From the Independent:
‘The Glazer revolution at Manchester United is six months old this week, and on the face of it little has changed, at least not with much fanfare, transparency or disclosure of intent from the secretive sons - Joel, Bryan and Avi - who are running England's biggest club to make a buck for their father, Malcolm.
‘Appearances can be deceptive. Since 17 May, when Glazer's stake ticked past 75 per cent of the club, giving him the power to do what he pleased with United, he has removed 23 non-playing staff, including senior executives. Two people volunteered to go, one took early retirement and 20 were forced into redundancy.
‘Two fans' groups, The Independent Manchester United Supporters Association and Shareholders United, have been booted off the Fans' Forum, which seems odd for a club that had taken such pride in Article 1.1 of its own charter, which says it "consults supporters on a regular basis".
‘It is also believed that the Glazers have held no board meetings since taking over, certainly not face-to-face with Gill and Nick Humby, the club's finance director. The club will not elaborate, saying: "It's an internal matter." Gill has a weekly conference call to America.
‘Huge hikes in ticket prices are in the pipeline - they are expected to rise nine per cent overall next season and 54 per cent over five years. The club say only that prices have not been set yet.
‘On the playing side, one of United's reserve teams was scrapped in the summer, and shortly afterwards the popular reserve team coach Ricky Sbragia left for Bolton. These events may or may not have been related. The club's explanation that Sir Alex Ferguson was happy to see one reserve side go, and that Sbragia was happy to move from reserve-team duties at United to be first-team coach at the Reebok Stadium, is plausible.
‘Less certain is the reason behind the lack of playing arrivals and the flood of departures, permanent or temporary, since the Glazers took over. As the accompanying panel shows, three players have come in - Edwin van der Sar, Park Ji Sung and Ben Foster - while 23 have gone, 12 for good. The kitty for January is undisclosed. "Player-dependent," says Gill.
‘There is nothing new in United releasing players each summer, but eyebrows were raised when Roy Carroll went for free to West Ham and some promising youngsters who were expected to stay - including Paul Tierney, Daniel Nardiello and Ramon Calliste - went as well. They were picked up, for nothing, by Livingston, Barnsley and Liverpool. The Glazers have preached belt-tightening since their arrival and that when wages can be saved, they should be.
‘There is also nothing new in United loaning out players. Eleven, including recent signing Foster at Watford, are currently playing for other clubs, the same as last season, and fewer than the year before. Ferguson knows the value of "toughening-up" experience, as David Beckham once had at Preston. But the difference this year, according to a source, is the way the loan deals have been structured, to save United money but possibly to the club's detriment.
‘How? One source says that Charlton, for example, are paying all of Jonathan Spector's high United salary - as opposed to the usual fraction of it - while he is on his season-long loan at The Valley, but on the condition he cannot be recalled, even in a crisis like the current one over injuries.
‘Making United leaner is key to the Glazers avoiding financial implosion. They loaded United with £265m of initial bank debt, rising to £374m with extra borrowing. Interest alone on that is £31.1m a year.
‘Add capital repayments and it doubles. All United's profits, in a very good year, with a bit added, could cover that. "As we're not a PLC, we don't have to disclose that information," a spokesman said.
‘But on top of the £374m is another £275m, borrowed from hedge funds. This has been described as "the ticking time bomb". The interest is astronomical. No one except the Glazers knows how they intend to pay that back at rates that will start at £50m a year, albeit deferred, and then rise.
‘Two obvious solutions exist: selling Old Trafford in a sale-and-leaseback (Joel Glazer says not); or doing a securitisation deal, effectively mortgaging future ticket income to receive a lump sum of several hundred million pounds. This would allow the bank debt to be slashed at a stroke, and the hedge fund debt to be restructured in its place, but would mean a big chunk of future income was already spent. The club had no comment to make.’
Players in and out since the Glazers' takeover
PLAYERS IN
From/Cost
Edwin van der Sar (gk), Fulham, c.£2m
Ben Foster (gk), Stoke, £1m
Park Ji Sung (m), PSV, £4m
Total cost of players in: £7m.
Estimated annual wages: £4m.
PLAYERS OUT
Sold
To/Fee
Phil Neville (d/m), Everton, £3.5m
Kleberson (m), Besiktas, £2.5m
Michael Stewart (m) , Hibernian, Undisclosed
Released
Roy Carroll (gk), West Ham, Free
Ricardo (gk), Osasuna, Free
Steven Hogg (m), Shrewsbury, Free
Paul Tierney (m), Livingston, Free
Daniel Nardiello (f), Barnsley , Free
David Poole (m), Yeovil, Free
Ramon Calliste (f), Liverpool, Free
Ben Collett (m), NZ Knights, Free
Lee Lawrence (d), No current club
On Loan
To/Loan period
David Bellion (f), West Ham, Season
Jonathan Spector (d), Charlton, Season
David Jones (m), Preston, Season
Ben Foster (gk), Watford, Season
Eddie Johnson (f), Crewe, Jul-Jan
Chris Eagles (m), Sheff Wed, Jul-Jan
Paul McShane (f), Brighton, Aug-Jan
Tom Heaton (gk), Swindon, Aug-Jan
Colin Heath (f), Swindon, Aug-Jan
Phil Picken (d), Chesterfield, Aug-Jan
Liam Miller (m), Leeds, Nov-Jan
Total revenue from players: £6m-plus. Estimated annual wages saving: £8m