxed stance has been warranted.
With son Bryan and Red Devils commercial director Andy Anson leading a worldwide search for the new sponsor, it appears United will strike a deal far in excess of the £9million-a-year Vodafone were paying and probably beyond the £50million Chelsea are due to receive from Samsung over a five-year term.
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Ruud to quit Utd (15-3-2006 22:58:53)
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RUUD VAN NISTELROOY has told family his time is up at Manchester United.
The Dutch hitman’s brother Ron broke the news to a supporter in a pub before Sunday’s 2-0 home win over Newcastle.
The fan said: “When I asked ‘Is he off?’ Ron looked at me and said ‘It looks like he no longer has a future at Old Trafford, sadly’. In the past he has always played down any suggestion that Ruud was going. But this time it was different.”
Ron is well known among staunch United fans, who he prefers to mix with rather than take advantage of VIP hospitality.
SunSport revealed on Saturday that Tottenham are ready to pounce with a £7million summer bid.
But Italian giants AC Milan and AS Roma are also keen.
Van Nistelrooy has accepted his fate as he and United boss Alex Ferguson are hardly on speaking terms.
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beware fans!!!! (1-3-2006 22:45:20)
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Word is out that charitable Glazer is totally stopping perks given to the Old Trafford employees(the ones he hasn`t sacked).When Wigan Athletic play Man.United in the Carling Cup final he`ll make them pay for their tickets for the first time EVER and also scrap their free travel to the game.What an ARSEHOLE.He is also considering an offer to make the players play a friendly match against Quatar in Dubai RIGHT before the cup final game.Hardly the right preparation.This stupid fuckin yank GIMP hasn`t a fuckin brain in his stupid bastard head to know about how to run a ENGLISH football club-let alone M.U.F.C.
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revanche! (24-1-2006 13:17:39)
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Supporters! Let's make it clear to all the people, who betrayed man utd, that it's gameover, lets get some money together and hire some snipers!!! Post with me : use re:revanche
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