After 27 years and an astonishing 38 trophies, Sir Alex Ferguson has announced that he is to retire as Manchester United manager. In recent days, there had been more than a little speculation about when he would call it quits, but now that Sir Alex has made his decision there is a lot of talk [...]
Fergie against Rafa. North versus South. Glazers against Abramovich. Gus Johnson and Ian Wright against the soccer world.
There are plenty of rivalries on the line today as Manchester United take on Chelsea at Old Trafford in a match that means much more for Chelsea than it does for United, but don't let that take anything away from United who will be ecstatic to win today as revenge for losing to the Blues in the FA Cup.
Manchester United create history with $3 billion valuation - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Premier League giants Manchester United have created history by becoming the first sports team in the world with a $3 billion valuation.
MUFC world's most valuable team
The shares of the club offered to the public last August at $14 did poorly in the beginning but the price has soared up in the last few days touching at $17.
West Ham United are poised to take over as the tenantat the vacant and still new Olympic Stadium in east London. The Hammers' bid was challenged by English Premier League rival Tottenham a year ago, and now it appears that the Spurs tried a little too hard to win the bid to make the stadium their new home.
Manchester United beat Newcastle in the League Cup yesterday in front of a crowd of just 46,358. The League Cup is the last priority for United, so it's no surprise there's less interest, but couldn't the Glazers be doing more to allow more fans to go to the game?
Arsenal charged £10 for adults for their League Cup game this week (£20 in the upper tier), City charged £22.
Neil Custis, who covers Manchester United for The Sun newspaper, wrote this morning  that
Man United made a £38m deadline day attempt last week to land Brazil superstar Neymar.
The club record bid failed when the 20-year future superstar said he wanted to stay in Brazil
until after his country had hosted the 2014 World Cup.
I admit I am really surprised to hear that Billionaire money manager George Soros owns nearly 2%
of Manchester United after the clubs owners, the Glazers took the club public earlier this
month.
According to a filing with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, Soros through his hedge
fund Soros Fund Management LLC, owns 7.
Here we go again, then. This has been a summer of discontent at Old Trafford, with any
activities in the transfer market comfortably overshadowed by the issuance of and reaction to a
highly controversial IPO which has further divided supporters of a club which has seldom seemed
'United' in any sense other than in the continuing and relentless pursuit of success.
Apparently Manchester United is a publicly listed company on the New York Stock Exchange now.
Also apparently, hearing from people who can count beyond 10 in their heads, the IPO itself has
been completely anti-Unitedesque in its performance in Wall Street. It eventually ended up at a
price that would be the footballing equivalent of being relegated after promising to finish in the
top 4.
Ding ding! The Glazer Family have just rung the bell over on Wall Street to mark their club
floating their utterly worthless $14 shares on the stock market.
To celebrate the big day, the Glazers handed out specially embroidered Manchester United shirts
with 'MANU' (United's share trading code) and 'NYSE' (New York Stock Exchange) stitched onto them
to the various stockbrokers and traders on the floor.
Following accusations that Sir Alex Ferguson offered his backing to the Glazers because he stood
to gain financially from the proposed IPO, the manager has spoken out to deny these rumours.
"Being aware of the media coverage that is currently ongoing I felt, on this occasion, that
I should make my position clear to the Manchester United fans," said Ferguson.
Almost immediately after announcing a seven-year shirt sponsorship deal with Chevrolet worth an
estimated £200 million the Glazer family pushed ahead with their much maligned plan to unleash a
Manchester United IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. From the first rumor of the move, fans and
media have been united in questioning it.
Manchester United has "temporarily" paused plans to launch its $300m initial public offering in
the US. While the Glazers press machine blames market volatility but the real reason is weak
investor demand at the valuation/share structure demanded by the Glazers.
Its a huge slap in the face for the Glazers who have previously failed with IPO's in Hong Kong
and in Singapore after demand for its shares fell short.
