RE: Wayne Rooney - Now Not Leaving Man Utd
There's been an interesting rumour flying around over the past day or two. All that money Gill keeps insisting is in the budget for Fergie to spend each season, yet he's never actually broken into in any major way since signing Berbatov? He's been keeping it back, knowing the current side was good for another two or three seasons, and intending to rebuild virtually from scratch at the end of this season anyway, when Giggs, Scholes, Van der Sar and Neville will retire en masse, along with a trimming of some dead/dying wood in other positions (Carrick, Hargreaves and Owen for example) and that is what convinced Rooney to stay, as much as the money. I've got no doubt whatsoever that he enjoys the money, but whatever else you say about Rooney, the lad really wants to win. It's a major part of what made him the player he is.
Now, I'm perfectly willing to accept that it could be a pipe dream from some United fans who aren't willing to accept that the club isn't the transfer market force it once was, but (if you'll forgive the slightly OT rambling) it does makes sense for the Glazers to invest heavily into an ailing team*. That massive debt won't get serviced in quick order by dropping out of regular CL qualification and the resultant huge drop in income. A £150 million investment is cleared within three seasons of CL quarter final or better placements, the natural turnover of the club covers the overheads and loan repayments and if all doesn't go quite as smoothly as hoped, the club is actually worth more than the amount the debt currently stands at, meaning it can be sold at market value (currently in the £950 million-£1.2 billion range) in a heartbeat, meaning the Glazers would still walk away with a healthy profit. The losses the club is generating right now are the kind of numbers that terrify a fan earning less than £20,000/annum, but to people used to dealing in FTSE 100/Fortune 500 terms, it's no different from a mortgage repayment on a house in a non-depreciative area. Technically you make a loss every year on the repayments, but the as the equity builds up on the balance of debt remaining-vs-market value, you have a sound long term investment. Is the club leveraged? Yes. Is that debt unmanageable? No. The whole reason the Glazers were attracted to United in the first place, was the fact that the club has been self sustaining for a significant period of time. Once the mortgage is paid off, the Glazers can pour money into a "galactico" style signing or two each close season and still rake the money in with both hands.
* I apologise to fans of sides outside the so-called Big Four (or Big Five, if you want to remove Liverpool from the group, but add Spurs and City) for referring to my side, currently sitting third in the league, topping our CL group and into the quarter finals of the League Cup "ailing". I love the success we've had since 1990, but I started supporting United in the early 80's, when we were a mid-table cup team rated less likely to win the league than any one of Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Villa and Forest, as well as outside bets like Sheff Wed, Man City or Ipswich. I'm well aware that the term "ailing" is completely relative and that I'm speaking from a position of 20 years of privilege and success. I certainly don't take the success for granted.
"You say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. I say that I tailor my jokes to the audience..."
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