Posted on Red Issue:
Could it ever happen? Could England’s two finest and most decorated clubs be publicly mocked and ridiculed by the most unlikely source imaginable - their own hardcore fans, in an alliance unprecedented in UK sporting history? Would Liverpool fans place their tribal rivalry aside to welcome Manchester United’s Red Army to Anfield in an attempt to humiliate their owners, while in turn United leave their normal animosity at the Manchester city limits to humiliate the Glazers? Could it happen, just once?
Hold your horses, all you nay-sayers, this isn’t quite as daft as it may at first appear. Both clubs are drowning in unwanted debts, imposed by avaricious American buyers using highly leveraged buy-out strategies that would be illegal back in the US of A. Before these takeovers both clubs were successful, viable and financially sound. Liverpool with some debts, albeit based on serviceable borrowing, while United existed in a now parallel universe of debt and stress-free bliss.
Why now? Simply put, BOTH clubs are heading straight for the sporting knackers yard.
In a couple of years Uefa will be implementing their (overdue) financial rules, leaving United and Liverpool possibly facing exclusion from Europe’s top table and certainly requiring some financial house-keeping, that currently seems impossible to achieve.
The dignity of self inflicted death today is therefore not, in the grand scheme of things that much worse than death by execution tomorrow.
I’ll have to acknowledge a degree of denial. I’ve been hoping this takeover would turn out better than it has, that my worst fears (and those of others) wouldn’t come to pass, but I’m afraid I’ve lost almost all hope in the light of the available evidence.
David Conn's article highlighting how the Glazers have squandered a truly eye-watering £263 million of United’s money simply to service their outrageous interest payments is the final straw for me. £263 million! In barely 4 years. That would have paid for many a Ribery or Benzema (had they wanted to come to United, granted) or, off the field a newly extended south stand, taking a completed (and re-roofed?!) Old Trafford to over 90,000 seats. Hell, with a stadium and financial standing like that United may even have kept ticket prices half sensible too. I can dream.
Over at Anfield, things were initially different. Rather than copy United fan’s resistance they couldn’t wait to roll out the welcome mat, bunting criss-crossed the streets and a sunny future beckoned for Liverpool. Next season was going to their year!
Now? The promised new stadium is stuck on the drawing board, while the club is struggling with a debt-burden that – just like United’s, threatens its competitive future. A resurgent Arsenal and newbie rich boys Citeh are placing a serious threat to Liverpool’s Champions League status. If that goes, they’ll be in freefall. (Hmmm. On second thoughts, hold the joint-protest….)
So both sets of fans have club owners they now utterly detest, both clubs have seen colossal debts imposed by said owners that they have no hope whatsoever of re-paying through club generated funds, and both clubs face crippling interest payments to service those totally unsustainable debts. In short, each owner is simply waiting for the arrival of a fully wedged-up white knight to buy out their holdings, earning multi-millions in the process. That is the only possible exit strategy of each owner; they have nothing else.
Neither owner can continue forever on a financial crash-course, so they must either re-finance or sell. Unless it’s a cash buyer, a la Citeh, then it’s back to square one with a new owner with huge debts. But as each club is already collapsing under their existing debts which cannot be adequately serviced by club revenues and with impending legislation from Uefa, (correctly intended to under mime any possibility of more highly leveraged buy outs) neither option appears viable.
So, when exactly is the right time to commit to emergency action? How extreme does our situation need to be before something radical or previously impossible becomes a viable last gasp option?
While it’s true we mutually detest each other as much as it’s possible to do, therein lies the potentially unique impact of such an unlikely joint-protest.
The point is this. Normal protest has been tried and has failed. Miserably. Remember when United marched outside Old Trafford? “United United, Not for Sale.” Well no offence to those who marched, but while they squeaked The Glazers smirked. We were For Sale, and we were sold like a sack of coal to a parasitical family with a huge and unfavourable loan, who have been undeservedly protected by almost unprecedented recent on-pitch success. Superficial inference of successful ownership has in reality camouflaged financial decisions which could sink United almost without trace.
Meanwhile Liverpool tootled down Walton Breck Road waving their own flags and singing their own songs of support or protest, depending on their mood. Sometimes in support of Benitez, and eventually against Gillett & Hicks. Just like us though, all that hot air was, well, hot air. Effort a plenty but
useless in the face of a single swipe of a millionaire bankers pen. Ever feel inadequate? Whatever Liverpool thought they were getting was not what they’ve got now, that’s for sure. It’s true that’s not our problem, and if it wasn’t for the Glazers we’d all be hooting with laughter at their misfortune. However our issues aren’t Liverpool’s problem either and by rights they should be laughing at our quandary. If it wasn’t for Gillett and Hicks…
We should set out to humiliate our own club owners. We should call on Uefa to expel United from the Champions League, and Liverpool fans likewise to their own club. Unsustainable debts = oblivion, how one looks at it. I’d love to be amongst those who pull the trigger on these
, but without ACTION, that won’t happen. Such a protest would get completely unprecedented global media coverage; two sworn enemies, combining with a temporary truce to call for the CL eviction of their own clubs due to the unacceptable debts imposed by unwanted parasitical owners.
Should we be pushing for a COMPLETE BOYCOTT of United home matches? Ok, it’s a big ‘If’, but that would be THE most accessible way for ordinary fans to crush the Glazers – to keep their cash in their own pocket and REJECT the now fatally flawed Glazer business plan. They only react to money these guys, they’ve shown enough times it’s the only language they speak. A collapse in Old Trafford crowds would have a disastrous impact on their business model, and it should be noted, probably an equally disastrous effect on United’s on-pitch fortunes too.
Short term pain, long term gain, then.
A near bankrupt United would regally
the Glazers. Ok, so we’d go down a division or two. Senior players would leave. Big deal. In a lower league we’d start again (perhaps under fan ownership?) with match day revenues no other clubs could get near to. We’d be back in the top flight within a couple of years. Would it work? That depends on how we define ‘work’ I suppose. One thing is for sure, if we continue on this now disastrous trajectory the only things I can see for United are multiple looming disasters. That being so, should we do all we can to
the Glazers before they finally screw United and get the chance to walk away with millions of profits, thus – in their own minds, justifying their takeover in the first place? Is our rivalry with Liverpool more precious than our love for United?
Is the long term future of United (and in turn do Liverpool fans think similarly about their long term future) to be worth a truly remarkable one-off protest?
Would it have any discernable effect?
Could a boycott of the club actually bankrupt the Glazers, and if it did force them out, what are the chances of that setting the ground for a cash sale, thus no debt?
I know this was a little long-winded, but after seeing those figures (£263 million) and with an eye on the imminent repayment demands I am now more disillusioned with these money-grubbing whores than I ever thought possible.
Drastic, unprecedented action is required. Well?
