I think you missing a few pieces of the puzzle chow. I too thought that the Glazers would be using profit to clear debt but they haven't. You might not consider that a fan's problem but it is bcause money that could be invested in the club is not.
Furthermore something that armchair fans will not feel but the scarf wearing stadium going protesters do feel is the huge spike in ticket prices. United went from being the best value for money in the league with middle of the pack ticket prices to being right up there with the London clubs. A 50% increase in 4 years.
Everybody else complains about high prices and taxes and how those funds are used so why not fans. In a very real sense the money from those increases have been siphoned directly by the Glazers, the interest and the numerous refinancing costs incurred by the Glazers since the team investment has not increased by 50%.
But the real concern is the future. I expect that things will be fine but if the Glazers hit a rough patch and sell under duress the fans will be at the whims of another unknown owner. It could be an Abramovich or it could be one of the pretenders like Portsmouth get saddled with. Much better for the fans to exert some pressure and try to have a say in the direction of the club.
JDB, yes, I might be missing a few small pieces of the puzzle as far as certain details may go, but it's not keeping me from seeing the big picture. Remember, as I have stated before, I am not saying that the manu fans don't have the right to voice their protests. I just think that their protests were before, are now and will be in the future, falling on (decidedly) deaf ears. First let me get to what Kicker pointed out is the main focus of a balance sheet: THE BOTTOM LINE.
My bottom line in all of this healthy debate is, and I will quote you to re-express it, "...I expect that things will be fine..." with manchester united. This team
IS English football, along with Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham and maybe a few others (
obviously, not necessarily in that order) but with the growing popularity and increasing revenue of the league and UEFA CL around the world and how much this team alone affects that......trust me, manu ain't going down like Portsmouth. In fact, I don't think they are going
anywhere! But even if by snowball's chance they do, they will be right back up the following season like Juventus were and like Newcastle (another of England's top revenue teams) seems slated to be, come August.
The manu fans were against the glazers' acquisition of this team from time their intent to buy was announced, right? Right. They started protesting, they threatened to boycott the team, yada, yada, yada. Every week, old trafford selling out. SRO. Glazers laughing all the way to the bank....and probably even collect a few yellow and green scarves of their own for posterity.
Amongst the litany of grievances they have against the glazers is that they don't
really care about football...presumably, like
other owners do....maybe even manu's previous owners? Well, if anybody really cared what the fans felt or was concerned that the glazers would just be buying the team for the opportunity to maybe siphon off profits and run manu into the ground they sure let one point something Billion ease their conscience. I don't know what the procedure is for an entity to purchase an EPL team, but I would like to think that there must be some form of approval required form necessary parties entrusted with the care and best interests of the league, it's teams and maybe even, yes, the fans. Well, where was the concern for manu and their fans when the glazers were coming into this deal saddled with all this debt? It wasn't any secret then what their possible intentions could have been, right? What happened? The glazers got what they wanted and then some. It's one "business" deal after another, Jed and there's nothing they can do to stop them.
The next one try to proffer up that maybe the protesting would
shame them....shame who? The time for the glazers to shame was when they were bringing all this debt to a highly profitable team. No shame then, no shame now. If the fans had to send a clear message, the time to do it would have been to really, actually boycott the games, especially at the beginning of the season, or at the insult of a 50% increase at the box office. The attendance today was listed on Sky Sports as 75,207. Now, I
know it's hard to just boycott games, but, unfortunately for all those voices making all this noise, the glazers know that too. Trust me, JDB, the glazers will continue to laugh all the way to the bank and manu will be fine. They have every single right to shout and scream 'til their lungs collapse. They are just wasting their time and energy.
Respek, JDB.