The American has spent around £250m on 28.14 per cent of the club and appears determined to carry out his plan to assume control of at least 75 per cent of the shareholding.Crucially, however, it is understood that John Magnier and J P McManus, whose Cubic Expression company owns 28.89 per cent of United, have not been contacted by the Glazer camp over selling their stake. The Irish multimillionaires, whose stake would be central to any takeover, last broke off talks with Glazer on 14 October.United's position on Glazer has not changed since last month when they said that they would not speak to the American until he came up with a formal bid for the club. The United chief executive, David Gill, has refused him access to the company's accounts and favours reinstating the former commercial director, Andy Anson, who was one of three board members voted out by Glazer at the club's AGM in November.Rothschild has fought all week to keep its name out of the press in order to prevent the inevitable backlash from militant United fans' groups, which previously targeted JP Morgan. Glazer's bid to take over United famously stalled on 25 October when the United board took the decision to reject his plans for a takeover, which involved the American borrowing £500m against the value of the debt-free Old Trafford club in order to raise finance.Although Glazer has struggled to find a backer since November, the move to hire Rothschild- the firm was contacted by the American's representatives at the end of last month - reveals that the threat to United has still not lifted.
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Except United's board saw things differently, rejecting the notion of any highly leveraged bid. And Magnier and McManus were alienated because they were not prepared to deal with someone who was not prepared to offer them non-conditional cash payment for their stake.Glazer's early offers to the Irish tycoons were all conditional on him acquiring a certain - threshold - share of United His motivation was full control, and thus money It still is.. His bid failed and, inspired by his sons Joel and Avi, who both like football, he was encouraged to look globally. Hence to United, the world's most valuable sports club.Glazer started buying shares, amassing a three per cent stake by September 2003, when he was forced under Stock Market rules to declare his holding. The detail of his proposed takeover have always revolved around money: spending as little of his own as possible while making as much as he can.That was the logic behind his initial (failed) plan to borrow up to £500m to pay for a takeover estimated at up to £800m.
He saw no sense in spending his own cash if lenders would take the risk and he could saddle United with debt to fund his ambitions. His plan was up and running, fuelled by a belief that United's largest shareholders, John Magnier and JP McManus, were intent on either making their own bid (they were not) or else selling up because of Magnier's feud with Sir Alex Ferguson over the racehorse Rock Of Gibraltar (they did not).By February last year, Glazer was heading towards a bid position, having then acquired 17 per cent of United, which grew to 28.11 per cent by October. And Glazer wants a part of it.The genesis of Glazer's interest in United gives clues to his motivation, and the starting point was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' victory in the 2003 Super Bowl.By the early 1990s, Glazer had amassed a fortune in various businesses from watches to fish oil, to trailer parks to property. The ticket and stadium plans, and even a sale-leaseback scheme for Old Trafford, have all featured in drafts of Glazer's blueprint for United.Under a Glazer regime, the dismantling of the Premier League's collective TV rights selling agreement would be his dream. He bought the Bucs in 1995 for around £120m, transformed them into champions and trebled their value. Hiked prices and extensive commercial expansion were key.Having performed the trick once, he broadened his horizons to one of the world's major sports franchises - the LA Dodgers baseball team. Fans everywhere, including many in Manchester, would view it as a nightmare.The inevitable consequence of clubs selling their own matches to TV would be an even greater wealth divide between the handful of big clubs and the rest.
