Glazer's Plans for Man Utd revealed!

besty

Revealed: Glazer's plan for Manchester United
By Ingrid Mansell and Ashling O’Connor

Manchester United owner Malcolm Glazer

MANCHESTER UNITED ticket prices are to rise by 54 per cent within five years, under plans by Malcolm Glazer, the club’s new owner, to boost club revenues to £246 million by 2010.

Previously unseen documents shown to The Times indicate that the American tycoon is also planning to increase the cost of attending Champions League matches by as much as 25 per cent from next year.

The plans are likely to fuel fears that United ticket prices will move beyond the reach of ordinary fans, and come as the Office of Fair Trading considers intervening in Mr Glazer’s £790 million takeover to protect United followers from what might be soaring prices.

According to the documents, which detail Mr Glazer’s vision for the world’s richest football club, United players will also be expected to play a showcase match each year in Tampa, Mr Glazer’s home town in Florida. The game, which is designed to boost club revenues by £2 million, will be in addition to the United team’s annual tour commitments in the US, Europe or Asia.

The documents also indicate that Mr Glazer is likely to have agreed a deal with the bankers that could make it difficult for United to sign more top stars such as Wayne Rooney, who cost them £27 million. Under the terms of the debt contract, the amount of money United have to spend on transfers has been set at £25 million a year, excluding receipts from player sales, over the next five years, although a further £25 million in total can be spent over that period.

The documents also show that Mr Glazer intends to boost United’s total revenues by 52 per cent to £245.6 million by 2010, up from £161.5 million this year. He expects the rise to be supported by an increase of 61 per cent in matchday turnover, of 13 per cent in media turnover and of 76 per cent in commercial turnover.

United fans will be expected to pay an average of £46 for home games in 2010, just below the current cost of an average Chelsea ticket, the most expensive in the league. The price of an average United ticket, expected to be £29.90 this season, will jump to £33.40 next year, £38.70 in 2007, £41 in 2008 and £43.40 in 2009. Manchester United tickets are currently in the mid range of Premiership Leagueprices.

The average Manchester United fan earns £34,000 per year, against the £48,000 earned by the average Chelsea fan, according to the FSA Premier League National Fan Survey Report.

Fans are likely to be angered further by Mr Glazer’s plans to raise the price of general admission tickets to Champions League quarter and semifinal matches by 25 per cent, and to second round Champions League matches by 12.5 per cent. Executive seating tickets for all European games will be raised by 25 per cent next year, although there will be no price rise for executive boxes.

A source close to the Glazer camp said: “It is important to stress that these plans are fluid and nothing is set in stone at this stage.”

The documents, which were prepared this month, also detail the huge interest repayments that Mr Glazer will have to make on the £275 million of preferred securities that he sold to three New York hedge funds to help to finance his takeover. He will have to make annual payments of 20 per cent, or more than four times the current interest rate, on £210 million of these securities and 14 per cent on the remaining £65 million.

The preferred securities give the hedge funds — Citadel Horizon, Perry Capital and Ochs-Ziff — the right to take 30 per cent of United’s equity in 2010, with proportionate representation on its board.

The money raised through the preferred securities is on top of the £374 million that Mr Glazer has already borrowed from a syndicate of banks led by JP Morgan.

Mr Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, took control of United last month in a swoop on the majority stake owned by the Irish horseracing tycoons John Magnier and J.P. McManus. On May 23, he held 76.2 per cent of the club’s shares.

His offer to buy the remaining stake closes at 3pm on Monday, when the Glazer family will disclose how much of the equity they own.

The board has recommended acceptance of the offer. If the Glazers fail to secure 90 per cent acceptance, the point at which they could forcibly buy out minority shareholders, the takeover have cost £767 million.

If Mr Glazer does secure 100 per cent, the total cost of his takeover will be £831.3 million, including £34 million of banking and legal fees.

There is no mention in the documents of any plans by Mr Glazer to sell Old Trafford and lease back the stadium. Neither does he mention any proposed break-up of the Premier League’s collective-selling arrangements for TV rights.


Source

The Rooster

Whether this story is true or not (there'd certainly have to be an element of doubt given its a Rupert Murdock paper and his previous links with the club) its inevitable that Glazer will raise prices. The question is (and I guess nobody will ever know the answer) will he raise prices by more or by less than what would have happened had it stayed a PLC? - it had already been annoucned prior to Glazer's takeover that prices were going up by 20% for next season.

Interesting that the transfer fund has already gone up from what was speculated intially i.e. from £20m per year to effectively £30m per year over 5 years + whatever transfer money that comes in. Again remember that the PLC had said there would be no money this summer, other than a few quid on a keeper, because the budget had already been blown on Rooney. Unlike the United fans groups, I just can't see Glazer making a balls of this. Unfortunately!

