UNITED NEEDS YOU
The confirmation of the MUFC Singapore IPO is a major victory for the Green & Gold campaign.
The Glazers issued a bond prospectus in January 2010 and in so doing triggered the Green & Gold uprising. Green & Gold was a global phenomenon fought in the areas of media and politics as well as on the terraces. It was an uprising like nothing seen before at OT or perhaps anywhere in English football.
The bonds actually created more expensive debt and more of it than the club's previous bank financing, however crucially they allowed the Glazers to take up to £95m in a cash "carve out" from MUFC's coffers with much more to come over subsequent years. There was no other good reason to swap the bond debt for the previous cheaper bank debt.
So while the bonds were more expensive the Glazers desperately needed the money - their PIK debt was rolling up at an alarming rate and threatening to get out of control and there was no other spare cash in the empire.
Such was impact of Green & Gold throughout 2010 however, that the Glazers feared an outright rebellion and had to withdraw their plans to take the carve out money.
At meetings on 8th October 2010 between Uniteds' Chief of Staff, Ed Woodward and the various PIK holders when questions as to why they hadn't taken the carve out to pay down part of the PIK debt Woodward confirmed that they weren't taking it for fear of fan rebellion. This was confirmed by two sources including one of the actual PIK holders who was present at one of the meetings - this was reported by Bloomberg at the time.
http://bit.ly/glazersfearbacklash
So the PIK problem remained for the Glazers but the Green & Gold had saved United at least £95m. A huge victory for the football club by any measure but of course the danger remained that they would just wait for the protest to die down before taking the money.
As it became clear the Glazers had decided not to raid the club's coffers, Green & Gold protest dropped from its spectacular peak, but it refused to go away and was actually stronger at the end of 2010-11 season than it had been at the start. Clearly it continued to simmer under the surface and so the Glazers had to look at Plan B.
First they needed to get the PIKs out of the spotlight as these had been a catalyst for protest.
The PIKs were suddenly and without explanation "paid up" in November 2010 at a cost of £249m.
One option was of course to sell outright, but despite well publicised interest from Qatar and other sources, no-one was prepared to pay the outlandish price they were putting on the club.
That left only one realistic option - they'd need to sell part of their holding in the club to deal with their debt problems and so Plan B came into play with the Singapore float.
But their debt is still on our club. This is the same debt that David Gill continuously told us was not a problem and not affecting our ability to compete.
So from a position last year where the club could have lost more than £95m with much more to follow and the Glazers still in 100% control we now see the possibility of them conceding total control - opening the club up to financial scrutiny and indeed perhaps to shared ownership with supporters and paying down at least part of the bond debt.
Provided the valuation is sensible the IPO is a major opportunity to raise funds so it should be used first to clear the debt the Glazers put on our club before they help themselves to the proceeds. They've already cost our club hundreds of millions in interest and fees so the least they can do is pay their own debt. It is debt foisted on the club by them and they should be responsible for repaying it. It is crucial to recognise that the IPO is a watershed moment at which point the debt position is set in stone with no chance of the Glazers repaying a penny of it in future.
All remaining debt after IPO will become the club's responsibility forever more. Effectively at that point they will have taken that money from Manchester United meaning our club (and fans) will have to pay their debt off. So it is the duty of every fan to stand up to protect our club from further un-necessary fees and interest payments. What true fan of the club wouldn't want to see the Glazers pay for their own debt rather than foisting it on the club. What could we do with that money in the transfer market or stadium development?