Man Utd owners and the inside story of 18 long years of hurt

ASKED where the Glazers went wrong, the Manchester United insider said one word: “Communication.

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The reviled American owners of the world’s biggest football club and a trophy-winning pedigree stretching from Sir Alex Ferguson to Sir Matt Busby and players like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best, did not do PR.

Malcolm Glazer, head of the family, never saw the need for it and consequently was regarded as an aggressive, ruthless business tycoon. That omerta was passed on to his six children.

When I came to research my new book, The World’s Biggest Cash Machine — Manchester United, the Glazers, and the battle for football’s soul — I made overtures to secure an interview with Joel Glazer, the sibling who took the keenest interest in United. I was under no illusion. In their near two decades of ownership, the Glazers had not spent any time with the media, not let the cameras, microphones and writers brandishing notebooks into their domain.

They’d come close Journalists recounted being on the verge of obtaining a sit-down session with Joel and, or his brothers Avie and Bryan (the others who are closest to United), only to be refused. One writer had journeyed to Joel’s home and office in the US, to try to “doorstep” him, only to find no trace, he wasn’t there — it was as if they were forewarned and had skedaddled.