Manchester United now under complete control of Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer

[Burr]

Glazer gains complete control of Manchester United (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-manunited-glazer&prov=ap&type=lgns)

LONDON (AP) -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer took complete control of Manchester United on Monday by increasing his stake in the world's richest soccer club to more than 75 percent.

Glazer bought more shares to take his ownership level to 75.70 percent by the end of Monday's trading, Glazer's Red Football Ltd. said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

With 75 percent, Glazer can place his personal debt on United's books and take the club off the stock exchange and into private ownership. Manchester United has been listed on the stock exchange since 1991.

The NFL, which usually frowns upon cross-ownership, isn't sure if its rules would prevent Glazer from owning a foreign club. The league's finance committee will discuss it during spring meetings in Washington next week.

Glazer is expected to submit a formal document to shareholders on Wednesday.

Reaction to Glazer's takeover has been mostly negative and defiant. Fans fear Glazer will sell off the club's 67,000-seat Old Trafford stadium and raise prices. They also oppose foreign ownership.

Fans groups are calling for a boycott of Man United sponsors and planning demonstrations at the FA Cup final against Arsenal on Saturday in Cardiff, Wales.

``We won't do anything that endangers safety, but they may have to draft in the army to police the match,'' said Oliver Houston, a vice chairman of Shareholders United.

Here's to exhibition English soccer matches in Raymond James Stadium! :smt038

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20050516/capt.sge.psc15.160505085145.photo00.photo.default-384x282.jpg

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20050516/capt.sge.ptu95.160505133155.photo00.photo.default-384x266.jpg

LOL.

Might be able to get a good kicker for the Bucs from them, too. :p

Also this gem from a Tampa Tribune columnist..

Changes everywhere.

Cut to Man United coach Jon Gruden's first soccer camp.

``Diego Maradona has had some problems. He just made a mistake. But he's a playuh. I stay up nights thinking of ways to get Diego Maradona open.''

:smt043

[Arandar]

I laugh at the NFL thinking they can stop someone from buying a team from a completly different sport, and in another country to boot. The only thing I would care about if I was the NFL is if he was trying to buy another NFL team. I mean the only thing this is going to effect really is how rich the guy is. The Bucs, like every other NFL team, will still have a salary cap so its not like he can just pour money into them now from Manchester.

[gorilla]

I don't think he has any business owning a beloved British soccer franchise. He's the owner of a less than average NFL team in the armpit of the U.S. (no offense, Floridians)...what does he know about European soccer? Not only that, but wouldn't you be pissed if you were a lifelong Red Sox fan, and woke up one day to find that David Beckham was now the owner of the Red Sox? A man completely devoted to a different sport, spent his life on it, and now wants to run a major team with long history in a foreign country? Fuck that.

But there's nothing that can be done. Just another reason for them to hate us. I guess it is only a matter of time before someone buys up the whole of England and makes it a strip mall.

[Arandar]

Actually I believe Florida is known as the wang of the U.S., not the armpit.

[gorilla]

Ah, I always saw the panhandle area inside the Gulf as being rather armpit-ish. I can see wang, though. We have our cock out taking a piss all over South America and the Caribbean.

[AcquiredTarget]

So that explains the cries and screams of despair I heard coming from the easterly direction. It'll be interesting to see if he does actually goes ahead and transfers his debt for the purchase to MU. They're one of the more profitable teams. It'll also be intersting to see which drops faster, the attendence, its stock price, or the sales from the paraphernalia

[Burr]

I don't think he has any business owning a beloved British soccer franchise. He's the owner of a less than average NFL team in the armpit of the U.S. (no offense, Floridians)...

Less than average? We've got a Lombardi Trophy, that's already one more than most of the league. Also the Buccaneers are in the top 10 in team value, play on a field consistently voted tops in the league, and a stadium that always a candidate for hosting the Super Bowl, and also boasts one of the longest waiting lists for season tickets. I'm pretty sure Paul Tagliabue sees the franchise as a lynchpin for his league. But here's where you tell me you are talking about the current on-field performance, and yes that'd be correct. Glazer is also rich for many other reasons. The Buccaneers are a fairly recent endeavor, and look how much he's done in less than a decade of ownership. He's just a shrewd businessman. Waaaaaaaaayyy better than that bigoted piece of shit Culverhouse who let the team languish with the smallest payroll possible so all the revenue went into his pockets.

what does he know about European soccer? Not only that, but wouldn't you be pissed if you were a lifelong Red Sox fan, and woke up one day to find that David Beckham was now the owner of the Red Sox? A man completely devoted to a different sport, spent his life on it, and now wants to run a major team with long history in a foreign country? Fuck that.

