Why it will take another Sheikh Mansour to rescue Manchester United from the Glazers

Joel Glazer and brothers Bryan and Avram might just struggle to digest their grits and maple syrup pancakes if they spend breakfast in Tampa poring over news from the blue half of Manchester this morning.

While Malcolm’s boys continue to study the global financial markets for the best way to restructure the £699m debt that is threatening to drag Manchester United down into the ranks of also-rans, they will notice that Sheikh Mansour has just written off £304.9m of personal loans at Manchester City to pretty much make the Eastlands club a debt-free company.

How the Glazers could do with a Sheikh Mansour figure coming along and taking the burden of owning United off their hands. How they would love to be able to shrug off a loss of £92.6m without the blink of an eye, as Sheikh Mansour has done at Eastlands. The problem facing the Glazers – or one of them, at least – is that Manchester United is such a renowned global brand that there are very few people out there who could actually afford to buy the club from the Florida-based family should they ever need to cash in their chips at Old Trafford.

In their last Soccer Rich List, published in August 2009, the widely respected business magazine Forbes.com placed United in number one spot in the list of the world’s most valuable clubs with a valuation of £1.3bn. Real Madrid, in second position, were some way back with a valuation of £944m. It isn’t just football where United rule, however. Across the sporting spectrum, they are the most valuable ‘franchise’ on the planet, with NFL giants the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins their closest rivals. United are the Coca-Cola of world football. The whole world knows their name, but in a severe financial downturn, the pool of billionaires with a desire to own a football club has shrunk dramatically. In the current climate, who would seriously want to spend almost £1.5bn to buy Manchester United?

So the Glazers have a rare asset on their hands, but the market is on the floor. Sheikh Mansour has already made his move, so he is out of the running. There is real money in Saudi Arabia and China, but again, in an uncertain world, is buying the world’s biggest football club a wise move?

Not that the Glazers are looking to sell. If they can ride the current financial storm, then the picture on the other side looks rosy. But the debt is creeping up and the interest payments are eye-watering. In 2008, operating profits of £72m were almost swallowed up by annual interest payments of £69m. There is also a debt of £175m of payment in kind (Pik) loans that are rolling up interest at a rate of 14.25pc a year. The loan, for which the Glazer family, rather than the football club, is ultimately responsible, was initially worth just over £130m.

How much longer can the Glazers continue to operate with such a heavy debt burden? That all depends on what happens to the money coming into club, of which there is quite a bit. The £80m banked for Cristiano Ronaldo is still largely unspent and, although Sir Alex Ferguson has been told he can reinvest the money in his squad, the funds are still there in the club’s accounts. And later this year, a £20m-a-year shirt sponsorship deal with Chicago-based Aon begins, so the cash flow isn’t exactly drying up. If the money doesn’t go into the team, though, United risk standing still or falling behind. Falling behind leads to a lack of silverware and perhaps even the nightmare scenario of a failure to qualify for the Champions League. Should that happen, servicing the debt becomes a problem. Do United spend to get back to the top or must they instead meet their financial obligations?

It is the same vicious circle that engulfed Leeds United who, although they recorded their famous FA Cup victory against United last Sunday, remain a League One club as a result of their financial meltdown. United’s global appeal is their biggest asset, however. Leeds could not count on a similar pulling power to the world’s super-rich as they tumbled through the divisions. That is the one saving grace for United if the Glazers find that the going gets too tough financially in the coming months – somebody, somewhere, will ultimately want to take the ego trip of owning Manchester United.

Reported by: Mark Ogden, Telegraph

Should Manchester United have kept Carlos Tevez?

At a time when El Apache is in the form his life, We ponders whether the Old Trafford favourite should have been at all allowed to leave for their arch rivals...

The Argentinean has scored twelve goals and has five assists to his name in his time with Manchester City. His winner against Chelsea and the Blackburn hat-trick have been the highlight so far.

If you compare the above mentioned statistics with that of Dimitar Berbatov, the man whose addition into the squad meant Tevez had to be benched and eventually banished, and Michael Owen, there is a stark difference. The Bulgarian has a paltry six goals with two assists while, the former Liverpool striker is a touch better with seven goals and a single assist.

At a time when the Red Devils are struggling to win, Wayne Rooney seems to be their only hope from where goals come regularly, which was even acknowledged by the club’s skipper Gary Neville recently.

While the usual talk around the club is about missing the services of Cristiano Ronaldo, the even more vital question is whether the hole left by Tevez’s departure was ever filled in?

Despite being on the bench for much of the time last season, ‘the Argentine Prophet of the 21st century’, which Maradona referred him as, was very influential. His four goals in the 5-3 win over Blackburn in the Carling Cup, the fastest goal in the Champions League against Aolborg for the 2008-09 season, and who would ever forget his goal against Porto in the Champions League quarters?

On their way to the third successive Premier League title, one of the stiffest tasks United faced was against Tottenham at home where they found themselves trailing 2-0 at half-time. Out went Nani and in came Tevez, and thereafter United turned it around to win 5-2 in what was one of the greatest comebacks in the English game. Ristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney attributed the change of fortunes to Tevez’s presence.

United are certainly missing his energetic runs and an unwavering work rate, which was second to none. Tevez was always seen chasing the defenders when not in possession and thereby, pressurizing them, something which neither Berbatov nor Owen have done much.

Tevez has the speed coupled with good ball skills, and can easily wave off a defender when in possession. He is also a dead ball specialist.

More than anything else, Tevez is a team player and it was certainly a sad moment for United fans to see him leave the club. While critics may point that £32million was way too much for the Argentinean, it wasn’t much given the kind of success he is enjoying at the other side of Manchester.

Reported by: Rahul Bali.- Goal.com