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Manchester United did the business on the pitch today, comprehensively defeating Newcastle to set up what promises to be, for the neutral, an exciting cup final against Arsenal. But Malcolm Glazer's much heralded revised formal bid for the club is still awaited. It may be imminent, but that has been the case for more than a few days. What seems to be the problem is that Glazer has been trying to set up a meeting with the club's largest shareholders, J P McManus and John Magnier. But they have been playing hard to get. If they come on board, the other large shareholders will as well and fan shareholders will be hard pressed to stop Glazer passing the 75 per cent level necessary to win undisputed control of the club. More details of the proposed offer are now available following a meeting between United's bankers and Glazer last this week. Glazer has promised to provide £22m for new players, but that is hardly a good deal when their acquisition will involve a quid pro quo of nearly £300m in debt. Glazer may think that he can win over United fans as he did those at Tampa Bay Buccaneers who initially opposed his purchase of their club. However, circumstances there were different. Tampa Bay were a failing club and there is much more acceptance in the US of sports clubs being treated as franchises, whereas the conversion of Wimbledon into MK Dons still arouses the ire of most English fans. For all the jokes about the biggest concentration of United fans being in Surrey, there is a substantial hard core of fans in and around Greater Manchester who predate the corporate days. As far as the Irish tycoons are concerned, they would make £70m from a deal with Glazer. But they are hardly short of a few euros and might make a similar sum from a less controversial buyer. Sooner or later battle will commence and the controversy that has been surrounding the club for twenty months will be resolved. Although players say that what happens off the pitch does not affect them, it is difficult to believe that the uncertainty surrounding the club has not had some effect on what is (for United) relatively indifferent form.
Manchester United's directors are under increasing pressure in relation to the forthcoming bid for their club from Malcolm Glazer and his family expected on April 16th. On the one hand, there is the fiduciary duty of directors of a public company to get the best possible price for their shareholders. Leaving aside Shareholders United and the shares of individual fans, they do not have any backing from a big shareholder in the club in resisting the bid. Yet most of the fans will expect them to do so and it is becoming increasingly clear that nothing short of an outright rejection of the bid will stop Glazer in his tracks. It had previously been assumed that the bid needed the board's backing because banks and other financiers would not fund a hostile bid. However, it now appears that the banks would only regard the bid as hostile if it was formally rejected by the United board. The board is expected to confirm its earlier recommendation that the anticipated cash offer of 300p a share is a fair one, but that it cannot recommend the proposal because of the level of debt involved. Although some changes have been made to the original bid, it is still likely to include £300m of debt secured against future commercial revenues. As always, the final decision will effectively rest with the Irish horse racing magnates J.P. McManus and John Magnier. They could make a considerable profit from the deal, but may not wish to incur the wrath of fans.
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