I didn't hear any whining out of Chelsea when they were bought out by a Russian multibillionaire (and they sure as hell aren't complaining now that they have won the FA Premiership this year). And no, Russia doesn't know shit about soccer either. The last time they had a decent team was when they were still the U.S.S.R. in 1990. Glazer's son Joel Glazer is also a big soccer fan, so he knows a bit about it. The Lightning were once owned by a mysterious Japanese businessman who very well may have been Yakuza. Nobody cared.

But there's nothing that can be done. Just another reason for them to hate us. I guess it is only a matter of time before someone buys up the whole of England and makes it a strip mall.

It's their fault for putting the team on the open market. If they didn't want this to happen they shouldn't have made its stocks publically available. I can think of far worse fates, like what happened to Leeds United, who totally went bankrupt.

I have no doubt Glazer will succeed in all his aims. For every Man U fan overreacting and tearing up his season tickets, there's another fan waiting to buy his seat for more money. Winning eases all woes..

I think the NFL's main concern is that the debt he incurs doesn't affect the Bucs. All indications are that it shouldn't.

[Arandar]

Hey look at the Mariners as well. They are owned by Nintendo. Or at least majority owned since whenever you see a list of who owns what teams Nintendo is the only one listed for them. Funny how no one remembers that when they claim Nintendo is going broke.

Anyway about the debt thing, in the end they still don't have a whole lot of say in it since the Bucs are a buisness like every team from every sport. I mean echnically couldn't Glazer just shut the Bucs down if he wanted to since he does own them? That is the whole point of owning something, you can do whatever you want with it. Well so long as its within reason and not illegal, I mean you can't just go and set your house on fire when its in the middle of a neighborhood.

[Burr]

I mean echnically couldn't Glazer just shut the Bucs down if he wanted to since he does own them? That is the whole point of owning something, you can do whatever you want with it.

What he owns is a franchise (which isn't THAT different from a McDonald's franchise, which is owned by individual yet still overall run by the corporation). Since the team is worthless without its affiliation to the NFL, the league does have a say in what happens to its teams. For instance, the NHL recently threatened to stop the sale of the Mighty Ducks because they thought what was being paid was too cheap. They didn't want all franchise values going down as a result. This is something that people also don't realize when talking about contracting/moving teams willy nilly. Everything goes through the league in these decisions. If Glazer wants out, he must sell to someone else or let the league buy his team. He cannot simply liquidate it.

[Burr]

Some mixed opinion from other NFL owners on this issue. (http://bucs.tbo.com/bucs/MGB5IIN159E.html)

Rooney, the old-school owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has questions regarding Glazer's future commitment to the Bucs.

``I'm in the football business,'' Rooney said, ``and I believe our principle sport should be the National Football League. The NFL is the greatest league there is ... what are you looking for? Is he [Glazer] going to give full time to operating the Buccaneers? That's the issue.

``He might say, `I'm going to send my son over there,' and it may work. You say am I concerned? Yes.''

In contrast, Jones, the dynamic owner of the Cowboys, praised Glazer's business acumen.

``I'm very impressed,'' he said. ``They are impressive and have been since they've been in the league. They're outstanding owners who do it both on and off the field, in my mind. I give them A-pluses.''

LOL thanks Jerry!

[Burr]

Just thought this was an interesting update..

Ferguson happy with Glazer family ownership (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-ferguson-glazer&prov=ap&type=lgns)

MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- Alex Ferguson is now in favor of Malcolm Glazer's takeover of Manchester United.

Not long ago, the United manager was against it.

"They have supported me 100 percent," Ferguson said Friday of the Glazer family, which took control of the club eight months ago. "I have never had a problem with them at all.

"They have given me the money I wanted for new players, so what should I do? Tell lies?"

Ferguson received strong financial support this month from the Glazer's with the signing of French defender Patrice Evra for $8.8 million and Serbia-Montenegro defender Nemanja Vidic for a reported $12.25 million.

Ferguson's team finished out of Europe playoffs for the first time in a decade, and United is also winless in its three games this year.

He said private ownership is more efficient than when the club traded on the stock exchange.

"It is a much better situation," he said. "We would have to go through all the procedures of board meetings, football club board meetings and informing the Stock Exchange about certain things. We do not have any of that now. It is much quicker and straightforward to get a yes or no answer."

Second-place United trails Chelsea by 13 points in the Premier League.

[ddavenport]

Could exhibition matches at RJS be not far behind?

[AcquiredTarget]

Wonder what the attendance records has been. Perhaps in comparison to tv ratings of the games.