Premier League - United 'immune' to crunch

Eurosport - Thu, 09 Oct 15:06:00 2008

Manchester United's American owners insist the club will not be affected by the credit crunch.

2008-2009 Manchester United celebrate Darren Fletcher's goal against Newcastle - 0

The financial meltdown currently affecting the global economy has already begun to infiltrate the football world, with clubs feeling the pinch after years of over-spending.

Billionaire chiefs such as Chelsea's Roman Abramovich and Manchester City's Abu Dhabi United Group can handle the cash catastrophe, but there were fears that United may struggle.

The club remains £660million in debt following the Glazers' 2005 takeover, but continue to generate enormous revenue around the world.

A refinancing package in 2006 has helped the club to manage their debt and a spokesman for the Glazer family has played down concerns regarding the club's financial health.

"The credit crunch is not having a negative bearing on United," they said.

"We continue to benefit from the sell-out of Old Trafford and the growth in commercial operations.

"We refinanced back in 2006 and that structure provides long-term stability. The debt continues to be comfortably serviced by the club's strong growth in cash flow."

United's shirt sponsors, AIG, have been hit by the credit crunch in the States, with their future remaining unclear.

However, United insist the £14m-a-year deal with the American Insurance Group represents only a small percentage of their revenue stream.

The club remain confident that they could strike a lucrative deal elsewhere should the AIG contract fall through, while they have recently struck a commercial deal with Saudi Telecom and extended their link with Budweiser.

Sporting Life / Eurosport

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  1. Kim my love, what exactly are you basing your­ 'think of the Million or so residents of MANCHESTER­ itself where very few of them actually support UTD'­ statistics on?
    Or is it merely a case of, 88.725% of­ statistics are made up on the spot?
    This is in contrast­ to the statistic that 100% of women should stay out of­ football and concentrate on cooking and pleasing their­ man.
    So before you come out with any more drivel, put­ the kettle on, then sit back and let the boys talk some­ sense, because you've clearly lost the plot.

    From Matt H, on Thu 9 Oct 5:36PM
  2. united immune- yeah right

    From Suzy, on Thu 9 Oct 4:55PM
  3. Er excuse me the previous postee clearly said­ "300,000,000 million" I didn't mistype­ what they said, I cut and pasted it.

    So that is Three­ THOUSAND,THOUSAND,THOUSAND, Million people quoted,­ which i may add is considerably more than 6.5billion­ (which is only 6.5 Thousand, Million people)

    and they­ can't all be demented Utd Supporters, i for one­ can't stand the @#$%, and think of the Million or­ so residents of MANCHESTER itself where very few of­ them actually support UTD

    From kim.whittaker, on Thu 9 Oct 4:43PM
  4. its only 300 million hun, there are 6.5 billion people­ in the world

    From jamie r, on Thu 9 Oct 4:32PM
  5. they have over 300,000,000 million ???

    there ain't­ that many people in the entire world morons !!

    Anyway­ just because somebody buys Man utd memorabilia it­ don't mean to say they are a true fan. Like other­ clubs (who have followed them) Utd are using the rest­ of the world for sheer marketing puposes to ensure sale­ of goods, They were the first EPL club to pick up on­ it, But let's remember one thing here. before Sky­ TV came along and showed UTd every other week. the best­ supported club in the entire world (when it came to fan­ club membership) was actually Glasgow Rangers, closely­ followed by the mighty Celtic, then by Real Madrid,­ Barcelona, Both Milan Clubs and Juventus.

    So it's­ only in recent years through non stop media propoganda­ (plus a little success too) that Utd have become the­ perceived best supported club in the world.

    before­ that, indeed they may have been the best known, English­ club, throughout the World, but that was due to­ "Bobbieeeeeeeeee Charlton" and George Best,­ and let's be fair any success they had after 1968­ and before the Premiership was formed was pretty­ minimal for a club their size.

