Glazer set to tread carefully

Malcolm Glazer will cancel Manchester United’s Stock Exchange listing next month – but it may be a few weeks yet before the American makes an impact at Old Trafford.

Glazer splashed out another £7m (€10.2m) today to take his stake in the Red Devils to 75.70%, crashing through the crucial 75% barrier which allows him to take the club back into private hands.

Although the Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner is still some way short of the 90% mark would force a compulsory purchase of the remaining shares, he has effectively secured complete control two days before his Offer Document is due to be distributed.

The speed with which the 76-year-old tycoon has moved has staggered most observers, yet, despite borrowing £540m (€785.3m) to complete the deal and pushing forward a business plan United chief executive David Gill has consistently described as “aggressive”, it appears he is not in such a rush to start making changes.

While it has already been established that son Joel will take charge of the Glazer family interest in United, for now they are happy to allow Gill to carry on his normal day-to-day duties, including confirmation that Ryan Giggs and Tim Howard have secured two-year extensions to their current contracts.

Mindful of the widespread opposition to their involvement among United supporters, the Glazers have decided to adopt a ‘softly-softly’ approach according to one source and will wait for the dust to settle on the deal before turning their presence into a visual one.

Aside from the vast share purchase, it already appears as though one of their major aims will be realised with Sir Alex Ferguson set to stay on as manager.

The Glazers feel the continued presence of Ferguson and Gill will bring a sense of continuity despite the change of ownership, as well as easing the fears of less militant Red Devils supporters.

It will also give him a chance to assess the best way of implementing his plans for trebling the profits of what has long been viewed as the business model for any successful football operation.

Doubts persist over whether Glazer will achieve the 90% stake which would avoid a requirement to hold potentially troublesome annual meetings, although he may yet get hold of the 2% stake currently held through Shareholders United.

Vociferous opponents of Glazer’s involvement, SU have still to decide the best way to continue their campaign.

Debate is raging over whether they should keep hold of their shares and try to stop Glazer reaching the 90% mark, or accept Glazer’s cash, deposit the money in high-interest accounts and continue their protests from the outside.

The call has already gone out for a blanket boycott of all United merchandise and sponsors’ products, and for fans not to renew season tickets and cancel subscriptions to the club’s in-house television channel MUTV.

Ironically, the effectiveness of SU’s campaigning may have helped Glazer achieve his aim so quickly.

The efforts to launch an investment trust in conjunction with Japanese bank Nomura succeeded only in backing John Magnier and JP McManus into a corner once it was decided they had no interest in owning United outright.

If SU had achieved their ultimate aim of purchasing a blocking stake, the Irish racing duo would have had nowhere to offload their investment, so when Glazer came in with his 300p per share, cash up front offer on Wednesday night, they needed little convincing to accept.

Not that the major fans’ groups will have too much sympathy with Magnier and McManus, who they claim have "betrayed" the club after netting a substantial profit, believed to be around €140m.

While anticipated public opposition to Glazer failed to materialise in any significant sense at Southampton yesterday, more concerted attempts are underway to launch a major protest at Saturday’s FA Cup final.

Fans have been asked to wear black – ironically the colour shirt Sir Alex Ferguson’s side will wear – for what was described as ’the funeral of Manchester United’ by one official from the Independent Manchester United Supporters’ Association.

A public meeting has also been called on Thursday evening at the Central Methodist Church in Manchester city centre where further action strategies are due to be discussed.