GLAZERS PUT MANCHESTER UNITED SHARES WORTH US$100 MILLION ON SALE

Manchester United’s co-chairman Avram Glazer has recently put five million Class A ordinary shares of the club, worth just north of US$100m, on sale with a deadline of 16th March.

This comes at the back of United releasing their second-quarter fiscal report (2Q 2021) that shows the net debt clocking at £455.5 million, a 16% increase from this time last year.

While the sale of these shares would see the Glazers’ ownership of the club drop from 78% to 74.9%, United have already announced they will not be receiving any of this amount, meaning the Glazers getting this US$100m (£72.5 million) personally would see them finally turn profit on the £270 million they invested out of their own pocket back in 2005, when they purchased the club for £790 million with a leveraged buyout.

The club recently also announced the restructuring of hierarchy, with John Murtough made football director and former player Darren Fletcher becoming the first-ever technical director, a significantly positive step in ensuring long-term stability of the club.

All things considered, the fact that no money would be invested into the club from the sale of these shares is not surprising to the United supporters, only disappointing (and mostly infuriating), given the need for funds to bring in reinforcements into the first team going into the next season, something the club didn’t particularly do well last summer.

Manchester United sit 2nd on the Premier League table, 14 points off local rivals Manchester City. They host West Ham on Monday (12.45 AM IST) before heading off to Italy to face AC Milan in the second leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie.

Written By
Anshuman Joshi