Fuck off Glazer

Ok let's get the daily kao beh routine out of the way. Yet another typical example of British inefficiency or fucked-up-ness. When I left my apartment last year, I phoned up London Energy to check out to settle to gas bill, I had received none throughout the year. And they said they did not have my account. No matter how many times I tried they did not have it. The operator promised to phone me back but never did. And so I did not bother. And yesterday when I went back to the apartment to settle stuff with my landlord, guess what? I received a gas bill. What the fuck?!??! What is wrong with them? I phoned up the company and the account was still running!!, more than 3 months after I left. Bloody hell. Luckily the operator said she will send a new bill for the period before I moved out. Hopefully there are no more screw ups, but I doubt so.

And now for the more serious business. Malcolm Glazer is at it again. He is now said to be preparing to takeover Man United entirely and take the company off the stock exchange. Fucking hell. Why can't he just leave the club alone. He is no Roman Abramovich!! (In any case, i also do not think Abramovich is good for Chelsea.) Malcolm Glazer is just buying shares off existing shareholders. No NEW money is being put into Manchester United. Do you think he is interested in making United successful?? Don't be naive!!! His sole purpose is making as much money as possible!!!! While to a certain extent the 2 are correlated, it is not fully so. The prize money in winning the Champions League will never be enough to recoup the huge amounts of transfer fees that United are paying. There will never be anymore 27 million pound purchase of Wayne Rooney, and even anything more than 12 million pounds is a serious doubt. United will always be forced to go for bargains LIKE Eric Djemba Djemba (whether he is a bargain is another debate however...). Even if he sanctions fairly big transfers, is the money going to come from his pocket?? Don't be naive!!!! Its US supporters who are going to pay for it! Through merchandise, through increased ticket prices, through increaed pay tv subscription to watch United, and even car parking on match days!! Already United are doing wonderfully well financially, but why are ticket prices still increasing? Its because of Glazer and Cubic Expression who want to screw supporters even more for their money! Bah I wish some assassin can just shoot them to death. Just when United seems to have turned the corner, they are once again trying to screw things up. FUCK THEM!!!

For more information, read the following:

From Red Issue:

"THE DIRTY WAR STARTS HERE

So, what are you gonna do about it? "Gold Trafford" screamed the Sun that September day back in 1998. The dirty war was under way. News International’s mouthpiece (prop. Rupert Murdoch) ran away with the implication that Sky (prop. Rupert Murdoch) would be good for Manchester United; that Sky would pump millions into Manchester United; and that Sky’s dearest wish would be for the greater glory of Manchester United. At the time IMUSA and SUAM (Shareholders United Against United) begged people to see beyond the guff and realise what b*ll*cks this insane notion was. Many didn’t listen; they’d read it in the Sun after all - it must be true. Many didn’t care. Other listened, but adopted a "wait and see" attitude. Fast forward to April 1999: United are racing towards The Treble (a feat unsurpassed, and achieved without the need of any help or guidance from the likes of Sky or Glazer) and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission had ruled out the possibility of Sky being allowed to takeover Manchester United. Martin Edwards and his cronies were apoplectic, their (further) riches had been denied them, whilst Rupert Murdoch publicly hit out against Blair’s government. With the war over, the bullsh*t was exposed, and by the very people who had fermented it. Just as IMUSA and SUAM had always insisted, the Sun’s promises to spend millions into making United the best team were hopelessly untrue. David Gill (now United’s Chief Exec) was quoted in April 1999: "We were looking to grow our top line from a marketing perspective [through the BskyB bid]. It [the takeover] was never designed to give us millions more to spend on players." Even Martin Edwards himself (now United’s, ugh, President), the high priest overseeing the sacrifice of United’ history on the altar of greed was forced to admit: "There were no figures mentioned as to how much Sky would pump into the club. Obviously no one is going to give you a blank cheque." In other words they had NISH. Exactly as IMUSA and SUAM had claimed all along. And people were prepared to see Manchester United sold down a dark river on that basis. Murdoch himself later admitted that the purchase of United was aimed at a wider BskyB strategy solely designed to secure the next television rights to Premiership football - just as IMUSA and SUAM had suggested. So to today and the threat to Manchester United’s independence from Malcolm Glazer. Amazingly there are those who claim he could be good for our club. Amazingly there are those who think he will invest in our club. Amazingly there are those who are deluded enough to believe that this BUSINESSMAN may have other aims for our club than making as much money from it as possible. Pah! All over Europe there are clubs owned by businessmen looking to make a quick buck who are foundering hopelessly and yet somehow people think that the on-pitch success of the team will be either guaranteed by the arrival of Glazer or a priority for someone like Glazer. Well tell that to the fans of Paris St Germain, owned by Canal Plus for so many years. They’ve not much of a recent track record of success or holding on to star names. Tell that to the fans of Spurs or Rangers, owned in large part by the ENIC group - the key player behind which is Joe Lewis, a multi-BILLIONaire. IMUSA and SUAM were consistently right, and later proved so, in every argument they put forward in the Murdoch War. Their record, and the plight of the likes of PSG, Spurs and Rangers, demands that they are listened to again. Every Red, everywhere should do whatever they can to help ward off the clutches of Glazer on our club the minute the likes of IMUSA, SU (Shareholders United) or the fanzines call for it. It may "only" be closing a bank account with those lining up the finance for Glazer but it all counts, it all makes a difference. You may think "what does it matter", you may think "what difference can we make?". Don’t. That sort of attitude was prevalent amongst many back in September 1998. Amazingly there are those who believe IMUSA and SUAM had no impact on Murdoch’s failure to takeover Manchester United. Such rewriting of history would make Josef Stalin blush. Without IMUSA and SUAM’s pressure there would have been no referral of the bid to the Office of Fair Trading, and from there to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. A lot of little effort makes all the difference. It’s no good you sitting there moaning about what is, or what will be. You’re expected to pay £45 (50p per minute) to watch United play Birmingham. What have you done about it? Accepted the fact. Moaned about it perhaps? Well get used to it, unless you wanna make a difference, just like IMUSA and SUAM did back in 1998. Glazer would have to borrow in the region of £600m to buy United - that means £25m-30m worth of INTEREST payments alone each year. Equal to our entire annual profits. We’re all gonna be paying for this "purchase", both on and off the pitch. This won’t be the same sort of fight as the Murdoch War. This will be played out with different tactics for a different enemy. The principle remains the same though - Manchester United fans acting together can stop Glazer’s advances. The independence and the future of OUR football club should be all that matters. Unless of course you truly believe the destiny of OUR club is that it should be the private plaything of some right wing freak American c*&t who has treated fans and tenants in his own country with utter contempt and who would have no qualms about doing likewise to Manchester United supporters in his lust for ever greater wealth. Manchester United was not built up over the decades by the likes of Ernest Magnall, James Gibson, Walter Crickmer, Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson for this. People have not given their lives for Manchester United to expand the bank account of Malcolm Glazer. Manchester United is ours. Let’s keep it that way. So, what you gonna do about it…….. "Far better to die on your feet than live on your knees" ".

