Rooney deal worked because United is't under a plc
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MARTIN SAMUEL: Rooney deal worked because Glazers gave Fergie his quick fix
TLC, not plc: Fergie knows only private owners could nod through Rooney's new £200k-a-week contract
It took one telephone call to one guy and the deed was done. Nobody defends the debt the Glazer family have attached to Manchester United, but the speed of the Wayne Rooney deal showed once again what can be achieved when a club are in private ownership.
Rooney's contract saga could not have concluded as swiftly as it did in some golden age when Manchester United were run as a plc. And, whisper it, but a disparate consortium of wealthy fans like the Red Nits couldn't have got their act together in that time, either. The saving grace of the Glazer administration is that it allows for no-fuss decision-making in times of crisis. The steer comes from Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, is relayed by David Gill, the chief executive, and a voice in Tampa, Florida, says yea or nay.
There is no board to be convened, no shareholders to be taken into consideration, no collective of 10 or 60 global investors who must be counselled in a process that could take weeks. It is now believed Rooney talked to a member of the Glazer family personally to receive his guarantees of ambition, and that could not have happened under a plc, either.
When United were publicly owned, the board were responsible to shareholders and the chairman could not even speak for his fellow directors without a meeting being held. And what if investors controlling a quarter of the club did not think £200,000-a-week, with bonuses, such a good idea? There could have been arguments behind the scenes, disruptions, delays that took an age to resolve, and all the time with Manchester City waiting and the January transfer window looming.
As the Red Knights could not get the money together to buy the club in the first place, it seems fair to presume annual contracts measured in the tens of millions might not be waved through like a handful of luncheon vouchers from petty cash, either.
And if what Rooney required was a guarantee of investment and love from the man at the top, the whims of individuals within a consortium would only dilute the message. There will always be one man who wants to sell, one who wants to buy; one who wants to forgive and forget, one who bears a grudge. Remember how Liverpool ended up under Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and there were only two of them.
Ferguson is no fool. There must be a reason why he defends the current owners, despite the undoubted damage to the financial health of the club. Could it be because he has known the other side, too, and it was certainly not the vision of utopia conjured up by today's revisionists?
Say Manchester United had still been a plc when Paul Stretford, Rooney's agent, notified the club that his client would not be signing a new contract. When any circumstances occur that may have impact on the longterm economic future of the company, the Stock Exchange must be informed.
Rooney is an employee, yes, but a significant one. The breakdown of his contract talks would have been treated the same way as the serious injury to Roy Keane, sustained in the infamous tackle with Alf Inge Haaland of Leeds United. That match took place on September 27, 1997 and on September 30, the club suspected Keane would not play again that season. There was an important fixture against Juventus in the Champions League on October 1, and the club were in a position to inform the Stock Exchange about the extent of Keane's injury on October 2.
This was the proper plc response to a player with a temporary fitness problem, so imagine how correct the club would have needed to be in dealing with Rooney's rejection. Ferguson says he was informed of it on August 14, which was a Saturday, so the announcement would have had to wait until Monday, August 16, the date of Manchester United's first match of the season, against Newcastle United. That would have been a happy occasion.
The fall-out from that statement would almost certainly have sparked a downturn in the price of Manchester United shares, causing ripples of panic among major investors, the very people who would later in the week be asked to approve a contract worth £200,000 a week.
This is why Ferguson is in the Glazers' camp. Like any sane person he must be concerned at the level of debt, but he will also recall the alternative, and wrinkle his nose at the memory just the same.
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haha? ya, that justifies the 45mil interest payments a year. clutching at straws, really