Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been speaking on the latest edition of The Price of Football podcast about how the Glazer family bought Manchester United.
The Americans bought the Red Devils in 2005 via a leveraged buyout, and the club has been paying the price ever since.
Maguire revealed just how much it has cost Manchester United and what it has potentially stopped the Red Devils from doing.
He said: (39:50) “Leveraged buyout [is] the equivalent of getting 100% mortgage when you buy a house.
(40:18) “This is the route that the Glazers have taken.
(40:58) As far as Manchester United are concerned, they have spent £830m paying interest on the loans that the Glazer family acquired in 2005.
“Some people would argue that money may have been better spent on first of all making Old Trafford a bit more modern, getting rid of the leaks in the roof, and secondly, investing more on the playing squad.”
Has this annoyed you?
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TIF Thoughts on the Glazer family and a leveraged buyout…
It seems incredible that a football club as big as Manchester United can be bought in this way.
Also, if Maguire is correct, the interest figure is massive, and if that money had been re-invested back into the club, perhaps the Red Devils would have won a Premier League title more recently than in 2013.
After the European Super League debacle, the Glazer family’s reputation is possibly lower than it has ever been.
We can’t imagine this news will please too many Manchester United fans either.
It remains to be seen what the Glazer family do to try and win back the Manchester United fanbase, but that interest figure is mind-boggling, and you have to wonder what the Red Devils could have done with that had it been available.
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