Why Man Utd are for sale

Manchester United are for sale. After years of conflict between supporters and owners, the Glazer Family, who have held majority control of the club since 2005, are searching for a buyer.

But why now, and what will happen next? How much are Manchester United worth? Who could afford to buy United?

Laurie Whitwell and Dan Sheldon explain, Craig Silcock illustrates.

Follow Tifo Football:

Listen to the Tifo Football podcast:

About Tifo Football:
Tifo loves football. We create In-depth tactical, historical and geopolitical breakdowns of the beautiful game.

We know there’s an appetite for thoughtful, intelligent content. For stuff that makes the complicated simple.

We provide analysis on the Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, World Cup and more.

Our podcasts interview some of the game’s leading figures. And our editorial covers football with depth and insight.

Thumbnail Image Reference:
Charlotte Tattersall / Stringer / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

#MUFC #ManUnited

[remmidemmi]

Liverpool can consider themselves lucky the Glazers didn’t go after them in the end. They’re the worst thing that could have happened to United ever. As a football fan (and even as a Spurs fan) this genuinely hurts. Glazers out!

[TheMixCurator]

I think the main stumbling block for any potential buyer is the need for massive infrastructure investment. I found when I went to Old Trafford 20 years ago it felt like a tired worn out stadium. Also Carrington apparently needs a chunk of money put into it to modernise. It looks like the purchasing of Liverpool would be the better investment for many/if not all potential buyers. I'd be surprised if Man Utd was sold for £4b+ and I wouldn't be surprised if the sale of the club takes a lot longer than anticipated.

[lilbaz]

The main reason which you missed. Utds debs are unhinged, that means that as interest rates increase the amount they have to pay each year goes up. It has gone up from £20m a year to £124m a year (just for the interest) in the last quarterly accounts. Debt has also increased.
They need to sell. As the fed has raised interest rates again since those accounts were published.

[prateshramjohn]

It annoys me greatly that owners can run a club so poorly for a decade plus, leave them in ruins and uncompetitive and still walk away with billions in profit.

[WalcroftIndustries]

It has been heartbreaking to see their mistreatment of such a giant of football club. The only hopes I have for the new owners is that they are rich enough to invest in the infustructure and to back the current manager as he builds his incredible project.

[parashit]

'Project Big Picture' is literally what Madrid and Barca did to La Liga.. They dominate all the revenue and tv shares in spain then buy potential players from inferior clubs.
This is the reason why traditional clubs like Athletic, Atletico, and Valencia refused to sell players to them unless they had pass their prime.

Torres, D. Silva, Mata, and De Gea, Llorente were some of players who had to play abroad because in their contracts they couldn't be transfered to those 2 giants.

[davids]

I hope the new owners will bring a good CEO and a director of football with them and restructure the club. We have scouts who's been leaching on the club. Ragnick has advised the club of players that would've cost 20-30mill a year ago who are now going for 50 atleast, not even mention Gakpo. We need football people and get rid of business ppl for good.

[deapip]

Hope ETH will get his deserves backing from new owner and football people in the director roles

[thomasrt]

Hey Tifo, I recently got your book as a present for Christmas, I am an amateur player and I just wanted to say thank you! You completely changed my perspective of the game, and I have improved so much.

If you haven’t already, please buy the book it is brilliant 💛

[Bsnaoa]

As a city fan its sad to see uniteds current state, it was such a great club

[beukenphom]

Ralf was the face of this revolution and CR7 has put the cherry on top during his Interview about the owners ....
So both of them are the two hero of this revolution.

[miguelfernandes]

The fact you didn’t talk about the financial problems that the glazers have put Manchester United in is criminal because the revenue is not going up but they aren’t willing to invest in the clubs infrastructure because they don’t invest there own money and the debt they put the club on just for buying the club is absolutely insane with a percentage of it being paid off as a 16 percentage interest which is absolutely ridiculous interest percentage. So they want to sell before the value drops because if you go to old Trafford or see videos you would see a stadium that 18 years ago was one of the best stadiums and then they came in and never invested in the infrastructure of it which is absolutely heartbreaking to see so now the stadium is slowly deteriorating it’s just sad, I went to old Trafford in the first game of the season and they had broke seats at the top and I was told that has been like that for a long time had they fixed it costing max 100 pounds and leading to having one extra person on every single game which would lead to small profit. You should get the small things right and then it will lead to you getting the big things right. Can’t wait to see them gone will definitely try to go to old Trafford again when they sell because the atmosphere would be insane and if the right owner buys us it will be even more electrifying. (which for me is the Manchester born Jim ratcliffe )

[moltencicada]

Wish the Glazers had tried' Project Big Picture' in 2006.

[wildsurfer]

Thank Heavens, hopefully the Red Knights and the fans can now buy the club!

[suryac]

I heard that Amazon is also potentially interested to buy United .

[danielitoperez]

I just want them to be owned by someone who cares about the club. Man United jerseys are not even readily available here in Florida where the Glazers are from.

[TheCatDrinksAllTheRedBull]

Maguire hosts a podcast called 'The Price of Football' where he discusses all sorts of football finance topics. It's personally my favorite podcast

[jtjr]

I know United fans have been screaming for years to get rid of the Glazers. Now that they are interested in selling all I will say is to be careful what you wish for. Any owner that can afford something like United will likely want to extract money from the team just like the current owners do.

[ahmadmuliawan]

Their fans should overtake the club ownership and turn the club into fan-owned club.

[fernandoalvarez]

Beware of when FSG & the Glazers start buying Spanish & Italian clubs that would’ve be apposed to a continental league.