Skip to main content

Crisis? What crisis at Old Trafford?

A good article from the Evening Standard on why Manchester United continue to be a commercial success, even though their performance on the pitch may be lacklustre (by their standards anyway) and fans are unhappy: Is their really a crisis at Old Trafford?

The article points out the global market is the real battleground in football: 'United have a magical name around the world. As more and more partners – global and regional – sign up to be associated with that magic, that name is actually becoming more and 'more deeply embedded in the consciousness of billions of fans around the emerging economic world.'

Mourinho's brooding sulks and the apparent tensions between him and Ed Woodward all make good media copy and focus more attention on the club. As Ed Woodward recently commented, 'playing performance doesn't really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial side of the business.'

The fans who go to Old Trafford may complain, but the real customers are on the other side of the world, offering market opportunities which United's sophisticated operation is able to seize.

The share price rose by a further 2 per cent yesterday to close at a record $25.80 and $4.24 billion value. Kieran Maguire of the Price of Football commented, 'another great day for the Glazers and Ed Woodward as another set of win bonuses are saved tonight.' Of course, the share price rises largely anticipate good financial results in September.

Maguire commented, 'Manchester United share price success built on back of commercial arm signing deals with partners. United generate twice as much as Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea and 10 times as much as most of "other 14"'.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spurs CEO attacks luxury training base

The Tottenham Hotspur chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has issued a withering assessment of the way the club was run under Daniel Levy, likening the state-of-the-art training centre to a five-star hotel rather than a centre of high performance.  Venkatesham was appointed to his role in April 2025, having stepped down as chief executive at Arsenal the previous summer. However, he has said that some aspects of the club were “in a significantly worse state” than he expected.  “Our training centre is amazing, one of the best, if not the best in the world,” Venkatesham told BBC Sport. “But when you look around, it looks more like a five-star hotel than it does a performance environment. That will change over the summer. I think there are many areas where the club hasn’t got the right level of expertise.”  He explained that the football side of operations was the club’s main downfall when he arrived last year. [One Spurs fan wryly observed that it was like a water company sayi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more