BRYAN GLAZER: 'UNITED FANS HAVE ACCEPTED US'

Last updated : 30 July 2006 By Ed

The Observer:

Manchester United fans have finally accepted the Glazers, according to Bryan Glazer, the club's non-executive director and son of the controversial owner Malcolm. 'I think they have [accepted us]. I think they've seen that we haven't turned the place upside down,' Glazer told Tampa sports radio station WDAE in a rare interview. 'There aren't cheerleaders on the sidelines.'

Glazer was speaking in Orlando as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers began training ahead of the start of the NFL season in September. Bryan Glazer also said that his father was recovering from his stroke. 'He is better every day,' said Bryan. 'I saw him yesterday, I'm going to see him tomorrow. He's got his family around him.'

Bryan is returning to the UK next week for United board meetings. He took an active role in the transformation of the Buccaneers when the family took over the franchise in 1995, as the team changed colours, badge and stadium before winning a Super Bowl in 2002. But he rarely speaks on the record to the media and this was his first appearance on WDAE in several years.

Glazer's passion for football has not been diminished by the controversy surrounding the takeover of United or the punishing transatlantic schedule that being a non-executive director of the club and executive director of the Buccaneers imposes. 'I have two loves,' he told host Steve Duemig. 'American football and European football.'