The Man Utd thread

Yes. :sweat_smile:

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More likely to be perineal.

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Oh dear, Ratcliffe has feelings.

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i've got hurt feelings

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Poor lamb.

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Rise of the tea lady union.

There’s a film in that. Add light sabres and it would be classic.

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I particularly love the juxtaposition of the tough guy ā€˜I don’t mind making tough decisions’ posture with the petulance.

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He has just disclosed his achilles heel to their fanbase…
If you don’t want Rat Man at the club… abuse away

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I finally watched that interview Jim did with Neville and thought it was an absolute car crash. I cannot believe it isn’t getting more coverage.

The worst part was Neville challenged him on the cancellation of the retired players’ fund. Nev pointed out it was ultimately a trivial amount of money and spitballed several ways the money could have easily been made up so a culturally important program could have been maintained and Jim’s response was to say ā€œthat’s a good idea, but no one suggested that so we couldnt do it.ā€

A real business genius they have over there

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What is really revealing about that is not the business side of it, but the lack of awareness of how important something like that is to preserve the idea of club rather than franchise. Neville clearly understands that if a cut like that was absolutely necessary, finding an alternative was not a priority. Ratcliffe just didn’t.

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The people who would suggest that probably were shown the doors before.

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I thought he had a little pop at the Glazer’s in there too. He offered the carrot - they’ve been abused, they put up with a lot, and if it gets like that for me I will be off.

But he also said, ā€˜we bought in, and I’ve not seen them since.’

I read that as a criticism, not just an expression of sympathy with the supposed hard done by Glazer’s who don’t feel as though they can attend a game.

Oh, and the main thing in all this?

For the Glazers, Leveraged buy-outs are toxic and should be outlawed.

Edit
Or regulated more strictly, to stop unscrupulous owners from taking too much out and jeopardizing the existence of the club. We had our own history with that.

The club is paying for the loans for the Glazer’s to reap dividends and grow their asset by billions. They have done it to such an extent that even a financial juggernaut like Man Utd is handcuffed and potentially vulnerable in what it can do moving forward. That’s the Glazers. They deserve all the stick they get, and more besides.

As for Sir Jim, stop sacking the lowly workers! It is damaging the lives of many people who have been the backbone of the wider club. The values in doing it just seem misplaced. Yes, efficiency is fine. Let’s do that, but wisely, and to a point. So how about the stupid in-out debacle with Ashworth, on Sir Jim’s watch? How many millions were wasted there? And that’s before we even touch the fees paid for crap players, and wages offered for crap players.

But let’s sack the lowly worker, or take their lunch away, and stop funding for much needed club-related charity work…

All against the backdrop of a terrible team, languishing near the bottom, and showing no signs of improving to the degree where they will be relevant any time soon.

Sir Jim rightly gets no sympathy. Not only that, he’s an idiot - a useful idiot for the Glazers - because he parted with his cash, straight into their pockets, and they control the asset which is worth billions, and they don’t have the hassle of having to actually touch the thing any more.

Nasty idiot, Sir Jim. No sympathy from me!

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Nothing on what I’ve read about Ratcliffe leads me to suggest he has any business acumen whatsoever.

He’s just a senile old prick with ideas of grandeur far beyond his actual worth.

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Thats not really the fault of the LBO though, its the money wasted on poor transfers and wages over the last 5 to 10 years.

I don’t think the LBO would have been a question had the club continued to rake in the revenues. At that point , you would have argued that the club was doing well even with the debt hanging in over them.

But , they have spent billions on substandard players and are increasingly finding out that their sponsorships etc aren’t going to get them nearly enough money to sustain themselves.

That’s where the topic of the debt and the dividends taken out by Glazers comes into play.

That’s fair. LBO can work if you do it wisely. In their instance they have over extended and taken things to the max, and at the same time, they have squandered millions. They’ve had the worst of both sides of it. Too much money has been taken out, and the money they have spent - lots of it to be fair, although now the coffers are drying up - has been squandered.

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This whole new stadium / area redevelopment pitch is nothing more than a pitch to get a new buyer in. Someone who will be happy to pay what Glazers demand as well as clear off the debt.

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Glazers have more than made whatever money they kept into buying the club with their dividends alone.

And that doesn’t even include the 1.1 billion that they got from Ratcliffe.

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Don’t really have sympathy for the manures though. Fuck them.

I think this is spot on. Sheikh Jassim, or similar, to the rescue. In the meantime they are probably watching what happens to the Man City case before riding in to rescue Man Utd.

That’s another reason why we desperately need the right outcome for Man City, or all bets are off.

In a money no object world, someone will sort it all out for Man Utd for 10 Billion - 5 billion for Glazer shares, 2 billion for Sir Jim, 1 billion for debt, 2 billion for stadium.

I will puke when it happens.

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