Malcolm Glazer’s hostile takeover of Man Utd was the real financial tragedy, it should never have been allowed

The football world is attempting to get their house in order following Manchester City’s financial charges. The governance is welcome – but for Manchester United it is already too late.

The Premier League is ablaze with debate amid reports City will be found guilty of nearly all the financial charges levied against them. The charges are tied to irregularities breaching the Premier League’s rules on spending.

City’s issue is one end of the spectrum. But the biggest financial heist in top-flight football this century concerns Manchester United and the Glazer takeover.

Glazers’ hostile takeover and actions followed warnings

Malcolm Glazer’s takeover of Manchester United took place in 2004. At the time, Manchester United’s board had warned against his debt-leveraged buyout.

The Guardian explained at the time: “United directors are concerned that if the American businessman takes control, he will have to spend most or all of the club’s profits paying interest on the £400million loan he needs for his planned £800m takeover.”

The concerns have proven to be spot on. Even this past week in September 2026, Manchester United reported record revenue – yet despite this, the club still made a loss.

The Glazers‘ takeover involved placing £500 million of debt onto United, and in the two decades since, the club has spent more than £1 billion on debt interest alone.

This is money the club’s operating profits have earned, and should have been spent on improving the club’s facilities, the team, and anything else but debt the club did not need.

So despite the concerns of the board, how did the takeover go ahead?

Unfortunately the Glazers convinced several existing shareholders to sell, including large stakeholders JP McManus and John Magnier. Their sale crossed the threshold to turn the buyout into a mandatory purchase.

The only hope to block the takeover rested with the FA.

The FA tests were not ‘fit and proper’ themselves

The FA introduced the Fit and Proper Persons Test to review outside investment into football clubs, but it was toothless when it came to the Glazers’ takeover.

The test focused on whether there were any financial crimes committed by prospective owners, or separate convictions. None of these were applicable to Malcolm Glazer, and the takeover was waved through.

The test did not evaluate the issue of loading hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of debt onto a club, to consider how seriously damaging this could be. The fan protests were ignored despite the clear opposition.

The decision set a dangerous precedent for English football. Liverpool were almost driven into administration by a similarly agreed debt-leveraged buyout from American businessmen Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

In 2023, rules were finally amended, with the Premier League stating following their AGM: “As part of the League’s ongoing review of the Owners’ and Directors’ Test, clubs unanimously agreed to amend the test to prohibit fully-leveraged buyouts.”

This was 19 years too late for Manchester United. It was plainly wrong in 2004 and should have been treated accordingly. The Glazer takeover should never have happened, and the 2023 ruling was a slap in the face for United fans, failed by football authorities two decades earlier.

Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images

Two decades plus of greed and incompetence

The past 22 years at Manchester United have seen the club go from the most admired and respected team in English football to a fallen giant. While the club still command huge attention worldwide, there has been minimal success.

Sir Alex Ferguson kept the team propped up until his retirement in 2013. United have not won the league since (unless you count one of City’s soon-to-be-stripped titles).

Manchester United’s current debt is now more than £700 million. The figure has grown larger instead of being reduced. United should be the biggest financial success story in the world based on the earning revenue – instead the figures are scary to comprehend.

United owe more than £200 million to clubs in unpaid transfer fees, choosing to spread payments across multiple years.

The club also spent £150 million paying dividends to directors, including the Glazers, before this practice was stopped in 2022 following fan pressure. Considering the club’s ongoing debt, the money should never have been paid out in the first place.

The Glazers have never put a single penny into United, all they have done is take money out, and spend the club’s earnings.

United have been able to compete in the transfer market, but it has largely been overshadowed by the incompetence of the men running the club behind the scenes. The Glazers appointed two commercially focused chief executives, Ed Woodward and Richard Arnold. A series of poor footballing decisions followed.

Ineos’ takeover in 2024 has shown some improvement in transfer decision-making, but they have had to make hard decisions. The club operated a large staff redundancy programme to try and stop the Glazer bloat and streamline operating costs, while rising ticket prices continue to put pressure on match-going fans.

The Glazers remain in the background at United, lingering like a bad smell that won’t go away.

While fans are keen to see City’s titles erased, the real moment in history that needs turning back is the Glazer takeover. That is the heist the football authorities should never have allowed to happen.