WHEN Manchester United decided to break new ground and expand Old Trafford's horizons, they targeted the Far East.

Peter Kenyon was shrewd enough to realise the burgeoning markets in China, Malaysia and South Korea were ripe for plucking.

Deprived of top-class live action but addicted to English football on television, Kenyon saw an opportunity for United to lead the way in the Orient.

Less than a decade later, the Far East has turned its attention to Old Trafford. The monster United helped create is anxious for its own slice of the action.

It was only a matter of time before China decided to flex its financial muscles in the Premier League.

Carson Yeung at Birmingham may have a toe-hold but the plan to buy United dwarfs any other deal seen in the history of the game.

Why would a group of Far East billionaires engineer a takeover masterminded out of Beijing?

Because they realise it is United who are now ripe for plucking.

Nobody at the heart of the game is convinced by Sir Alex Ferguson's claims that he has money burning a hole in his pocket where transfers are concerned.

Because while his team continues to win trophies, United's money men monitor the bank balance on an hourly basis.

Hocked to the tune of £699m and with annual interest bills in excess of £60m a year, times are tough at Old Trafford - thanks to the Glazers burdening the world's biggest football club with the biggest debt in the game's history.

United supporters have never been comfortable with their American owners, watching helplessly as a family business turned into a ticking financial timebomb.

There are fewer season ticket holders at Old Trafford this season, with only 55,000 taking up a renewal option after an agreement with the Office of Fair Trading.

There has also been a reduction in the number of hospitality packages being sold, partially a result of the economic downturn and a consequence of the general apathy at Old Trafford.

The Glazers are negotiating with several hedge funds in the United States, a rescue package for part of the club's enormous debt. It centres on a figure believed to be in the region of £175m, with interest rates locked at a whopping 14.25 per cent.

Few financial institutions are willing to help, shying away from a family famous for living under the dark clouds of debt.

There will be another refinancing attempt in January, another opportunity for the Glazers to put forward a powerful argument of intent to various financial institutions.

Emotions are running high in the family as they juggle their finances, with Joel Glazer recently releasing a statement defending their position with American football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

They are also fending off speculation as to the reasons behind the sale of Malcolm Glazer's home in Palm Beach last week.

Glazer bought the property, built on a 12,000 sq ft plot, for $14m in 2000 and sold the mansion for $24m.

A tidy profit, yet there are persistent questions about the family's finances.

There has been little significant financial investment in the United team recently, although Sir Alex Ferguson insists he is simply not prepared to pay sky-high prices.

Success

The £80m transfer fee for Cristiano Ronaldo - paid up front and in full by Real Madrid - has been tied up since the summer.

Every little helps the Glazer family, able to meet their complicated payment schedule with something to spare provided the team continues its success.

Many believe it is already time for change and yet it will take a monstrous amount of money to acquire Manchester United. The total bill would easily be more than a billion pounds, with the Glazers demanding a substantial return on their investment.

Since they acquired the club lock, stock and barrel in June 2005, the club have won three Premier League titles and the Champions League.

Arguably, this is the most successful period in United's history and yet few of the Old Trafford staff see it that way. More than 700 employees sift through the doors each day, many of them low on morale and fed up with operating under severe financial constraints.

While United continue to pay top dollar on players' salaries, the rank and file live in fear of the next set of cutbacks.

The clubs is about to offer Wayne Rooney a lucrative new contract, a deal that will make the England striker the highest-paid player in the Premier League.

Off the field there have been cutbacks, with redundancies strenuously denied by the club to this newspaper and then subsequently announced. At Carrington, a perk of the job - free porridge and toast in the canteen - has been taken away from any member of staff who are deemed "non-essential".

There was a time when a job at Manchester United meant a job for life. Not any more.

Three more senior executives have quit the club in recent weeks, leaving Old Trafford to "further their careers".

Gemma Allison, head of non-matchday sales, Sharon Burns, head of marketing, and Jereen Attoh, head of client relations, have all resigned.

They will all be missed at United, hard-working members of staff who were once part of a big happy family at Old Trafford.

Crucial

It is different now, with a "them and us" culture breeding resentment between the staff at Old Trafford and the sponsorship wing of the empire based in London's swanky Pall Mall.

There was a time when United seduced potential sponsors by granting them an audience with Ferguson, showing them around the training facilities in exchange for a lucrative long-term deal.

Now overseas clients fly into London, brokering deals in the capital instead of a trip to the Carrington training ground.

The London office is an expensive operation for the Glazer family and yet they insist it is crucial to the success of the club.

It's been a delicate balancing act for the Glazers, monitoring the money and counting medals since 2005.

Now the family have to make sacrifices; financial decisions to safeguard the future of the world's biggest football club.

And after five turbulent years at Old Trafford, it could even lead to its sale.

scource - news of the world

A CONSORTIUM of Far East businessmen have put together a £1 BILLION deal to buy Manchester United.

The group of six billionaires have spent three months on a deal they hope is too good for Malcolm Glazer to reject.

Two consortium members are keen United fans who have twice visited Old Trafford this year to watch Sir Alex Ferguson and his players in Premier League action.

Based in Bangkok, the consortium wants to buy out the Glazer family and put an end to the financial balancing act which has engulfed the world's biggest football club.

A financial source in Bangkok said: "All the finances are in place and they are ready to approach the Glazers.

"They have done their homework down to the minutest detail and realise the Glazers are under pressure to service their mounting debts.

"If ever there was a time for United to be vulnerable to a buyout, it is now."

Our source added: "Make no mistake, this could be the biggest football deal of all time.

"Roman Abramovich's investment in Chelsea will be nothing compared to this. If the Glazers are ready to sell, the money is absolutely on the table."

The consortium would also be willing to take a part-share in United if the Glazers did not want to relinquish total control.
scourse - news of the world

this match is crap watching first half and nothing worth noting has happened not a hope of title contention from arsenal even

Darren Fletcher was robbed of his place in the European Cup final after the referee in the semi-final wrongly judged him to have fouled Cesc Fabregas in the penalty area.

Barcelona’s midfield ripped us to shreds and we will always be left to wonder what would have happened if Fletcher had been playing. The fact that Michael Carrick was playing with a broken toe only adds to the shambles that was our midfield that evening.

Fletch has revealed in United We Stand that after the Arsenal game he had to console his distraught family with promises of reaching another Champions League final.


“I try not to dwell on it and it has made me more determined to get there again,” said Fletcher. “When I got sent-off against Arsenal, I had my little sisters and mum crying on the phone. They were not at the game but I called them straight after. I saw the missed calls on my phone. Mum and dad and my three little sisters – they were distraught. They are 10, 16 and a year younger than me. I had to put a brave face on it and promised that I would drag the lads to another Champions League final. I said, ‘what’s meant to be will be’, and then I decided to concentrate on winning the league with United. I had to take it on the chin and not let it affect me.”


http://therepublikofmancunia.com/fletch-...-cl-final/

• The first player to score at Old Trafford.
  
• The first player sent off in a Manchester Derby game.
  
• The only scorer in 1909 FA Cup Final.
  
• An early rebel fighting for, what today has become, the PFA.
  
• Even now, 100 years later, he is still our club's 19th highest scorer of all time.