Where UEFA's FFP should be looking.

[Slim]

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... ter-united

Glazer family under fire

The Glazer family has been accused of draining £1billion from Manchester United and wrecking the club's chances of dominating Europe.

The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) chose the 10-year anniversary of the Glazers' takeover to launch a fresh attack on the American family.

The Glazers' £790million leveraged buyout of United in 2005 caused uproar among the club's fans and sparked the creation of breakaway club FC United.

Ten years on, MUST is still unhappy about the way the family borrowed against the club to finance their takeover.

"Not investing a single penny might be considered an 'ownership crime' by fans at most clubs but far worse than that they (the Glazers) have actually extracted colossal sums from Manchester United," MUST said in a press release.

"When all interest and charges on their leveraged buyout is added up, plus money they've paid themselves, plus related debt still on the club, they've taken more than #1 BILLION and it's still rising.

"No owner in the history of football in any country, ever, has taken so much money from a club."

Despite the controversy surrounding the Glazers, United have enjoyed success on the pitch under their stewardship.

In the last 10 years they have won the Barclays Premier League five times and in 2008 they lifted the Champions League for the third time in the club's history.

MUST says had it not been for mismanagement from the Glazers, United would have eclipsed Liverpool's British record of winning the competition five times.

"When the Glazers took over in 2005 we already had an exciting young squad including Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney," the MUST statement added.

"With continued investment that squad should have gone on to dominate Europe for years but the Glazer era squandered that golden chance and although still successful on the pitch it has to go down, in Europe in particular, as a decade of wasted opportunity.

"United should have knocked Liverpool off their European perch too by surpassing their five European Cups.

"It seems very likely we would have done had it not been for financial austerity imposed by the Glazers' ownership."

MUST said the Glazers had "botched" the appointment of Sir Alex Ferguson's successor and that of chief executive David Gill.

The fans' group did admit its relationship with the club had improved over the last two years, though.

"Despite the huge damage inflicted over the last 10 years things are undoubtedly beginning to look positive again in 2015," MUST said.

"Relations between fans and the senior management team have improved vastly in the last two years with genuine dialogue and regular meetings established.

"The costs of servicing the remaining debt are now down to manageable levels and Manchester United is climbing back to the position of financial superiority it occupied for nine years prior to the Glazers arrival.

"It's just a shame we had to go through all the pain and waste of the last decade simply to allow a family with no connection to Manchester United to enrich themselves at the expense of our club and fans."

Manchester United refused to comment on MUST's statement.

[Im_Spartacus]

Thing is, the Glazers have played a fucking blinder. 10 years, never used a penny of their own and have an asset with a net worth of over a billion quid.

Now the interesting thing will be whether they turn it into a proper cash cow and really start skimming the till and just keep them in contention for the Wenger Cup, or whether they actually really want them to be competetive. I really doubt the 2nd will be the case, I expect last year's spending will be relatively isolated in recognition that the squad really fucking needed it, and they will focus on buying lesser known good players like Depay which won't become financial liabilities, but will be a gamble on the pitch.

[Guy Debord]

A decade of wasted opportunity? Jesus.

The lachrymose and entitled of MUST want to try supporting a real club for 10 minutes. Weren't they all supposed to be reliving their hooligan fantasies with FCUM these days?

[Mikhail Chigorin]

MUST said, in that article that it was a shame they had to go through all the "pain and waste" of the last decade.

What planet are they living on ??

[nottsblue]

Long live the Glazers.

Anyone who hinders the tramps at the swamp is a friend of mine.

In terms of financial mismanagement and where UEFA should look, the rags have excelled themselves. Of course, nothing will ever come of it and no sanctions will be imposed but the knowledge that the rags are being systematically raped year in year out is fine by me

[Dameerto]

I'm torn really - I can't decide which I enjoy most - the fact that it's happening to them, or the fact that they know it's happening to them and can't do anything about it.

[Beefymcfc]

Fucking diddums!

[Blue Since 76]

They moaned when the butchers owned them. Then they moaned when they were a public company that they wanted to be privately owned again. They've been family owned for 10 years and they still fucking moan.

One season outside the top 4 in the last 20 years or so and the works has ended. Can you imagine what they'd be like if they'd been through the trials and tribulations of real football fans?

[Ted Hughes]

They didn't mention how the rules have been changed by UEFA, to cripple the competition, in order to allow the Glazer's plan to succeed.

[DoomMerchant]

They didn't mention how the rules have been changed by UEFA, to cripple the competition, in order to allow the Glazer's plan to succeed.

The Glazers are thought to be absolute jokers by US standards of sports team ownerships. Take that for what it's worth.

Cheers

[Hazy2]

And Rednose became brown nose as he topped up his pension. Whilst the CE fucked off and landed a top job at uefa "you could not make it up" NICE.

[Mase]

They didn't mention how the rules have been changed by UEFA, to cripple the competition, in order to allow the Glazer's plan to succeed.

The Glazers are thought to be absolute jokers by US standards of sports team ownerships. Take that for what it's worth.

Cheers

Do you know someone that knows someone in the know?

[Slim]

They didn't mention how the rules have been changed by UEFA, to cripple the competition, in order to allow the Glazer's plan to succeed.

The Glazers are thought to be absolute jokers by US standards of sports team ownerships. Take that for what it's worth.

Cheers

Do you know someone that knows someone in the know?

I once heard of a legend called Tolmie, word is he knows all.