The Glazer family, owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, have owned Manchester United of the Premier League since 2005. Their tenure has been controversial from start to finish.
As it closes in on finishing, there’s a new controversy.
As reported recently by the London Times, via Sports Business Journal, groups bidding for the soccer club have been instructed to stop criticizing the Glazers in public efforts to secure the team.
The Qatar-led group, for example, has promised to return the team to its “former glories.” That has been interpreted as criticism of the Glazers. There also has been an issue with comments aimed at appealing to supporters of the team who have been critical of the Glazer in the past.
The current bids are believed to be in the range of $4.8 billion to $6 billion. The Glazers hope to push that number even higher.
Regardless of the amounts of the bigs or the things said by the bidders, the problem is and has been that the most ardent fans of the team want the Glazers out. Most of those folks never even wanted them in.
And it’s never been a secret or a surprise. That makes the sudden emergence of thin skin on the issue of potential criticism even more confusing. After 18 years, they should be used to it.
