SERIOUSLY, DOES ANYONE OUT THERE BELIEVE GLAZER WILL BE GOOD FOR UNITED?

Here's what you poor, poor, sad, slap happy fulminating patrons of the Manchester United soccer team have to understand about the franchise's new proprietor, Palm Beach tycoon Malcolm Glazer and his lads. HE DOESN'T CARE!

There is a story former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco often tells about attending a Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game shortly after Glazer bought the team for $190m in 1995. At one point, as a defensive back intercepted a pass and raced into the end zone for a touchdown, Glazer jumped to his feet to cheer on the player only to be gently reminded by Greco that the new owner of the Tampa Bay Bucs was actually rooting for the wrong team.

The Bucs play their games in a $162m stadium, for which the Glazers put up not one thin dime of their own money to build. This is a source of some community discontent, since Malcolm Glazer promised to pay for half of the stadium back in 1995, only to eventually renege on the deal.

The stadium name: Raymond James Financial Corp. inked a 13-year, $35m deal for the naming rights.

Shortly after the Glazers took over, the Bucs discontinued any relationship it had with the many ad hoc fan clubs through the Tampa Bay area, refusing to provide players for speaking engagements and the like. Today the Bucs fan clubs are organised internally by the team. What fun.

In one of the few instances when sons Joel and Bryan were given their heads to make a management decision pretty much on their own, the boys hired head coach Jon Gruden, who is known to spend long, long hours perfecting losing game plans.