TheMonster

To put ticket prices in perspective

http://www.chelseafc.com/article.asp?article=117793&Title=Tickets&lid=Navigation+-+Tickets&sub=Tickets&nav=&sublid=

Chelsea Ticket Renewal Prices for 2005-06 Season

WEST STAND LOWER
£48

WEST STAND UPPER
n/a

MATTHEW HARDING UPPER
£48

MATTHEW HARDING LOWER
Adult Member £45
Senior Citizens £28
Juvenile Member n/a

SHED END UPPER
Adult Member £48
Senior Citizens £28
Juvenile Member £20


EAST UPPER £48

EAST LOWER FAMILY CENTRE
Adult Member £35
Juvenile Member £15


http://www.manutd.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=43269&itype=1020&bPreview=true
United 2004-2005

MATCH MEMBERS PRICES SEASON 2004/5
STAND ADULT UNDER 16 OVER 65
East/West Lower £21 £10.50 £10.50
North Tier 3 £23 £11.50 £11.50
East/West Tier 2 £25 £12.50 £12.50
North East/West Quadrants £25 £12.50 £12.50
East West Upper £25 £12.50 £12.50
Family Stand £25 £12.50 £12.50
North Tier 2 £27 £13.50 £13.50
South £29 £14.50 £14.50
North Stand Tier 1 £29 £14.50 £14.50



NON-MEMBERS PRICES SEASON 2004/5
STAND ADULT UNDER 16 OVER 65
East/West Lower £26 £13 £13
North Tier 3 £28 £14 £14
East/West Tier 2 £30 £15 £15
North East/West Quadrants £30 £15 £15
East West Upper £30 £15 £15
Family Stand £30
£15 £15
North Tier 2 £32 £16 £16
South £34 £17 £17
North Stand Tier 1 £34 £17 £17


I know the United ones are last seasons but their is a big difference - i think Chelsea went up by 5%

thejollyrodger

in bullet point , what is he going to do ? just raise ticket prices ?? big deal IMO

Draupnir

looks like he is gonna raise everything, but sure united have been one of the cheapest clubs around for ages so its not a huge deal.

im still waiting to see if season ticket prices go up, myself and a friend are strongly considering getting one each and going to about 12-15 home league games a season. anybody have any experience to share on travelling to england with a season ticket? does it work out to be good value?

wheres me jumpa

most of what was said in that post would have happened anyway. united spent so much money on transfers the past few years that the transfer budget would have been restricted anyway. 25 mill a year is a bonus.

as for the showcase match, every tour united part take is a showcase and one more is hardly a disaster.

if chelsea can get that much united will be looking to get that much. why wouldnt they?

how much are the season tickets?

besty

Draupnir wrote:

looks like he is gonna raise everything, but sure united have been one of the cheapest clubs around for ages so its not a huge deal.

im still waiting to see if season ticket prices go up, myself and a friend are strongly considering getting one each and going to about 12-15 home league games a season. anybody have any experience to share on travelling to england with a season ticket? does it work out to be good value?

I would LOVE to do that. If you did day trips id say it wouldnt be excessively pricey. Ryanair would probably do good prices.

Draupnir

yup, the plan we have come up with is to buy a season ticket, get the fixtures list and choose the games we will go to. book flights for all those weekends so they are nice and cheap and then stick a calendar online so our friends are able to request usage of the tickets on weekends we arent going over.

there will always be someone who wants a ticket for a united game if its going so the ticket would always be used.

not sure yet how feasible its going to be, will start checkin prices/availability at lunch time.

PHB

Have you applied for a season ticket yet? If not you probably won't get one, and if you do it'll be in the gods

eirebhoy

wheres me jumpa wrote:

how much are the season tickets?

Sky Sports News just showed a list of all the ticket prices in the PL. All I could remember was:

Spurs £740
West Ham £605
Man Utd £570
Newcastle £568

wheres me jumpa

does a season ticket include champions league games/potential champions league games?

Draupnir

doesnt make any odds, united have no available season tickets according to the bird i had on the phone today.

i shall have to get some of my celebrity connections on the case.

jank

Isnt there a waiting list, like most of the top clubs!

PHB

There is alledegly a\ waiting list of 10000, although the SU dispute that number.
Circa 1800 havn't renewed due to Glazier, but they still had full subscription

The Rooster

I wonder will Shareholders Utd die a quiet death or have they some kind of Big Bang in the offing.

If they really thought (as they said in the media) that MU would lose money because season tickets wouldnt sell, then they seriously lack common sense!

I wonder how the 1800 who didnt renew feel now?

does a season ticket include champions league games/potential champions league games?

Season tickets do not apply for CL matches - just the 19 league games. But you do get first option on buying tickets for cup games.
In subsequent rounds of cup games, I think, most clubs give first option to those who went to previous rounds and second option to season ticket holders who didnt go to previous rounds.

SteM

The Rooster wrote:

I wonder how the 1800 who didnt renew feel now?

Do you really think 1800 people were influenced by what a supporters group said? If they gave their season tickets up they gave them up for their own reasons whether they were because of the takeover or the fact that they knew well in advance that the prices were going up this year and they couldn't afford it anymore.

I'd say they feel like ****e, same way I would if I decided to give up something I loved doing, for what I believed in (whether you feel they're misguided or not is a different story).

Draupnir wrote:

yup, the plan we have come up with is to buy a season ticket, get the fixtures list and choose the games we will go to. book flights for all those weekends so they are nice and cheap and then stick a calendar online so our friends are able to request usage of the tickets on weekends we arent going over.

That would have been a bad idea IMO, Sky can change game times whenever they feel like it seems. So you could potentially have a few flights booked early in the season but nothing to see when you get over there.

If you want to get a few games a season join their membership scheme (One United) and apply for all home games, you'll get a couple of games a season easily.