glazer, abramovich, ... - what English think about selling their clubs to foreigners

[polaco]

Well people,
what is your opinion? I'm really interested - I wouldn't be happy if I were you.

[oleoleole]

Polaco,
I’m a Manchester United fan so this is a subject close to my heart.
I think the Chelsea and United situations are actually somewhat different. Abramovich is fantastically rich and can easily afford to fund excessive spending at Chelsea, it’s just a hobby for him. It’s made Chelsea unpopular as people perceive their richness has brought an arrogance to the club. Because of his endless pockets Abramovich is very popular at Chelsea, he’s in it for the pleasure it gives him and not to make any personal financial gain (like he needs a few quid ?), he’s perceived as a good guy, a Chelsea ‘fan’.
Glazer on the other hand is the bad guy, a money man and not a United ‘fan’. Whilst being extremely rich he just isn’t in the same financial league as Abramovich. He has had to raise money from the banks to purchase United and it’s uncertain exactly how he can repay them. Also it seems his methods of financing the purchase have included passing his personal debt onto the club (which he can apparently legally do as ‘owner’). Thus United have gone from a cash rich prosperous club to a club in hundreds of millions of pounds of debt. There is currently much debate here in Manchester over this issue because maybe it’s just financial juggling and so long as the money keeps rolling in everything will be fine. If he can repay the debt and still finance spending money for players, then the club will be OK, but what if he doesn’t ? Glaser is in it for personal financial gain, the United fans don’t like the idea that he is using ‘their’ club as a huge chip in a roulette game.
However, this is the insular view from both camps, some non-United fans think it’s funny what Glaser is doing because it may wreck Man United, but I think it’s more likely that it’ll work against other teams even worse. If Glaser gets into trouble he’ll come out fighting, the first thing he’ll want is to keep ALL the money generated by United. So, for example, smaller clubs with less power (money) will be pressured to take a smaller cut of the TV and gate money. This will further open the gap between rich and poor and that will show on the pitch with only the richest clubs competing for trophies and the others feeding off the scraps of maybe getting a European place – it’s already happening !
Personally I, and many United fans (and I think most genuine football fans) prefer the Barcelona and Real Madrid way of running a club where the fans actually own and run it for themselves.
Ole