It is appropriate that the Glazer brothers should choose tonight to watch their first competitive match as owners of Manchester United. Much of their short-term business plan depends on United making the Champions League and with £265 million of debt hemming them in, there is no safety net should they fail what ought to be a straight-forward assignment.
The Glazers do not require United to progress significantly further in the Champions League than in the past - the old plc budgeted for the club to be knocked out in the last 16. However, they desperately need them to qualify for a competition that would guarantee revenue of £15 million.
There will be other benefits to the Glazers' appearance at Old Trafford, not least the fact that it will increase the official attendance by three. With anti-Glazer groups urging a boycott, fewer than 40,000 tickets had been sold by last night and, unusually for a Champions League fixture, they will be on open sale on the day of the game. By comparison, last year's Champions League qualifier with Rapid Bucharest drew more than 61,000 to Old Trafford while the 5-0 defeat of another Hungarian side, Zalaegerszeg, who had shocked United with a 1-0 victory in