Recently, Manchester United has faced the wrath of its supporters, owing to their abysmal performances right since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. His successor David Moyes couldn’t conjure any heroics at Old Trafford. He was followed by the Dutch boss, Louis Van Gaal who savoured comprehensive success with Ajax but came a cropper at the Theatre of Dreams.
The Portuguese sensation, Jose Mourinho took over the reins and produced fine results in his second session that saw United finishing second in the Premier League campaign. Unfortunately, his third-season curse continued and Manchester was handed their rear back in a platter that also saw the team on the fringes of an implosion. That is when the club bought one of their former heroes, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to take care of the club as the interim manager.
The baby-faced assassin produced stunning results initially only for the success to fizzle away after a while and Ole was back to the ground. He did have a woeful start to the next season Premiership but recovered brilliantly with the arrival of the Portuguese midfield maestro, Bruno Fernandes. Finally the team finished their League campaign in the third position and also was the semi-finalists of UEFA Europa League.
However, this fire on coaches isn’t limited to the bench and locker room anymore. The fans have voiced their concerns vociferously against the management board and the owners. They believe that the Glazers, the owners of the Old Trafford club, are at equal fault for not willing to spend money behind good purchases like the management that oversees on-field operations.
Keeping the blasphemy aside, it was in 2003 when Malcolm Glazer chose to splurge a part of his fortune in attempting to purchase the Devils. The initial share that Glazer had in the club was 3 per cent. However, it later surged to 15 per cent around the end of the year.
His acquisition of John Magnier and J.P. MacManus raised his share from 28.7 per cent to a staggering 57 per cent, which was way beyond the 30 per cent share threshold that will compel Glazer to launch a takeover bid of the club. A few days later, Glazer took over 75 per cent of the club’s share which allowed him to delist the club from the Stock Exchange. Through the likes of their parent company, Red Football, the Glazers managed to took over 98 per cent of the club, forcing a squeeze out of the rest. The amount that Glazers had to shell to own the club was a whopping £800 million.
Most of the amount that came towards the club from Glazer was in the form of loans, the majority of which were secured against the club’s assets that also incurred interests of over £60 million per annum. The remainder amount came in PIK loans which were later shelled out to hedge funds.
Which other clubs did the Glazers own?
The first step of Glazer to enter sports circuit was accumulating shares in NFL side, Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the death of its former owner, Hugh Culverhouse in 1995 for a record fee at that point in time which cited £192 million.
The attempted takeover of Manchester United
Prior to Manchester United’s takeover of Manchester United, media mogul, Rupert Bloch attempted to take over Manchester United in 1999, having an offer of £623 million accepted by the board. Unfortunately, the move was blocked by the government’s Monopolies and Mergers commission due to a potential conflict with Bloch’s other sports investments.
Another interested party in buying Manchester was Libyan dictator, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi. This was also followed by an attempt from Mohammad Bin Salman to purchase the club.
