The Success Of The Club - 2548 Words

In 2005, a shocking news hit the city of Manchester, home of the EPL’s most successful club with a history of more than a hundred years: Manchester United. Their beloved club was to be acquired by an American business tycoon, Malcolm Glazer. What concerned the fans even more was the fact that most of the capital used by Glazer to purchase the team was debt and that he would load  £525million of debt on to the club itself. This was problematic because it meant that money otherwise could be used to acquire top talents, improve training facilities, or towards the club’s CSR activities would be used to pay back Glazer’s debt. The leveraged buyout of the club was directly against the interests of the fans who are the most important stakeholder.†¦show more content†¦Ever since Glazer loaded the club with  £525million debt, over  £680million has gone towards servicing the debt, including interest fees, bank charges, and debt repayment as of May 2014. O n the other hand, the club’s spending on acquisition of players during the same period was  £382.9million while its rivals Manchester City has spent  £693.7million, Chelsea  £600.2million, Tottenham  £448.2million, and Liverpool have splashed out a total of  £443.75million. In other words, Man Utd spent more on servicing Glazer’s debt than it did on strengthening its squad. Although Man Utd won five Premier League titles, three league cups, and a Champions League under Glazer’s ownership, underinvestment eventually led to aging squad and failure to find suitable replacements. As a result, in 2013/2014 season, Man Utd finished the season in 7th place, failing to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1990/1991 season while its neighbor, Manchester City, won the title. While Man Utd was suffering from severely deteriorated financial situation, Man City, under the ownership of an Arabian prince, Sheikh Mansour, invested heavily not on ly to acquiring top players, but also to building a new stadium, training facilities, and even to the community by subway construction and new homes. Despite the fact that Man Utd spent  £152.3million in the transfer market this season, the investment does not seem to be paying off yet as the team ranks fourth in the league as of