#GlazersOut: Will this change the fortune of Manchester United on the pitch?
If you started supporting Manchester United recently, “The Glazers” might strange to you considering that run the club from a distance – a popular claim among the fans of the club and football critics.
Well, “The Glazers” as they are fondly called are the owners of Manchester United since 2005. The late Malcolm Glazer assumed owner of the club after he bought majority shares through a company known as Red Football Limited.
After he died in 2014, his six Children divided his 90% stake at the club with Joel and Avram assuming the position of co-chairmen, while the other four Bryan, Darcie, and Edward work as Directors at the club.
Despite the club’s success on the pitch, the American family has been heavily criticized for having little or no interest in football matters at the club.
They have also been criticized for plunging the club into huge debts which currently stands at about £429m. Manchester United is currently worth $4.2b in April with revenue of $643m.
The Reds are currently the fourth most valuable club in the world after Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich.
While it seems that the club is making huge profits of the pitch, results on the pitch and laurels have dropped significantly especially in the post-Alex Ferguson era.
Manchester United has spent £1bn on new signings since Sir Alex Ferguson left but with only three major trophies (excluding community shields) under three different managers. Jose Mourinho won the Europa League and League Cup in 2017 while Luis Van Gaal won the F.A Cup a year earlier.
In case you don’t know, the #GlazersOut tag has been on for a while, and most often than not it makes the headline when Manchester United goes through a run of poor results.
However, this time, it escalated after the club’s vice-chairman Ed Woodward announced that he will be leaving the club at the end of 2021 after Manchester United pulled out of the European Super League.
The Glazers, like the owners of 11 other clubs (Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Juventus) who came together to form the Super League received global criticisms.
With Ed Woodward’s imminent departure from the club, fans of the club are now expecting that The Glazers will eventually bow to pressure and sell the club – a move they have refused to take even when the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman offered to buy the club for £3.5b in 2019.
For the fans, the best time to give the #GlazersOut demand a final push is now considering the fall out of the European Super League.
But the questions to consider are: Are the Glazers the problem? Have they invested in transfers? How has the transfer policy fared since 2013? Will the fortunes of Manchester United change on the pitch if a new owner comes on board?
In the words of club legend, Gary Neville, the club is being “scavenged” by the Glazers who must be “booted” out of the club.
It remains to be seen if The Glazers will finally bow to pressure this time.
