Quarterly Quarrel - The Financial Discussion Part 5

None of the options being what we would really want for various reasons is and has always been a given. Thinking there is any good choice is a fantasy - so is also a given that we are looking at the least worse-case scenario.

Any option that doesn’t pay down the debt and doesn’t take the club fully private is going to follow by definition the skimming model of dividends & debt that the Glazers have been following the last two decades (whilst there are shareholders it has to).

In the shareholder / debt model whilst a degree of success is necessary, actually consistently winning the EPL / CL is not (especially if a large and consistent capital investment is required to achieve this).

The private ownership model of clearing the debt and buying out all shareholders is on such a scale that it only makes sense as a sports washing / vanity / long-term capital appreciation project. The plus side to this is that as a vanity project / capital appreciation project it only really makes sense if you actually want to aim for at least some EPL / CL titles initially.

So in the short-term at least, there is better alignment with what we as fans want.

There are plenty of potential problems with private ownership though - owner interference (eg on team matters such as player acquisition etc.), poor management, what may happen further down the line, getting bored, issues at home necessitating sale, political issues, lots of potential unknown / unforeseens.

Like I said, hoping for the least worse-case scenario (whatever that may be for you) is pretty much a given

 

Never seen a man look more like an arrogant prick in my life.

 

BBC reporting Qatar have submitted a new bid

Man Utd sale: Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim makes improved offer to buy club

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65616894

Looks like they may have the bidding war they were hoping for …

 

Kevin Keegan says its still lower than the SJR offer. If that's true, why even bother?

 

From the Glazer / Raine Group perspective, even if they have no genuine intention of taking the offer, they can still take it to SJR to try and get him to improve his bid.

From the Qatari point of view, if they really want the club and they genuinely believe the Glazers are about to enter the final stages with SJR, then they have to bid their max. That is what this looks like - a final hail Mary from the team that looks like it is about to be the runner up (if reports are to be believed).

With the Chelsea sale, the government stipulated dates to the Raine group by which the transaction had to be completed owing to the status of Abramovich assets being frozen.

No such guillotine around for us, so Glazers and Raine Group are going to drag this out to eek out every last cent …

 

In reality, this bid just screws us further. Gives Glazers another reason to slow things down, dig in their heels, and completely ******** over the summer transfer window.

 

How long will this drag on?

🚨💰 Some feel giving Ratcliffe the impression of success could be a final method to squeeze Qataris. Those involved in Sheikh Jassim’s bid say they aren't giving up. According to sources, whether their last bid is the final one depends on what feedback they receive.… pic.twitter.com/N8lUm9JrRY

— UtdPlug (@UtdPlug) May 17, 2023

 

This crap will continue until they think they can’t squeeze anymore money out of bidders. We shouldn’t be surprised. The deadlines were just a way to force bids to come in. There has never been an end date to this process and anyone who thinks they would try to get it done by a certain date to benefit United (summer transfer window upcoming) hasn’t been paying attention for the past 20 years.

 

According to Whitwell the Glazers booked the expense of their travel to Carabou cup as £250k (suspiciously high). With their other recent trip to WSL final this potentially adds up to the cost (minus transfers) of running the ladies team on their very limited budget.

Feels like they are expensing to the max. Greedy fvckers.

https://thepeoplesperson.com/2023/0...n-pounds-on-private-cup-final-flights-264322/

 

Mirror running the story too. Aside from fans being asked to pay higher ticket prices owing to “rising costs” must also sting the shareholders like Nick Train who own non-voting shares but have had to forego dividends.

Unless pocketing the change, how do you manage to blow half a mill on two trips?

Unless blow is the right word - that and hookers

Avram Glazer bills Man Utd £500k for TWO trips as takeover deadline is set

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/glazers-man-united-takeover-news-30044598

 

Also reports today that they’ve decided not to make a decision on the sale of United until this summer. Effectively confirming they’re going to ******** over the team and the fans in the market this summer. So that’s fun. ********ing scum.

 

Reports from who?

 

Ducker from Telegraph and one of the Athletic guys as well I’m pretty sure. Can’t remember which.

 

I saw a report Jassim might buy a rival, like West Ham.

 

Real Madrid is the most valuable football club in the world, per @Forbes 🤑 pic.twitter.com/HMf28GHIob

— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 31, 2023

 

Plainly obvious the Glazer family aren’t going to announce anything on the ownership until the season is closed! They’ve been spinning it out unprofessionally for weeks and months now.

They know fan protests would have been more significant than they already have if matches were still being played and the end result of the sale process is unpopular.

Basically any family members staying in would be deemed unacceptable by all fans. Is this why they’re holding off?

Plainly obvious the Glazer family aren’t going to announce anything on the ownership until the season is closed! They’ve been spinning it out unprofessionally for weeks and months now. They know fan protests would have been more significant than they already have if matches were…

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) May 31, 2023

 

Did my annual ceremonial No vote for the Board just now online but I've always wondered if any of us pion shareholders have ever attended the AGM?

Also, I noticed in the bios of the board sent in the letter that 4 of the Glazers went to American University and the other 2 went to Ithaca College. I guess Daddy Glazer was a big donor of these two colleges....

 

Bottom Line: Glazers are greedy and want to stay.

EDIT: He says 60/40 SJR buys the club by the end of June.

 

Times and some others are reporting SJR has entered final stages with Glazers and expect to be made priority bidders soon. Also that Qatari have upper their offer but want to me made priority bidders by Friday or they walk.

 

Glazers are greedy and Jazim is trying to nickel and dime them with a tiny increase to his bid.

If this guy really wanted the club, he has access to obscene wealth and could walk in and drop a truckload of cash on the Glazers to get them out, but he hasn't/won't.

 

I thought the whole point of buying United is they were a good investment without the Glazers?

 

Agreed.

On another note the thing wealthy folks fear most is losing all their money. They may have obscene cash but they aren't stupid