    From kim.whittaker, on Thu 9 Oct 4:18PM
  6. I don't give a f*ck about MU - Part 2 (original­ mix)

    From dorinb, on Thu 9 Oct 4:13PM
  7. I don't give a f*ck about MU

    From dorinb, on Thu 9 Oct 4:00PM
  8. DAY D YOU ARE A @#$%

    From stspeed, on Thu 9 Oct 3:06PM
  9. i agree with what andreichitu22 said :)

    From Bobby Orange, on Thu 9 Oct 3:04PM
  10. Peter K - to be honest, I don't think football can­ shelter itself from the current global financial­ issues. I hope it hits the game hard. It's high­ time that the game got back to the pre-Sky days where­ players would play for buttons to be out on the pitch­ wearing the badge. Get rid of the agents, cap player­ salaries to something that reflects reality, and make­ sure that clubs can operate on their own finances.

    From JellyKnob, on Thu 9 Oct 2:44PM
  11. Day D! What a f*****g looser, a frustrated looser. Get­ the f**k out of here

    From Andrei, on Thu 9 Oct 2:41PM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

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    ALL THE HIGHLIGHTS OF PREMIER­ LEAGUE MATCHES

    From go to www.premiership.altervista.org, on Thu 9 Oct 2:34PM
  13. DAY D------

    okay so because AIG pay United 14 million­ a year in sponsorship it means they own the club? I­ don't think so. Therefore please explain how you­ seem to think that 'figuretively' the US­ government own the Club?
    Thanks

    From russel, on Thu 9 Oct 2:30PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Hey - 'gafyn_richard_adams78' -

    U­ dumbass......... dont even know about yr own team!!­ AUDI has cut their deal with united effective since the­ beginning of the season. They said they didnt want to­ be associated with ManUre anymore. Try and keep abreast­ with what is going on with yr team, or u'll end up­ sounding like u do right now - like a dumbass!! And­ sorry to disappoint u 'Saudi telecom' is not -­ 'new breed of telecommunications­ transportation'!! And as for AIG 80% if them are­ owned by the US government, how do u feel about the US­ government owning yr football team (figuretively)!!­ Think before u open than ManUre mouth of yours.

    From Day, on Thu 9 Oct 2:17PM
  15. jellyknob you missing the point the costs in­ premiership all down to ONE owner which put his Dodgy­ wealth into our club!!! and transfers and players wages­ gone to 100,000,000 mills + a year thanks Mr Abramovich­ you made us but are destroying smaller clubs at this­ rate there will be NO 1st or 2nd division they be­ bankrupted trying to survive as next upcoming recession­ will prove look at future not now. (chelsea fan)

    From PETER K, on Thu 9 Oct 2:07PM
  16. Always thought AIG was not "United" enough to­ be their sponsors... Audi and Air Asia are other­ associated sponsors and I'd much rather wear a­ Manchester United shirt with Audi as the sponsor... ­ Even then if Budweiser came in, you'd have the ban­ on sponsorship on kids shirts like Everton and­ Liverpool have faced with Chang and Carlsberg­ respectively... Saudi Telecom would be an interesting­ sponsor to have too with a new breed of­ telecommunications transportation and networking being­ implemented on a world wide scale. I hope AIG do­ collapse just for that reason lol.

    From PolyphobiaCymru, on Thu 9 Oct 2:01PM
  17. The Glazers are just a parasite on the club. When they­ 'bought' it, it was the world's richest­ club with over £500m in the bank - all earnt as a­ bi-product of on-the-pitch success (unlike chelsea) -­ yet it was bought with borrowed money, raised on the­ back of his franchises in the US. The sneaky leprechaun­ then transferred all his personla debt onto the club,­ plunging it into £700m debt, with annual interest­ repayments of over £30m. The moral of the story is to­ keep things in private hands, and 'when it aint­ bust, don't fix it'.

    From JellyKnob, on Thu 9 Oct 1:55PM
  18. man-utd have no worries their financies can be wrote­ off by selling 4 players and the new saudi adver's­ for their shirt ads and if glaziers did decide to sell­ the BIGGEST global advert in football they would get­ treble what any other club would get which makes them­ 110/% solvent, value ? 1/2 billion minimum what say you­ they have over 300,000,000 million fan base and still­ counting Sad to say unbiased (chelsea fan)

    From PETER K, on Thu 9 Oct 1:55PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    who care? We care about L/Pool & Arsenal

    From 'Tunde, on Thu 9 Oct 1:55PM
  20. gimini jilakers

    From flinto, on Thu 9 Oct 1:05PM
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