May 7, 2021

Summary

Protests got so bad that even a premier league match was postponed to a later date.

More by Yuri Mutei

Protests at Manchester United

Protests at Manchester United

The European Super League blunder made all the big six teams in the premier league be hated so much. Some teams hated their owners a lot more. One of them is Manchester United. Protests got so bad that even a premier league match was postponed to a later date. With “Glazers out” banners and all forms of negative publicity about the club. How did it get to this and why?

The Woodward effect

In my opinion Ed Woodward is a magician when it comes to the commercial side of Man United. He is the man who worked on the acquisition of the club for the Glazer family by coming up with the idea of buying Manchester United through a loan, with the debt going to the club not their own pockets. He has raised commercial revenue into great heights, hitch is what got him into the CEO role.

Now pardon my French but what does a bloody businessman know about running a football club? Apart from the last two seasons United has been fighting just to be in the top four. Mr Woodward and the Glazers don’t care so long as they get their dividends.

The Glazers greed

Many fans hate the Glazers and Woodward for one thing- The way the club is run. United is the only club where the owners take cash out of the club instead of investing their own money to get the team firing on all cylinders like the FSG group who own Liverpool. It was revealed in the Man United books that the six Glazer siblings had collectively borrowed 10 million pounds as well 10 million in management and administration fees a few years back.

So how can a club survive if its owners keep treating it like a cash cow? Constantly just withdrawing money out, no significant transfers made and if they were, the main man Mr. Woodward has no clue what the team needs (sigh).

How can a team compete when in 2018-2019 out of the 23 million pounds paid in dividends, 18 million went to the Glazers. The deeper you go the more you see why that old fan since the 60s doesn’t like what is going on. Or the middle aged friends who can’t recognize their team anymore. Fans have had enough. Let them protest. It’s their heritage, their club. It’s high time Premier league clubs embrace the 50+1 rule like the German bundesliga. Where no single entity can buy more than 49 percent stake in a club. The 51 percent is left for the fans.

I don’t know about you but I really like the idea.

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