Malcolm In The Middle
‘IF Malcolm Glazer, the owner of Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was under any illusion that he would be welcome as the new owner of Manchester United, he wont be after this morning.
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| Glazer celebrates another Rooney touchdown |
All the papers agree that fans will do whatever they can to prevent the American taking control of the worlds largest football club.
And, even if Glazer persuades the Irish duo of JP McManus and John Magnier to sell their 28.9% stake in the club to add to his 19.2% share, he is far from home and dry.
The Telegraph explains that a banner at the Stretford End of Old Trafford proclaiming Not For $ale is indicative of the reaction in Manchester.
If the American was to consider how that sign came to be displayed over £100,000 of advertising space, it says, he might come to realise why he would never be welcomed in the Theatre Of Dreams.
The banner is a small but significant concession by the plc board to the supporters, but it speaks loud about the three key elements for which the club are run: the team, the fans and the shareholders.
The fact that Glazer has never even visited Old Trafford, combined with his track record at Tampa Bay (where he has consistently raised ticket prices and even changed the team colours) suggests that even notoriously fickle football fans will make his path as hard as they possibly can.
Were David Beckham still at United, then Glazer could be looking at an even fatter cash cow.
The Guardian reports that, for all his struggles on the field, the England skipper has done wonders for Real Madrids bank balance.
The Spanish clubs income is expected to double from £103m in 2002 to £204m this season almost half of which is expected to come directly from marketing.
All of which does make you wonder whether selling Beckham for only £25m was the worst bit of business Manchester United have ever done.
To another England captain, and both the Times and the Independent leads with news that Jonny Wilkinson has been named as the new England rugby captain.
Not that Wilkinson will be grabbing headlines in the same way that his footballing counterpart does – as the profile of the clean-living superstar in the Times makes clear.
I wont take my clothes off for pictures, for instance, he says. My reticence is partly to do with appearances, I dont find images of people without their clothes on all that attractive I prefer to leave something to the imagination.
Thoughts he no doubt shared with the ubiquitous David Beckham at the filming of one of their adidas commercials…’
Posted: 5th, October 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
