Once known as treble winners and dominators of Europe, the Red Devils could not escape the greed of man. It’s common knowledge that the past owners of Manchester United were the Glazer Family. Led by Avram Glazer, a renowned American businessman and son of the late Malcolm Glazer, left a trail of mayhem in the club’s financial portfolio. In this article, we delve into the tenureship of the Glazer Family and their approach to club management.
CAPTURE OF THE RED DEVILS
Previously, Manchester United was owned by Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB corporation before Malcolm Glazer announced his stake in 2003. Two years later, dominating the club’s ownership up to 98%, squeezing out the remaining 2%. Consequently, fully own the Red Devils for a hefty sum of £790 million. Fans were fuming since the start as the transaction was mainly presented by loans, at an interest of 60 million per annum. Those who realised knew the ownership would last to be an expensive one. Push comes to shove, manager Sir Alex Ferguson worked with them until 2013, obtaining a total of:
- 5x Premier League titles
- 1x Champions League title
- 3x League Cups
Though leaving with an indisputable career, fans seemed burdened by a creeping sense of doubt over the club post-Fergie Era.
TRANSITION OF POWER
The logical decision after a retiring icon is to move on to the next. As Ferguson was given a significant role as club advisor, David Moyes was handpicked by Fergie himself. Unfortunately, Moyes’ days only lasted less than a season. Finishing 7th in the league leaves fans surrounded by uncertainty as though there was a darker future ahead of its time. The Glazers relied heavily on Ferguson’s wisdom in handling dressing room harmony. Nevertheless, one old man can do so much as United’s lack of footballing expertise becomes more apparent to the public. Progressively, seven managers were replaced as they left with similar opinions regarding the financial mismanagement by the Glazers.
RECRUITMENT CRISIS
Despite the Glazers facing numerous controversies, Manchester United has never failed to be a beacon for prolific players of any era. From the streets of Portugal to being the face of football, Cristiano Ronaldo was an icon of pure dedication to the club, even after moving to Real Madrid in 2009 and returning in 2021, inspiring millions of fans to believe in the Theatre of Dreams.
Each fan has their own story of becoming Red came to be. The Glazers, however, were not focused on replicating this success. Rather than producing new icons, they prefer to stay in business. While rivals build their success through passion-driven players, the Glazers created a culture of recruiting wage-driven players. These tropes had no passion towards the game, as football was a business, and the Glazers were only their employers. Unappealing ideologies resulted in various issues in commitment to United as they refused to put in more effort. To list a few, we can reminisce about those who failed to deliver their price tags.
- Ángel Di María (2014) -£ 60 million
- Anthony Martial (2015) – £36-58 million
- Alexis Sánchez (2018) – £30 million
- Fred (2018) – £52 million
All these failed projects were a statement from the Glazers of their poor management in financial and recruitment matters. Ed Woodward, former Chief Executive of Manchester United, was infamous for absurd player transfer fees during the Glazers’ reign, and remained an enigma during his term.
MAYHEM IN THE THEATRE OF DREAMS
Arguably, Manchester United holds the title of a notorious football club, from decorated trophy cabinets to an unwavering global fanbase. When the Glazers found no interest in the Devils, they dared to pull one last act before setting out. Fans were divided between two possible replacements, Sheikh Jassim, son of the former Prime Minister of Qatar and leader of the Nine Two Foundation, named after United’s 1992 youth team, versus British Billionaire and founder of INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The fiasco turned out to be a two-year decision from the Glazers. Ratcliffe triumphed over his mere £750 million wager as it benefits the Glazers in giving a 25% stake in comparison to the Qataris, who wanted full ownership of the club for over £5 billion, an outstanding record fee for any football club.
CONCLUSION
As fans celebrate INEOS’ takeover, the Glazers leave an irremovable tumour, a debt amount of up to £1 billion. Ratcliffe remains unfazed over the situation as the new owner takes numerous budget cuts in recent events, some might call brutal, while others try to understand but could only dream of a life where the Qatari takeover was successful. Manchester United often takes a tough beating from the media over any decision. Despite these setbacks, the squad does its best to conquer the hearts of fans, and with the Europa League final at stake, Ratcliffe clings to Ruben Amorim’s new Reds to woo a European trophy in his first term.
