THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH - MCMANUS AND MAGNIER WILL VETO GLAZER'S GRAB FOR UNITED
The Irish billionaires JP McManus and John Magnier, who own a 29 per cent stake in Manchester United, will defend the club if Malcolm Glazer goes hostile in his attempt to buy it for £800m.
The duo would abandon their policy of not intervening in Man Utd's affairs by using their voting power to block any attempt by Glazer to use a shareholders' meeting to remove directors opposed to his takeover of the club.
The change in their stance will hearten opponents of Glazer's takeover. It adds weight to the belief that the Irish pair will not sell their stake to Glazer if, as expected, the Man Utd board ducks out of making a formal recommendation on the bid and asks shareholders to adjudicate on whether to accept his 300p per share offer.
Their refusal to sell out would effectively end any chance Glazer had of succeeding in his takeover ambitions.
An executive with knowledge of the thinking of the Irish pair said: "McManus and Magnier bought into Man Utd with this current board in place. They are not about to see control of their investment ebb away to a single shareholder with a particular agenda."
McManus and Magnier, through their investment vehicle Cubic Expression, have repeatedly said that they remain "long-term investors" in Man Utd but have never said categorically that they won't sell out to Glazer if the price is right.
THE INDIE - BOARD SET TO REJECT GLAZER ONCE AGAIN
Manchester United's board are expected to deliver another snub to Malcolm Glazer next week by rejecting the American's £800 million indicative offer for the club. The tycoon, who owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football club, has told United's board he is willing to pay 300p a share in cash for the company; the closing price on Friday night was 268p.
Having looked closely at the club's books and sorted out a financing package with his lenders, Glazer's merchant bank, NM Rothschild, told United's City advisers, Cazenove, last week that they were in a position to make an offer. United said they needed more time to consider their position, and the board will meet next week to decide whether to recommend the offer.
Their main objection to the US tycoon's proposals is that his bid carried too much borrowing, which could destabilise the club. This position was articulated by Greg Dyke, the former director-general of the BBC and an ex-director of United, who warned that if Glazer took over the club could end up like Leeds United, who went into administration with debts of £100m.
Glazer has tried to quell these fears by changing the structure of his offer, cutting the bank-debt element and using a type of investment called a preference share. However, this is unlikely to convince staunch opponents of the bid, such as United's chief executive, David Gill, who are worried about the wider effects if Glazer were to purchase the club.
United's largest shareholders, Cubic Expression, have said they will not accept a bid unless it is recommended by United's board. Cubic, run by the Irish tycoons J P McManus and John Magnier, own 29 per cent of United shares, while Glazer owns 28 per cent.
THE SCOTSMAN - GLAZER GOES FOR GOLD WITH £150m TRANSFER KITTY
Malcolm Glazer has sweetened his takeover offer for Manchester United by proposing to make up to £150m available for player transfers over the next five years.
Negotiations over the finer points of the possible £800m takeover have been hammered out over the past two weeks in a number of meetings between Glazer’s advisers from Rothschild and the club’s representatives at Cazenove.
Among various sweeteners proposed is a £25m a year budget for players, supported by an extra pot of £25m to supplement larger deals.
The fund is roughly six times more than the American leisure tycoon has previously been expected to make available for the transfer budget - and could begin to sway the club’s supporters. But Glazer is still unlikely to proceed with a deal without a recommendation from the board.
One source close to the deal said: "Nothing’s finalised yet but the proposal at the moment is that there will be £25m a year being made available for transfers and £25m more above that. There are a few more sweeteners in there, but these are the things that are still being hammered out in discussions."
IMUSA
Mark Longden:
"This talk of a £20m sweetener is a total con.
"He is borrowing the money anyway, so it is the supporters who will have to pay that back.
"And as for more of the debt being in his name, once he bought Manchester United, it would be regarded as an asset just like his caravan parks in Florida. If he couldn't pay back the money he owed, the club would be sold off just like everything else."
Jules Spencer:
"We are not prepared to give that man a penny of our money..
"We are therefore asking the club to allow us, in the event of a change of ownership, to withdraw our season tickets with a full refund.
"Whilst we remain confident and determined to see off the threat posed by Malcolm Glazer, if, by some chance, he is successful, it will be after we have already renewed our season tickets."
SHAREHOLDERS UNITED
Sean Bones:
"United fans must wake up and do something before it is too late. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
"He has shown before that he doesn't care at all about the ordinary fans, who after all are the real long-term stakeholders in their football club.
"He risks plunging United into a financial meltdown which would make Leeds look like the equivalent of missing an HP payment on the telly.
"It is nothing more than an opportunistic attempt by Malcolm Glazer to make personal gain from an institution which is loved and respected throughout the world, by someone who has no interest in, or respect for the heritage of the club."
GREG DYKE, NO LESS
"If the proposals contain a very large amount of debt it could endanger the whole future of Manchester United as a football club.
"Rumour has it Glazer is planning to borrow £300m to pay for the assets of the club, I'm not sure Manchester United can afford that.
"If you buy borrow £300m it means you will have to pay £25m a year in interest.
"If Manchester United do not qualify for the Champions League they get no money at all, if they don't qualify for three or four years it is very bad news. The banks want their money.
"A recent example of this is Leeds who borrowed far less than £300m on the basis of future success. They failed to get the success and had to sell virtually all the assets they had."