From Duncan Drasdo on the Shareholders United Forum:

"Some thoughts to address the inevitable 'Gold Trafford' debate that the media will spin out and the more gullible supporters will buy into ...

Summary 1. A takeover would not bring in a single penny ot NEW money into the football club. It is a transaction between shareholders – one buying shares off another. 2. Supporters are being asked to lend the money for someone to take over our own club. He intends to borrow against future earnings. OUR EARNINGS. Leeds did this and look where it left them. 3. We already make excess profits but big shareholders like Glazer cream them off in dividends. Imagine how much more would go out if he owned the club himself. 4. If we need a cash injection we could suspend the dividend that Glazer has been only to happy to take. And if we need more money a new issue of shares would bring NEW money into the club and give supporters the chance to get something in return instead of just paying through increased ticket prices The first thing we need to do is address the constant ‘Gold Trafford’ spin which emerges every time a bid is rumoured. No doubt as an initial PR exercise Glazer would put some money up (money borrowed against our club!) for new players to buy off the most gullible fans (are you that gullible?). After that he'd obviously be looking to maximise his return on investment. In the end all United's profits come from one source - us - the supporters. Whether its tickets, TV subscriptions, merchandise it all comes from us. So why have a middle man like Glazer creaming off the profits before the residue goes into the Football Club. The current big shareholders (Glazer, Magnier, McManus) have made no secret of the fact that they want to keep a tight reign on transfers (and have made this clear to the board) while screwing as much out of supporters on ticket prices etc. as they can. We know they have been pushing the board to maximise ticket revenue (i.e. push the prices up just to the point where sales start to fall). We have also been told that the big shareholders also asked for increased dividends and special dividends taking yet more money out of the club. If Glazer or any other investor-shareholder took the club private they would be able to take as much money as they liked (and they do like it) out of the club. Most likely after a splurge on transfers for a season or two to buy off the really gullible fans. Don’t forget that money would be “our” money anyway because it would be borrowed against future earnings of Manchester United. After that they could screw us all and there would be nothing we could do about it. Pay up or go and support city? The only shareholders who were against the increased dividend were the supporter-shareholders like Shareholders United who actually voted against the increased dividend on the basis of keeping the money in the club for spending on players and keeping ticket prices at reasonable levels. Glazer, Magnier etc all voted in favour of an increased dividend. If they are happy to take more money out of the club (and they have never put a penny in) when its public knowledge imagine how much they'd be secretly siphoning out if they took the club private and no longer had to publish public accounts or hold AGMs where people could call them to account? Why do people believe the PR spin that Glazer could bring money into the club? How could a private owner make more money for themselves while also creating a bigger transfer fund? Where would the extra money come from? There is only one source - the same one as it has always been. One way (ticket prices) or another (TV subscriptions, merchandise) the supporters will pay. Do you think the PLC is not screwing as much as they can out of fans already? Is there a margin left to squeeze fans more? Glazer appears to think so. So why add in a middle man who screws the supporters even more and then creams off his profit before the residue goes into transfer funds etc? It makes more sense to cut out the middle man and for supporters to own the club (or a sizeable portion) themselves. That way a professional board could run the club as an efficient business and keep all the profit (if that's what the supporter-shareholders wanted) in the club to spend on players/stadium/reduced ticket prices. A takeover will not put a single penny of NEW money into Manchester United. They are just buying shares off other shareholders. If we do need an injection of cash why don't we could simply suspend the dividend - the millions that Glazer etc have insisted on taking out of the club every season? Excess profits are already being generated its just that the cash is flowing out in dividends. And if we do need more money we could easily raise this without selling the soul of the club. A new issue of shares for supporters would bring NEW money into the club and would give supporters greater ownership in return. That is far better than being screwed with increased ticket prices which simply serve to make someone else richer and give us nothing back in return. For the sake of your club don't be fooled into selling out 126 years of history and tradition. For your own sake don't be fooled into higher ticket prices and siphoning off of United's huge future earnings. Money that should be going into the Football Club, not Glazer's pocket. Stand up for your club and join more than 10,000 United supporters who’ve already signed up to Shareholders United – The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust. www.shareholdersunited.org"