I agree....
wouldn't put a spot of blame on Magnier and McManus. They were offered 300p per share (about 35p more than the price at the time, although the current price is now 299p), so with a 29% stake that's about ?250m in cash to them (less capital gains tax, etc, obviously).
They are businessmen, and 300p per share was a good offer for them, one that represented good business.
Ultimately, the remaining 43% of the shareholders could quite easily turn round and reject Glazer's offer, so he'd be stuck on 57%, but I can't see it happening, sadly.
This takeover has a potential knock-on effect for all clubs. Glazer's transferring up to ?250m of his own debt to MUFC, which means that they'll have to cut costs and look at ways of bringing in more income.
This means:
a) less money spent on the team (not my concern, to be honest, but will be for the United fans)
increase in ticket prices - some season tickets are going up 33% for next season already. Away fans will obviously see that hike as well, and other clubs will raise their prices accordingly.
c) a far more aggressive marketing strategy. This is the key part, for me. Technically, the current TV rights deal is a restriction on trade. The current United board presumably were happy to maintain the status quo by not kicking up a fuss about it, but I can't imagine Glazer not wanting to get as much revenue as possible. ManYoo are far more marketable than, say, Norwich, yet in relative terms they don't actually earn a proportionally larger share of the TV revenues (probably only about ?3m a year difference for TV revenue - this doesn't include the Prem prize money) due to the joint contract between Sky and the Premier League.
In 2 years' time, when this deal is up for negotiation again, there won't be a joint contract. ManYoo will negotiate their own deal with whoever's willing to stump up the most money, the other big clubs will follow suit, leaving the smaller clubs to pick up the pieces with next to no revenue.
The future is bleak...
Posted By: Muz on May 12th 2005 at 18:41:59
Message Thread
- This Glazer takeover is very bad news (Other Football) - Capital Canary, May 12, 18:29:02
- much harder with a private company (Other Football) - Brendon Fearon, May 12, 19:06:26
- I agree.... (Other Football) - Muz, May 12, 18:41:59
- too right....and team manchester.nm (n/m) (Other Football) - conker, May 12, 18:41:31
- It won't be that simple (Other Football) - Iwan Husarmi, May 12, 18:41:10
- yeah I'm well gutted (n/m) (Other Football) - SCC 26, May 12, 18:29:59
- haha (n/m) (Other Football) - Gus Poyet 26, May 12, 18:33:10
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