Fans Fear For United As Owners Debt Hit £1.1bn

Feb. 10, 2010 - Birmingham, WEST MIDLANDS, United Kingdom England UK - epa02024298 Anti-Glazer family banners unveiled by Manchester United fans prior to kick off in the Barclays Premier League fixture between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park in Birmingham, Britain on 10 February 2010.

According to figures released today, the Glazer family’s debts have hit a massive £1.1 billion.

Tomorrow night a BBC Panaroma investigation will be aired and will reveal exactly how much debt the Glazer family are in. The BBC has been investigating the finances along with investment analyst Andy Green and the Guardian.

The amount of debt the Glazer family’s in is astonishing. To sum up the figures as basically as I can- the Glazers have £2.344bn in assets but they £1.175 worth of debt, which leaves net assets of £1.169bn.

Not only are United in over £700 million in debt but their other businesses are also struggling financially. Their First Allied shopping mall business has £388 million worth of debt on mortgages and is barely making any profit. NFL football team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have recently had their worst season in 20 years and they owe over £66 million.

There are some United fans that say- “who cares? As long as the club are winning trophies, we’ll be fine”. The Financial Fair Play regulations are set to take full effect by the 2014-15. This would mean that the clubs who have more debt than their annual turnover will not be allowed to participate in UEFA competitions. If United are unable to participate in those competitions, that will impact heavily on the club.

What will happen if United are forced to sell the big name players such as Wayne Rooney? What if Sir Alex Ferguson is unable to buy the players that he wants? We’re seeing that already! What if United fail to win trophies? There are loads of what if’s, which I don’t want to see happen.

It possible for one of the biggest and most famous football clubs in the world to crumble into financial turmoil, these issues have to be dealt with and the sooner, the better.

Something has to be done; the Glazers can’t be allowed to continue to take millions and millions of pounds of United each year.

For an indepth account of the Glazers debts, head over to andersred blog- http://andersred.blogspot.com/

3 Responses so far.

  1. Anonymous says:

    oh dear. if the glazers don’t raid the ‘transfer’ kitty to pay the pik debt soon it will be over £400m in less than 5 years. Add that to the existing £650m+ and the interest on that and it could be £1.5B by 2015. You’re gonna have to sell wooney for £550m…. good luck, dontcha just love it when a plan comes together..

  2. Anonymous says:

    why do united have god given right to win trophies

  3. United don’t have a god given right to win trophies, I never said that and I don’t believe any team does. That statement was more about the money that United receive from playing in/winning the Champions League.

    Also, players want to win trophies if United don’t win trophies players may want to leave. It was more looking at the worst case scenario!

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