There is a certain irony to Manchester United announcing their IPO in the same week as the
Supporters Direct annual conference is held in London. While there are those that amongst us that
still believe that the route towards a successful, inclusive and financially sustainable future
lays in giving the supporters of clubs an active role in their running, the behemoth that has sat
astride the Premier League for the last two decades is taking another step away from accountability
and a step towards having, effectively, somebody else pay for their debts whilst having no say in
the running of the club.
Following a quiet couple of weeks, everything seems to have exploded into action, with United now
occupying every back page in the country. Let's start with the Guardian, where David Conn follows
yesterday's piece with a more in-depth analysis of the Glazers'latest plan by putting the Americans
under the microscope yet again.
What does the future hold for Tevez, Baines, Drogba and M'Vila? - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
Here's a look at the top transfer stories circulating in the Premier League today, with guest
appearances from Carlos Tevez (will he stay or go), Leighton Baines (can he match the flying
Frenchman) and Didier Drogba.
MUST have called for the Glazers to lower ticket prices at Old Trafford next season to reflect
the lack of investment that has gone in to transfer sales.
"We are throwing down a challenge to Joel Glazer to cut United fans` season ticket prices
next season," said MUST chief exec, Duncan Drasdo.
MUST have tonight claimed that the green and gold protests will continue this season and will
start with tomorrow's game against Fulham, with the away supposedly joining in.
"At the match tomorrow assuming the Glazers' security don't try to suppress free speech a
significant number of Fulham fans will be taking Green & Gold scarves into the away section,"
said Duncan Drasdo, chief executive of MUST.
The Glazers have revealed a massive u-turn in their IPO proposals in a revised filing of the IPO
last night. In the original filing it was made absolutely clear that ALL of the proceeds of the IPO
would go to paying down debt the Glazers have loaded onto Manchester United. The revised
filing reveals they now plan to take half the IPO proceeds for themselves!
The Glazers have revealed a massive u-turn in their IPO proposals in a revised filing of the IPO
last night. In the original filing it was made absolutely clear that ALL of the proceeds of the IPO
would go to paying down debt the Glazers have loaded onto Manchester United. The revised
filing reveals they now plan to take half the IPO proceeds for themselves!
The silly season is well and truly upon us, and with football now demanding twenty-four hour,
three hundred and sixty-five day a year media coverage the next few weeks seem likely to bring more
stories to the back pages of newspapers that might otherwise not have been deemed worthy of such
coverage.
Sir Alex Ferguson has given an exclusive interview with The Mail On Sunday where he "attacks"
Glazer critics. The paper labels the attack "extraordinary" and tells the fans to back off, giving
a "warning" to all fans.
Part of me can tolerate Ferguson putting up with the Glazers, because if he spoke out against
them and made his position untenable, there's no way another manager could sustain success on the
budget Ferguson has.
A Post from January 5th 2012...
... before all the seriously organised sporting crime.
___________________________________________________________________________________
On the 23rd of October 2011, an idea for an app came to mind...
... the number nineteen on a red background would slowly morph into 1-6 on a sky blue background.
A Post from January 5th 2012...
... before all the seriously organised sporting crime.
___________________________________________________________________________________
On the 23rd of October 2011, an idea for an app came to mind...
... the number nineteen on a red background would slowly morph into 1-6 on a sky blue background.
Don't worry, its not that Lucas, but 19 year old Brazilian super-teen Lucas Moura of
Sao Paulo with a huge 26 million transfer fee agreed between Man United and the Brazilian giants,
as reported in today's Mirror.
I'm not convinced that United would spend so highly on a player still so young, as this doesn't
always tend to be United's behaviour within the transfer market.
In October 2010 Wayne Rooney issued a warning to the Glazers to splash the cash to make Utd
competitive. He was proven right a year and a half later as City won their maiden Premiership. For
their part City were hardly obliging as even before the ink had dried casting their eyes at their
favourite supply chain, Arsenal, for the services of Robin Van Persie, ready to send his wages out
of the stratosphere.
