Did you hear the story about the Scotsman, the two Irishman, the horse and the £900 million in bank interest charges? If so, you are probably a Manchester United fan and are already familiar with the row involving Sir Alex Ferguson over the ownership of Rock of Gibraltar which changed the course of the club's history.
Watching this from Florida was Malcolm Glazer - a relatively small shareholder in the club, who, sensing the unhappiness of the Irish racing owners, bought into Manchester United including the shares of McManus and Magnier.This allowed Glazer to take control of United, but as he did not have the money himself to fund the share acquisition, he used the club itself to borrow and pay the existing shareholders. These borrowings came initially at very high interest rates.
To make matters worse, the signings have been on credit - with Manchester United paying instalments over periods up to five years.in the summer 2023 window as it already owed £276 million to other clubs for outstanding instalments in bringing the likes of