Manchester United are one of the most valuable football teams in the world, there’s no doubt about that.
On the pitch the players wearing the football kit emblazoned with the Red Devil and off it they sport nike tracksuits filled with sponsors, each man an icon and role model for generations.
Every small boy at some point wants to play for United and, love them or hate them, it’s hard to disagree with why.
But financially it is a different story. The club has been valued at as high a price as $3billion according to an upcoming share floatation and the opportunity to clear all of the club’s £680million debt by raising up to £1billion in a Singapore share market has been passed over by the club’s US owners, the Glazer family.
Why would they do something like that? To retain control.
The Singapore market plans have been bypassed for a smaller New York market share sale, in a system that essentially means the shares the Glazer family has are worth a lot more than the accumulative amount of the shares sold to the public.
This means that not only will the Glazer family get to keep half of the profit for themselves but they also would not be subject to being voted out by a majority of public shares.
Although Manchester United as a brand is big business – they sell millions of pounds worth of football accessories, footballs and football training equipment each year, as a financial entity they are almost not worth investing in.
The Glazers have been responsible for nearly £550million in debt related fees and this deal would sour the grapes still further by lining their pockets further at the expense of the club.
It’s not all bad though, if this deal is successful it would see spending power to match that of rivals Manchester City and Chelsea brought to Old Trafford, which is a mouth watering prospect.
Best to just focus on what happens on the pitch.
