The Times. Special Report: Man Utd and the trailer park king Why Old Trafford is right to fear �The Leprechaun�. By Dominic Rushe
THE owners of America�s top football clubs met at the Renaissance hotel in Chicago at the end of October to decide, among other things, where to hold the 2008 Super Bowl. America�s premier football event is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism and investment to the host city. Among those lobbying hard to grab the game was Malcolm Glazer, owner of last year�s Super Bowl winner, Florida�s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bucs fans call Glazer �The Leprechaun�. With his ginger beard, beady blue eyes and high-waisted trousers, Glazer does look like a Hobbit or some other magical being. The Bucs have had a poor run this season, and Glazer lost out to Arizona in the Super Bowl vote. But in the past eight years the taciturn businessman and his sons have been lucky for Tampa. When Glazer bought the team in 1995 for a record-breaking sum believed to be close to $190m (�113m), the Bucs had been on a losing streak for 12 consecutive seasons. Last year after they won the Super Bowl, Forbes magazine valued the club at $671m, making it the seventh most valuable team in America. Yet, as he sped between meetings in Chicago, journalists and fellow club owners were keen to hear about Glazer�s plans for an even more valuable club. The Leprechaun has a history of making unsolicited bids for big-name companies. Recently he lost out on a bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. Now his eyes are focused across the Atlantic at Old Trafford. He owns almost 10% of Manchester United. But when he was chased down the corridor of the hotel and asked about his interest in �soccer�, he just smiled. Manchester United directors are less sanguine. Even calls from the club�s chairman, Sir Roy Gardiner, have gone unanswered. Former business associates say Glazer will be loving the fuss. One says: �He may bid. He may think someone else is going to bid and he can sell out at a good profit. Nobody knows except Glazer. But one thing I do know is that this is the way he likes to operate, keeping everyone guessing.� By coincidence, Peter Draper, United�s marketing director, was also in Chicago last week seeing sponsors. Despite hopes that Draper might grab a word with Glazer, a meeting did not take place. So the quest goes on for United directors keen to defend the club�s independence: who is Glazer, and what are his intentions? AT the Surrogate Court in Rochester, New York, there are two filing cabinets filled with documents relating to one of the longest, and strangest, cases in the court�s history. Abraham Glazer deserted from the Russian army and emigrated to America in 1915. Six of his eight sisters died in the Holocaust. He established himself as a watch repairman. With his wife, Hannah, he raised five daughters and two sons. Malcolm was the elder son. Radium dials were popular at the time and Abraham spent hours painting tiny radioactive numbers on to watch faces. When Malcolm was 15, Abraham died of cancer, leaving the family $300 and a world of worries. In a rare interview five years ago, Glazer said: �His death was probably the most tragic thing that ever happened in my life. But it was good in one way. It made me a man.� Glazer took on his father�s business and worked seven days a week. In five years, he had the capital to start buying property and from there he moved into trailer parks. Glazer has said most of his money went to his mother and in 1980, when Hannah died, she left an estate worth $1m. Litigation erupted soon after, when Malcolm�s brother Jerome fell out with a brother-in-law. A court battle over the will ensued, passing through six judges. Glazer claimed his sisters were jealous that he had made their mother rich. But the case shines an unflattering light on him. When asked for documents, he delivered 103 boxes of randomly filed statements that took five people three weeks to reassemble. Under cross examination he repeatedly claimed ignorance on simple business matters and said �I don�t remember� 250 times. At one point when the opposing attorney left the room the stenographer recorded Glazer saying: �We have got to keep going until there is no money in this estate.