Has Glazer derailed the gravy train?

[Yellow Rider 0]

So, whilst I have little sympathy for United, it is a great shame that one of our  sporting institutions is now owned lock stock and barrel by a Yank who knows nothing whatsoever about British football or United in particular. Problem is of course that (as others have said) United have been obsessed with money for years and set in motion this particular course of events. By being a PLC on the stockmarket you are always ''permanently for sale'' in effect - that is the nature of the stockmarket.

NCFC fans would do well to stop rubbing their hands at United''s misfortune and seriously consider the implications for us. We don''t know how this will all pan out of course but if any of you listened to Five Live last night, Norwich''s name was mentioned more than once. Why?

The TV money is all that keeps us going at our present rate of expenditure, that + the AXA securitisation loan of approx. £15M. Our long term debt is something like £18M. Get that into your heads for once - £18 MILLION 

Yes we will make a reasonable profit this season but how much (if any) of that will be earmarked for loan repayment? At the end of the day, the loan is secured against future years season ticket sales (I believe that about 9000 season tickets per year is needed to service the debt but I''m speculating here). An £18 M debt means that that money CANNOT be used for players, cannot be used for youth development, cannot be used for ground development etc.   

OK, OK you''re saying, stop being pessimistic, whats that got to do with Glazer? Well, if United make their own TV deals and breakaway from the Premier League agreement where does that leave the likes of Norwich? Will Sky pay United more and keep paying us the same?? Er NO!!

Read what BBC Business Editor Jeff Randall says about this.He believes that the Glazer takeover could have implications for ALL football clubs. ''Clearly the TV rights is a way of doing this (servicing the debt Glazer has now dumped on Old Trafford). But if United get more out of the TV rights, then others are going to get less because I don''t think Sky will pay more to everybody. If Man United get more I suspect the likes of Norwich and WBA will get less''.  

WE HAVE BEEN WARNED - FOOTBALL IS GOING TO HELL IN A HAND CART AND I REPEAT MY WARNING OF A FEW DAYS AGO. WE NEED TO GET OFF THIS GRAVY TRAIN WHY WE STILL CAN WHILST OTHERS ARE DESPERATELY CLINGING ON FOR DEAR LIFE.

That does NOT mean stopping buying players or paying reasonable wages. BUT it DOES mean stopping and reversing this inexorable rise in expenditure. At the moment I see no signs whatsoever that we are willing to engage in this process. Ah yes I hear you all say, ''with good old Delia nothing could possibly go wrong like that with us''. Yeah right!