Manchester United Protests Against Billionaire Owners Reach Fever Pitch

Supporters of Manchester United have been planning protests for weeks against the club's owners, the Glazer family, who also own the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and have been the subject of increasing fan frustration. The 1958, named after the year of a plane crash in Munich that killed nine United players, is one of the key groups leading the campaign to oust the American billionaires. They’re urging supporters to stop buying merchandise and official packages, use anti-Glazer hashtags as frequently as possible and damage the family’s business links. Another group, #emptyoldtrafford, is even encouraging fans to stay outside the stadium during the game, which is being televised to millions across the world.

Concerns are growing over the protests. Manchester United just canceled a pre-match meeting for the players in a hotel because of security worries.

Liverpool's coach, Jurgen Klopp, said in a television interview that Liverpool should be awarded the points to the match if the game is stopped or isn't completed. In May 2021, a game with his team was postponed when protesters stormed the pitch in reaction to the two clubs' support for a European Super League. It was the first time fans had stopped a match in the 30-year history of the Premier League.

Monday’s protests have been given extra impetus by indications the Glazers may be willing to loosen their grip on the team. Bloomberg reported last week that the family, who own 97% of the voting shares in the club, would consider selling a minority stake.

British industrialist Jim Ratcliffe, who’s worth $7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, said that he would be interested in buying the team if it were to go on the block. But the Glazers would only sell if they can attract £5 billion ($5.9 billion), people with knowledge of the matter have said — an amount that exceeds the recent purchase price of Chelsea FC by a consortium of investors led by Clearlake Capital Group, Todd Boehly and Swiss magnate  Hansjoerg Wyss.

Manchester United fans have never fully supported the Glazer’s ownership following the 2005 acquisition, which was largely funded with high-yield debt. Thousands of fans took to wearing the green and yellow colors of Newton Heath, the forerunner of Manchester United, as a sign of protest. While the owners have poured money into player transfers and attracted big name stars over the years — including Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic — the heart of the complaint is that they’ve taken a fortune out of the business to service the buyout.

The club has paid out $1.1 billion in interest payments and debt repayments, while the Glazer family has taken a further $406 million in share sales, consulting fees and dividends, according to estimates by Bloomberg’s Alex Webb. Meanwhile, the team's Old Trafford stadium is in disrepair and its training ground is in need of an upgrade.

Fans of the team, historically England's wealthiest, have been forced into the shadow of rival Manchester City, which is enjoying unprecedented success backed by the enormous wealth of the Abu Dhabi state.

United has won a record 20 league titles but the last of these was in 2013, when legendary manager Alex Ferguson retired. Manchester City has won four out of the last five. Liverpool, owned by Fenway Sports Group Holdings, won the other, and have enjoyed remarkable success in European competition. This season, United have lost its first two games, including a humiliation by Brentford FC, adding to the pressure on Monday’s clash.

That’s also pouring scrutiny on the Glazers, owners of holding company First Allied Corp., which controls shopping malls across the US. The family’s first foray into professional sports came in 1995, when they bought the Tampa Bay Bucs for $192 million. The team won the Super Bowl in 2002, but mostly continued its run of mediocre seasons until the Glazers signed quarterback Tom Brady in 2020 to a two-year, $50 million contract. Brady, 45, led Tampa Bay to the league championship in his first season before losing in the divisional round last year.

Manchester United fans have seen no such turnaround for their team. The Glazers have struggled to find a permanent successor to Ferguson and have hired instead a series of managers — eight in nine years —  who have tinkered with the team's squad without much sign of sustained success. 

“Joel Glazer's got to get on a plane tomorrow, get over to Manchester and he has got to start and divert the issues away from the club and tell everyone what the hell his plan is for the football club,” former player Gary Neville said on Sky Sports. “What is he doing?”

Joel Glazer and Avram Glazer are executive co-chairs and directors at Manchester United, while family members Kevin Glazer, Bryan Glazer, Darcie Glazer Kassewitz and Edward Glazer all sit on the board. Manchester United was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012 and its shares are down about 5% since then. 

One option mentioned by fans is for share ownership, where a significant proportion of the team would be held by supporters. But for many, the favored  solution is a new owner, and preferably a Manchester United supporting billionaire like Ratcliffe.

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