Manchester United and David Moyes: The inside story

The Glazers takeover, amidst widespread resistance by the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST), proved to be a win-win situation for both Ferguson and the new owners. While the Scot was allowed to keep his job, the Glazers were often publicly endorsed as ‘great owners’ by the United boss. It has been evident that the American owners have rarely interfered with Ferguson’s decisions, giving him full authority over transfers, youth policies, scouting, backroom staff, training facilities, etc. Hence, it is only logical that the new Director of Football at the club had nothing to complain about the Glazers even though the debt kept spiralling upwards.

“The Glazer ownership is a particularly difficult issue for supporters; they can appreciate Sir Alex’s position as an employee and wanting to get on with his job, but many feel he goes too far in his praise and the most recent comments shocked even some of his staunchest, most loyal supporters.” – Duncan Drasdo, CEO of MUST, in response to Ferguson’s remarks back in 2012.

But Ferguson’s backing of the owners was not entirely misplaced. Manchester United have been placed at number 2 in the wealthiest football teams list by American magazine Forbes with a valuation of US$3.165bn, only behind Real Madrid. Arsenal are the only other English team in the top five with a net valuation of US$1.326bn.

That said, while the growth of MUFC as a global sports brand has been utilized effectively to refinance a significant percentage of the debts, the truth remains that close to $800mn were lost in doing so, which won’t ever come back to the club.

Forbes Rich List

As opposed to the popular myth of Sir Alex being provided with a bank to break for transfers, a recent study by The Telegraph showed that Manchester United have spent a net amount of £11.4mn on transfers in the last decade. According to the survey, recently relegated West Ham as well as Bolton and Wolves have spent more during the same period.

David Moyes, having already worked with a tight budget at Everton, has all the experience to find optimal results with minimum funds. The fact that Moyes never stood up to Kenwright’s rather suspicious running of the club is incentive enough for the United owners to appoint him; he would not publicly chastise the owners for lack of funds nor would he quit on the biggest job in the football world for the same. Moyes has been appointed as manager for being the safest choice, not the best.