� He has said he meant that his sisters were intent on running down the estate. In 1986 he was ordered to pay fees of $268,299 and a judge said his �intentional and prolonged non-compliance with the court�s reasonable orders� had cost his sisters. The inheritance row has not held back Glazer, who has built a $1 billion fortune from trailer-park homes, shopping malls and investments in cod liver oil companies and restaurants, assets mostly held in his private company, First Allied Corporation. An attentive family man and father of six, Glazer lives in a $25m palace in Palm Beach, Florida. Another sports enthusiast, Rod Stewart, is his neighbour. Other ritzy local residents have included Donald Trump. The Glazers keep themselves to themselves, says Shannon Donnelly, society editor of The Palm Beach Daily News. �His life is his family, business and religion.� But for someone who likes a quiet life, Glazer can cause quite a scene. Carl Feinstock, a Rochester lawyer, took Glazer to court when one of his clients was injured at a Glazer-owned trailer park. Feinstock says: �He didn�t keep up the parks. He cut his costs at the expense of the residents.� One current resident, Lawrence Conway, says: �He does nothing for us.� Conway says his park is often short of light bulbs and that Glazer�s company has consistently raised rents above the market rate. �It�s a standing joke round here. Every time Tampa win, we say, �it�s time for Malcolm to spend some money on us.� He never does.� Don Nahley used to run WRBL, a television station in Columbus, Georgia, once owned by Glazer. He says: �It�s not personal with him. It�s just business.� Nahley left the company after a bitter row with one of Glazer�s hirelings. Glazer promised to pay him a sum over several months. The final instalment came when Nahley was on holiday. �He tracked me down to let me know the money was being paid in,� says Nahley. But Nahley also remembers Glazer�s obsession with the bottom line. Once, he says, the station needed a new typewriter for its Teleprompter. The old one was broken and a new one would have cost $800. �Malcolm wanted to know where it was and tried to fix it himself.� Another time Nahley found himself being questioned over $11 worth of paint. When Nahley heard that a nursing home where his wife worked was up for sale, he decided not to tell Glazer, even though he knew his boss would be interested. �I didn�t want her working for him,� he says. It is a sentiment echoed by other Glazer takeover targets. In 1988 he acquired shares in Formica, and then launched a hostile bid for the plastic coverings firm that ended in court. In 1991 Glazer made a move for Harley-Davidson, buying big chunks of stock and suggesting he would sell off parts of the motorcycle company if he gained control. Harley�s management asked for an injunction against him. At a court hearing judge Terrence Evans likened Glazer to a �snake in sheep�s clothing�. Glazer�s advances were again rejected. His stalking of Manchester United fits his past history, say former associates. �He likes to keep people on edge, to keep them guessing,� says one. Last month, Glazer increased his stake in Manchester United to 9.7%, buying shares at 250p. In September he was buying shares at closer to 195p. Glazer is not the only secretive billionaire investing in the club. Irish investors John Magnier and JP McManus now have the largest single shareholding.They, however, have consistently told the club they have no takeover ambitions. Glazer has made no such promise. GLAZER�S CV August 15, 1928 Malcolm Glazer born in Rochester, New York 1943 Father, a watch repairer, dies leaving $300. Glazer takes over the family business 1950s He expands into property. Buys trailer parks and commercial premises 1960s Tenant groups start complaining about Glazer, his rents and upkeep. He diversifies into banking 1970s Glazer starts buying nursing homes and TV stations 1980s Mother dies and legal battle ensues with his sisters over $1m will. Glazer starts spree of unsuccessful takeovers. His fortune increases each time as he sells his stakes at a profit 1990s He makes failed bids for a series of national American sports clubs 1995 Buys Tampa Bay Buccaneers for $190m 2002 Bucs win Super Bowl and are valued at $671m 2003 Fails in bid to buy LA Dodgers. Starts building stake in Manchester United _________________________________________________________________ Concerned that messages may bounce because your Hotmail account is over limit? Get Hotmail Extra Storage! http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/GtUolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Please use [EMAIL PROTECTED] for general discussion. To unsubscribe send a blank message (from the email account in question) to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Join as a full member of IMUSA today: http://www.imusa.org/join.htm Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
