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'We want the Glazers out'

That was the cry that rang round Old Trafford last night after Manchester United was defeated at home by Burnley for the first time since the 1960s. Protests were also directed at Ed Woodward, whose title of executive vice-chairman underplays his importance at the club.

It might be noted that it's when things go wrong on the pitch (relatively speaking, United are still 5th) that fans are most vociferous about the Glazers and their treatment of the club as an American style sports franchise.

Unsurprisingly, Kieran Maguire presents an in depth case study of Manchester United in his new book on 'The Price of £ootball' published by Agenda. His main conclusions are:

  • The Glazer takeover was a big financial risk, but has paid off them [one might add, both in terms of capital appreciation and income].
  • Their commercial department is in a league of its own when it comes to striking deals.
  • Sir Alex Ferguson worked wonders on a restricted budget in the early years of the takeover. His successors have not been as successful. [In their different ways, they have all failed, reflecting how special and unique Sir Alex was. His great talent was to start building his next team when he was successful with the current one.]
  • Without the debts run up by the Glazer managers would have had more readies for transfers and wages. As Maguire puts it, 'For a club the size of United to have won the Champions League only once since 1999 is a relatively poor return' given that it claims to be 'the world's greatest football club'.
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