I personally believe a bit of transparency from them wouldn't go amiss. They do appear to be attempting to reduce the debt, the cynical language I use there is deliberate, but at the same time they are lining their own pockets massively and it is THAT that needs to be reduced until such time as United are debt free. They can then make **** loads of money for themselves while also investing yearly in the squad to keep it refreshed. Until they do that, let us know what is really going on, it's all guesswork. Swarbs' guess above is exactly that, a guess. It could be that they don't invest anything other than who we've already bought this season and that won't be enough, offering Scholes a one year extension does not in any way shape or form make up for our lack of depth at CM. We need full backs both sides if Smalling and Jones are actually going to become centre halves but at the very least a left back. So far, no sign of this. Gettting Kagawa and Powell barely touches the sides, van Persie and Baines would go along way to helping but until such time as they actually sign I don't really believe they will.
Fume, i wrote a decently long response and lost it. Basicaly said, i think i wouldn't have any bad memories of the glazers if they do sell and make a massive profit due to the success they have been able to give us, Most fans jump on the bandwagon too quick, they see massive debt being reported by the paper get all furious and fail to see the good things the glazers have done on and off the pitch, some of which you have pointed out. You seem a lot more clued up on the finance side of things than myself though i think it would be atleast 2 more years of them in charge if they do decide they are going to sell the club.
Transparency in a football club can be overrated imo. Look at Liverpool - all FSG do is hold press conferences talking about what they are going to do with the team and how they are going to take the club forwards, blah blah blah, and yet they have gone precisely nowhere with almost no money spent since their takeover. And Abramovich has been as open as anyone about how many managers he has fired, and how Chelsea still owes him £740 million that he can ask for at any time. Personally, I can't say I blame the Glazers for not being transparent - any time the club holds any sort of discussion about the debt and finances you get nobheads from MUST shouting "Give the club away for free or we'll stab you in the face!" And to be fair the Glazers haven't lined their own pockets massively. They put a couple of hundred million quid of their own money in when the club was taken over, and paid off the PIK loans when everyone expected them to take money out of the club for that. And they still haven't touched the £70 million that they could have taken once the bonds were issued. They're going to make money now, but that is due to them selling part of the club that they own, rather than taking cash from Utd. The only money that has gone out of the club has been on the debt, and yes whilst it would be better if that debt wasn't there imo the additional commercial revenue they've developed and the certainty of having just one owner rather than a plc where every ****er gets a vote and every transfer has to go through a committee (just look at Arsenal's transfer market fumblings over the last five seasons) balances out with the debt. Oh it will. Even if they decide to sell the club tomorrow they will need to spend time finding buyers or preparing to do a full IPO. I reckon now they have sold this 10% they will probably sell another 20% or so in a year to clear off more of the debt to boost the value further. Then they'll completely rinse the commercial side to get revenues as high as possible, and as soon as the next kit contract is signed in 2014 or so, which will probably be close to double the last one, they'll do a full sale. But like Ruff says, this is only guesswork, and based on what I would do in their place.
Afternoon all Just got banned on redcafe because of my expressed desire to see glazer dead They love uncle malc over there. He plunges us into hundreds of millions of debt, invest **** all, take out huge amounts for themselves, costs us hundreds of million serving THEIR debt, retreat on the "full ipo funds used to reduce debt" to "50%" with them bagging the rest.. ..and they still maintain they're great owners. Dicks
