YESTERDAY'S M.E.N revelation that Manchester United has received an approach that could lead to a takeover bid for the world's richest soccer club looks like the beginning of the end of months of uncertainty and speculation. Chris Barry looks at the pros and cons for the club if, as expected, US tycoon Malcolm Glazer tables a '650m+ bid for the world's biggest football club.

Upsides for Glazer

IN the world of sports business Manchester United is in a league of its own.

Forget Real Madrid and its Galacticos, the legendary Harlem Globetrotters or even the star-studded, World Cup-winning Brazil side of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos - Manchester United is the number one brand by a mile.

With a staggering 74 million fans worldwide and one of the strongest brand names in the world, it is clear why the club is such an attractive asset.

Malcolm Glazer will seek to exploit the Manchester United brand and marry it with his expertise in building and running a successful sports franchise in the US.

If Glazer buys the club he is acquiring something potentially far more valuable than a squad of millionaires and the Theatre of Dreams, but the enormous marketing potential of the Manchester United brand.

It's already huge, in soccer terms at least. Commercial revenues, including sponsorship deals, merchandising and museum and stadium tours raised '45m for the club last season, making up over a quarter of total income.

Henk Potts of Barclays Stockbrokers told MEN Sport: "He has proved he can do it in the US by taking a relatively small outfit, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Super Bowl champions.

"If he buys Manchester United and I'm sure it will be more than a trophy asset to him, he will run it as a business and take it into the US market, which is still the big one from a sporting point of view."

Despite a concerted push into the States with successive summer tours in the last two years and a headline-grabbing, if somewhat nebulous marketing tie up with the New York Yankees baseball team, Manchester United has yet to truly establish itself in the US.

Mr Glazer will undoubtedly pledge to deliver this prize, and promise to pump millions into the club's transfer coffers from the proceeds.

Although a less high profile and controversial figure than Rupert Murdoch, the last multi- millionaire to bid for 'Gold Trafford', the fans' reaction to a bid from Glazer will be no less fierce.


Fans to suffer

The supporters, many of whom own shares in the company, see Manchester United as a treasured community asset, which in an ideal world, would be owned by the people for the people.

They accept the club's status as a public company, appreciating that they can, at least bring the board to account at the annual meetings if they are unhappy with any aspect of its business.

Even if he was pledging to splash the cash like Roman Abramovich, the fans' groups such as Shareholders United argue that even this would not be a price worth paying.

SU chairman Sean Bones questions Mr Glazer's ability to pay for the takeover and still have cash to hand to the manager to boost the squad.

Mr Bones said: "In the past David Gill (United's chief executive) has said that Manchester United do not need a sugar daddy. Malcolm Glazer is not even a sugar daddy - he is not a Roman Abramovich-type figure.

"He is going to have to take out loans to pay for all this, and who is going to end up paying them back?

"The Manchester United fans are astute enough not to be taken in by any of the propaganda about extending the manager's contract, or the money that will be available for transfers.

"They are aware enough to know that the only way this can be funded is through increased ticket prices which is exactly what Glazer did in Tampa Bay."

Henk Potts believes that while 67-year-old Glazer would seek to "squeeze maximum value out of the business", he would be well aware of the risks of doing so "at the expense of the fans".


Winners

Former Football League chairman Keith Harris, a merchant banker who advised Chelsea during Abramovich's takeover of the club, believes major shareholders JPMcManus and John Magnier, who own nearly 29 per cent of the clubs' shares, would likely emerge as the winners of any fight for a majority shareholding.

He said: "It is hard to tell if it looks like a very good investment for anybody other than the Irishmen who - if they sell - would look very smart indeed."

Dr Alan Mitton of Manchester Metropolitan University Business School says it is good news that this long-running saga is finally reaching a conclusion.

"All this speculation has gone on far too long. The share price has been inflated for some months now in the hope of a bid and the uncertainty has got to be removed.

"If Glazer bids '650m he is going to want a return on his investment. He will try and find more ways of making more money out of the global brand."

Dr Mitton said from a fan's point of view he could understand concerns about the club falling into foreign ownership, but not from a business perspective.

"People get confused about the game of football and the business of football. I can understand worries over losing a community asset, but from a business point of view we are in a global world now."


Conclusion

Manchester United is a successful business in its own right, it has no need of rescue like Chelsea did 18 months ago.

United has a clear business model, an enviable line-up of sponsors and makes profits. It has one of Europe's biggest and best stadia, no debts and proved with the '28m signing of Wayne Rooney that it can still compete with the world's biggest clubs.

Beyond access into the US sports market, which is the richest in the world, it is hard to see many benefits of a takeover by Malcolm Glazer.

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