Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family, have decided not to take dividends out of the club during 2023. Dividends have been a highly-contentious facet of their deeply-unpopular ownership over the last 17 years. Red Devils fans have bristled at the Americans taking payments out of a club that they never put any of their own money into in the first place. Their takeover was one leveraged entirely on debt and they have been viewed as profiteering while United have gone to rack and ruin on the football pitch.
It is the latest in a series of uncharacteristic moves from the United board that actually make a lot of sense. There was the dignified handling of Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure. Rather than indulge their publicly-rebellious forward for commercial reasons, they cut him loose for the sake of harmony and footballing merit. Ronaldo was not playing well enough, had called out the club in brutal terms and no amount of shirt sales would paper over those facts. He was let go with the minimum of fuss considering the circumstances.
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The appointment of Erik ten Hag was another manoeuvre handled surprisingly well. There were glitzier candidates for the role of Manchester United manager. A-lister Mauricio Pochettino has been frequently linked with the post, and the successful but destructive Antonio Conte was also considered. But United appointed their man for footballing reasons rather than box office appeal.
The manner in which they backed him was decidedly anti-Glazer too. The summer of 2022 was a world away from the misguided trolley dash of 2020, where disparate parts like veteran Edinson Cavani, unwanted midfielder Donny van de Beek and youthful curio Amad Diallo were supposed to make a cohesive whole. Antony and Lisandro Martinez followed Ten Hag from Ajax. Christian Eriksen was a no-brainer on a free. Even the annual United saga involving Frenkie de Jong reached an arguably superior conclusion, with Casemiro looking like he’s been part of the Old Trafford midfield for years.
There have been smaller shifts too, concessions to a more fan-friendly way of working. Joel Glazer has made himself available for calls with fan groups. Genuine work has gone towards establishing a fan share scheme. Contractors have been sought for planned stadium improvements, something match-going fans have been asking for endlessly for years.
This article so far reads like a Glazers praise piece. But it isn’t one. Rather, it is showing the moves the Glazers have taken towards respectability ahead of their true endgame. There is a reason the controversial owners are getting their house in order, and it isn’t the ignition of a sudden love affair with the fans they’ve callously ignored for nearly two decades. It is because they intend to sell the club.
Fewer dividends being taken out of the club means there is more money on the balance sheet. A healthier balance sheet makes for a more attractive investment. Make no mistake, investment is the goal here. Namely, an investment so lucrative it is enough for the Glazers to sell the club and leave Old Trafford in their rearview mirror, leaking roof and all.
On the same night Ronaldo’s departure was confirmed, United released a statement saying that the Glazers were looking at “strategic alternatives” for the club going forward. It soon became clear that this jargon was essentially an admission that the club is up for sale. Suddenly, the Glazers’ charm offensive made sense.
As long as United are in a state of upheaval, with fans protesting and money being syphoned off by the ownership, they are not an attractive investment. While the anti-Glazer feeling hasn’t dissipated, it has not exploded either. There have been no repeats of the training ground invasions or further games postponed for fans storming the pitch after a break-in. United fans have every right to be angry, but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel has seen them holster their weapons for the time being.
Don’t expect this ceasefire to last. While the Glazers are finally doing a lot of things they really should have been doing all along, it’s too little too late. Those who have suffered through their reign can see the on-pitch decline and the financial opportunism that caused it. The only reason the Glazers are forgoing dividends now is because they know they’ll make a lot more money down the line when the club is sold. For United fans, like much of the last 17 years, what happens now is a waiting game.
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