Glazer ownership of Manchester United
The club split from the railway company in 1892 and remained under private ownership for almost 100 years, changing its name to Manchester United after being saved from bankruptcy in 1902.
Most of the capital used by Glazer to purchase Manchester United came in the form of loans, the majority of which were secured against the club's assets, incurring interest payments of over £60 million per annum.
[2] In August 2012, as part of further refinancing, the Glazers sold a number of shares in Manchester United in an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
[7] In 1901, the club was in over £2,500 of debt and facing a winding-up order;[8] however, they were saved by local brewer John Henry Davies, who changed their name to Manchester United in 1902.
[11] Meanwhile, a local businessman named Louis Edwards began accruing shares in Manchester United[12] and was eventually made chairman on Hardman's death in 1965.
[16] In 1989, property magnate Michael Knighton was on the verge of completing a £20 million takeover,[17] but his financial backers pulled out at the last minute[18] and he had to be content with merely a seat on the board.
[21] The Manchester United board accepted a £623 million offer,[22] but the takeover was blocked by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission at the final hurdle in April 1999.
[23] A few years later, a power struggle emerged between the club's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, and his horse-racing partners, John Magnier and J. P. McManus, who had gradually become the largest shareholders via their company, Cubic Expression.
The Glazer family already owned several businesses in the United States and had purchased the Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Football League franchise in 1995.
[30] By 20 October, they had increased their shareholding to 8.93%,[31] and on 29 November, it was reported that they owned around 15% of the club and had met David Gill, its chief executive, to discuss their intentions.
[32] On 12 February 2004, the Glazers increased their stake in the club to 16.31% and the following day's Financial Times reported that they had instructed Commerzbank to explore a takeover bid.
[37] They then managed to secure the stake of the third-largest stakeholder, Scottish mining entrepreneur Harry Dobson, taking their share total to 62% of the club.
[38] By 13 May, the Glazers had bought a further 12.8% stake, taking their total ownership to 74.81%, just shy of the 75% threshold that would allow them to end the club's public limited company (PLC) status and delist it from the London Stock Exchange.
[42] On 26 May, the Manchester United board wrote to the remaining shareholders indicating their intention to sell their own shares and advising the others to follow suit; in the same letter, chairman Sir Roy Gardner and non-executive directors Ian Much and Jim O'Neill offered their resignations.
[45] On 29 June 2005, on their first visit to Old Trafford after the takeover was completed, Joel, Bryan and Avram Glazer were met with protests by around 300 Manchester United fans who opposed the club's new ownership.
[51] Contrary to the fears of many fans, the Glazers took action to ensure that Gill and veteran manager Sir Alex Ferguson remained at Manchester United, citing the duo's success with the club.
This move represents good housekeeping and it ensures that Sir Alex Ferguson will be provided with sufficient funds to compete in the transfer market."
It is difficult to see how these sums can be reached without significant increases in ticket prices, which, as we always suspected, means the fans will effectively be paying for someone to borrow money to own their club.
"[59][60] Under the terms of the Glazers' refinancing, as they were unable to repay bondholders by 16 August 2010, the overall interest rate on the loans rose from 14.25% to 16.25%, resulting in annual payments of around £38 million.
These include the carving out of £95 million in cash, the sale and lease-back of the Trafford Training Centre at Carrington, and the ability of the Glazers to pay themselves 50% of the Consolidated Net Income of the club every year.
[72] A few days later, on 30 January, reports emerged that the Manchester United Supporters' Trust had held meetings with a group of wealthy fans with a view to buying out the Glazers' controlling interest in the club.
The group then met with Keith Harris, a Manchester United fan and the chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce, to broker a takeover.
Those present at the meeting included investment bank Goldman Sachs' chief economist and former Manchester United director Jim O'Neill and lawyer Mark Rawlinson, a partner at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, as well as Duncan Drasdo, the chief executive of the Manchester United Supporters' Trust, and Keith Harris, Executive Chairman of Seymour Pierce.
To better promote themselves, the Trust enlisted the services of Blue State Digital, the Internet strategy firm that worked on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election campaign.
[78] It was also claimed that United manager Alex Ferguson would be prepared to invest his own money in the Red Knights' bid, but he dismissed these reports as "absolute rubbish".
[84] Despite these plans, the Red Knights put their takeover bid "on hold" in June 2010, citing "inflated valuation aspirations" in the media as the reason.
[86] In 2011, rumours surfaced that the Glazers intended to list a number of shares in Manchester United on an Asian market such as Hong Kong[87] or Singapore,[88] in an attempt to raise a potential £400–600 million.
[100] In March 2014, American investment group Baron Capital purchased 24% of all of the shares available on the NYSE (equivalent to 5.8% of the entire club, but widely misreported as 2.4%[101]).
[105] In April 2021, Joel Glazer played a major role in controversial plans to have Manchester United compete in a European Super League.
[115][116] Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, and former Manchester United captains Gary Neville and Roy Keane, who were all providing punditry for Sky Sports ahead of the game, expressed support for the cause of the protesters.
