Man Utd fans unimpressed by Glazer reassurances By Ken Ferris Reuters July 1 2005
Manchester United fans remained unimpressed on Friday despite reassurances from Joel Glazer, the son of the team's new owner Malcolm, who said his family want to develop their new acquisition as "a great club". In an interview with United's television channel MUTV, Glazer, a non-executive director, also said they will make transfer funds available to strengthen the squad. But the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association (IMUSA) and Shareholders United issued a joint statement on behalf of the fans headlined 'Whatever You Do, Don't Mention the Debt'. They said supporters were entitled to ask a number of questions they felt were not addressed by Glazer including: "How can you repay this huge amount of debt and expect to fund the rebuilding of the team? "How are you going to make enough profits to do this and what happens if you don't? "How much are the fans going to have to pay in increased ticket prices and for their merchandise to meet the debt service and repayment needs of the banks? "Will there be a sale and leaseback of Old Trafford to pay back debt?" Glazer ruled out the last option, saying: "Old Trafford is the heritage and the real foundation of this club. There is no thought process whatsoever to be doing that." NATIONAL TREASURE He also played down the levels of debt involved in the takeover, adding that his family were personally investing over 270 million pounds ($480.9 million). They bought the renowned 127-year-old Premier League club for 790 million pounds. "We would have not got involved with Manchester United if we did not feel that the club under our ownership could continue to be the great club it has been," he said. "A lot of businesses have debt." However, Mark Longden, chairman of IMUSA, said in the statement issued by the fans' coalition: "Joel speaks about United as a national treasure -- well he's taken on the national debt to pay for it and it will be the fans footing the bill". The statement added: "No-one is accusing the Glazers of buying United to intentionally ruin it. They want success on the pitch to lead to success and profit off it. "But in the words of Sir Bobby (Charlton) 'they do not know the football game' and it's almost incredible that they've been allowed to take such an enormous gamble with our club's future." Key to Glazer's comments was a call for his family's ownership of the club to be judged over the long term, following months of furore surrounding the takeover. The supporters are still to be convinced, though, saying: "United fans have no reason to believe their velvet words. We'll judge them on their actions." 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 Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imusa/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
