Identify the Winners and the Losers During the Changes in Ownership Structure of the Football Club

Manchester United is one of the most successful clubs in England and changes in its ownership structure have led this success. During the changes in ownership structure there has been winners and losers.

The players are always going to be the winners during the changes in the ownership structure. They will always get paid and if they are good enough, they will play week in, week out. They are unaffected as to what happens behind the scenes.

Martin Edwards, ex-chairmen of united, always wanted the club to succeed. However, at the end of the day he wanted the most money for himself. In 2003 he sold all of his shares and made £71million. He was a winner for himself, not the club.

Manchester United were also winners, in a way, as they appointed Sir Roy Gardner as chairmen. A man of his experience credited United as they now had the right guidance in the stock exchange market which could lead them to make money.

The biggest winners were the Glazer family because in 2003 to 2005 they had 100% ownership of the club. Their decision to buy the club was not supported by the majority of fans, the losers, as they had known the Glazer family would bring atleast £500million of debt into the club and turn it into a private company. The fans were distressed as they had no input into what direction the club would go in, or what decisions they were going to make. The Glazers deal with AON, a sponsorship worth £80million left the fans concerned as to what was happening to the club. Also their payment of the £220m PIK, payment in kind, loans led to distrust between the fans and the board. Most people have suspected that this loan was paid off with another loan, which has caused questions over the running of the club. Despite all the allegations regarding the future of the club, United are adamant that the club are in control of handling the debts. In 2011 there were talks over a possible takeover from the royal family in Qatar. The possible bid would have been around £1.5bn, to make profit for the Glazer family. However, these allegations were later denied by the family and they propose to maintain owners of United for a long time.

Even when the club was a plc, the clubs decision not to enter the FA cup competition in 1999 but to enter the FIFA world club championship led to annoyed and angry fans. As they had thought the clubs new main aim was to make profit and not to follow tradition. The fans passion for the takeover not to occur was evident when Shareholders United and Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, IMUSA, fought to the FA, UEFA and the British Government to stop the takeover. The fans strategy was to go against everything the Glazer family were doing. However, without the right support or lack of funds this was impossible.