Ed Woodward, executive vice-chairman of Manchester United who take over from David Gill as top executive, had earlier mentioned that no imminent plans existed for a share issue. But in reports that emerged yesterday, the American owners seem to be paving the way for the company to issue about 23 million shares back home in the United States.
The move is aimed at clearing off some of the debt that currently stands at £389.2 million. It is also believed that the Glazers will keep some of the cash for themselves.
Club officials in private off-the-record conversations have admitted that the club is not able to compete with the likes of other big names such as Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich due to a hefty sum that is paid as interest every year, a figure which is around £70 million.
“If the conditions are right the Glazers will look to announce the issue of the shares as soon as February after a powerful showing in the January window.” a source close to the club said.
David Bick, a football finance expert at Square 1 Consulting, added: “The Glazers haven’t made this filing to hang around. While Sir Alex Ferguson worked wonders over the last few seasons, the club urgently need to raise this money to reinforce the club, which many observers believe are in early stages of decline.”
“They can’t compete with the likes of Manchester City and Real Madrid in the transfer market without spending massive amounts of money and they can’t do that until they dramatically bring down the debt. While on the commercial side they are doing brilliantly, the money is being swallowed up by the massive charges.”
United have made their worst ever start to a Premier League season under new manager David Moyes and before yesterday’s 2-1 win over Sunderland, lay in 12th place in the league table. They are now upto ninth after the win last night.
Though the Red Devils are expected to finish much higher than that, concerns abound that the club could finish out of the Champions League places for the first time ever.
This latest effort on the part of the Glazers may just be with a view to making some funds available for manager David Moyes to spend to help reinforce the squad.
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