This will go on my birthday list, not the most cheery of reading I know :-(
Tanya ------------------------- Book Review: Manchester Disunited - Mihir Bose Andrew Baker February 22, 2007 Telegraph IT IS a rule of sports publishing that books about a football club appeal only to fans of that club, thus limiting their potential sales. This is true even in the case of Manchester United, although the "limit'' is several million people scattered all over the world. But for every rule there is an exception, and Manchester Disunited by Mihir Bose (Aurum, pounds 18.99), which is published today, is that exception: a book about Manchester United which should appeal not only to Reds but to anyone with an interest in contemporary football and business. It tells the story of the takeover of the world's most famous football club by the previously unheralded Glazer family from Florida, a tale of daunting complexity which the author manages to describe in such a manner that you do not need an MBA from Harvard to twig what is going on. Bose can do this because he is that rare creature, the accountant-turned-journalist. Most writers, in my experience, have serious trouble adding up their expenses. But Bose can look at a complex balance sheet and deduce in a moment where the money is going. Telegraph readers will recall the many forensic investigations into sporting scandals that he made over the years for this newspaper: he is now continuing that work as the BBC's first sports editor. The thing about Bose, as this volume makes clear, is that he is not only financially savvy, but awesomely well-connected. He seems to have moles in every major City set-up, and many of the senior figures in the United saga have spoken to him for the book. His connections are not confined to the UK: I remember covering the Winter Olympics with him when they were held in Salt Lake City, a strange, Mormon-dominated, isolated place high on the desert plateau of the American Mid-West. There was one decent restaurant in town, a private club restricted to the local establishment with a waiting-list as long as your arm. Bose was a member. He moves confidently in the same circles as sporting deal-makers, usually irritating the hell out of them by knowing more about their business than they do. He certainly knows a lot about Manchester United, although we are not allowed to forget that his true love is Tottenham Hotspur. Bose not only gives a full account of the long-drawn-out Glazer takeover, but also a previous battle, now almost forgotten in the wake of the bitter struggle with the Americans. This was the Sky bid, in which Rupert Murdoch's television company conducted a complex, determined and seemingly successful bid for the football club, only to be surprised when the regulators ruled against them. Why Sky's lawyers had not foreseen that the combination of the nation's dominant football broadcaster with its dominant football club might not be in the public interest will forever remain a mystery. Perhaps they don't get to watch much football. Bose also describes how close United came to preserving their freedom and establishing permanent independence. Had both the club and their concerned supporters acted more decisively in the aftermath of the Sky bid, they could have established a powerful and wealthy supporters' trust with a blocking stake in the company. But complacency ruled and, with the raiders at the gate, they ran out of time. What many supporters at the time failed to understand was how such a gigantic institution as Manchester United could be taken over against the will of the management. They had not understood the key thing about being a public company: that anyone can come along and buy shares, providing they can find willing sellers. That is what the Glazers did, and a key role was played by a group of disgruntled but extremely wealthy Irishmen, one of whom had fallen out with Sir Alex Ferguson over the breeding rights to the horse Rock Of Gibraltar. On such minor matters as equine copulation do the fates of great companies hover. Or maybe not so great. Another thing that the United fans struggled to come to terms with was the cynicism of the financiers behind the Glazer deal, who seemed happy to load up the club with a mountain of debt in order to enrich the new owners. But this happens absolutely all the time: it is the modus operandi of the private equity firms and hedge fund traders who have made so many Bentley dealers happy in the past decade. In global terms, the Manchester United deal was a mere mole-heap on the mountain of money. But it happened. And, so far, the much-feared dismemberment of the club has yet to take place. In fact, they seem to be doing better than ever, and the Glazers have already paid down some of their borrowings. So far, the deal is working. But football can be a peculiar game, and it is certainly one that the Glazer family do not fully understand. Bose reckons they paid far too much for a risky asset. Time will tell. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/hOt0.A/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/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 Yahoo! Groups - Join or create groups, clubs, forums & communities. 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