The battle is over, but the resistance begins. As the Theatre of Dreams becomes Sold Trafford, Manchester United's irate fans will rally to defy the American carpetbagger, Malcolm Glazer. The supporters' "we will fight him in the megastore" rhetoric is admirable but insufficent. Glazer is a predator that all of English football must resist. This man will damage our national game.
Sadly, those with most influence will cower behind the sofas at Soho Square and Connaught Square. Those charged with protecting the well-being of English football, the Football Association and Premier League, will hide, shamefully, as an arch-profiteer plunges a sporting institution into debt, raising ticket prices, alienating fans, and ultimately threatening the stability of the Premiership by shredding the collective television rights.
Glazer does not care about Charlton Athletic, Middlesbrough or Tottenham Hotspur; he does not even know them. He just wants to make money, and he has realised that United can divert many of football's rich revenue streams into Old Trafford by negotiating their own television contract.
"The Premier League constitution means we would never want to unravel the TV deal," insisted their chief executive, Richard Scudamore, yesterday. "If Glazer tried, that would create an issue, but there is no evidence of anyone having any inclination to do that."
Scudamore is deemed the most able administrator in the land, yet he cannot see the perils involved with welcoming into the Premiership house the wolf that could devour them all. "The Premier League is a league of clubs of global interest, none more so than Manchester United, and is bound to attract global investment," said Scudamore. Under such a principle, Scudamore would tolerate Robert Mugabe wooing Arsenal.
Glazer's takeover also makes a mockery of the FA's ambitions, under the new chief executive, Brian Barwick, of applying a "fit and proper person's test" to every new owner. No wonder United fans are considering disrupting the FA Cup final and England's tour to the US.
How can Glazer be a "fit and proper" owner when his presence even near Old Trafford would cause those who most love the club to riot? How can Glazer be a "fit and proper" owner when he does not understand that English clubs are about dreams as well as dollars?