Manchester United co-owner Avram Glazer has claimed the club’s value is not dependent on success on the pitch.
The figurehead of the hugely unpopular Glazer family addressed an audience at Deutsche Bank’s inaugural Sports Investment Conference in London.
The topic of United’s underperformance on the pitch and whether there is a clear link between on-pitch performance and commercial success came up from an audience member and Glazer was robust in response.
According to the Athletic, the United co-chairman is said to have likened the club to major sporting franchises and brands such as the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees, two teams that haven’t won the Super Bowl or the World Series for years. The Cowboys were last victorious in 1996, and the Yankees in 2009.
United, who haven’t won a Premier League title since 2013 when Sir Alex Ferguson departed, have a rich history as one of the biggest teams in the world but have fallen on hard times in recent years on the pitch, leading to major protests against the Glazer ownership.
United are 17th in the Premier League heading into Sunday’s home game against Aston Villa, hovering precariously above the relegation zone. Any relegation, however unlikely, would be financially devastating.
According to the Glazers, Manchester United’s value is not dependent on success on the pitch
It’s no wonder Red Devils fans have lost faith in the Glazer family’s ownership of their club
But Glazer, who was speaking at the event in September but whose remarks have only just come to light, remains bullish that United are shielded from much fluctuation in their commercial revenue due to the scale of the club’s brand around the world.
United’s commercial revenue has continued to rise, even in the lean post-Ferguson years.
In 2012-13, commercial revenue stood at £152m, and by 2017-18 it was £276m. The 2025-26 figure reported was £317m.
While the United brand remains incredibly strong due to its support around the world and the club’s rich history, performance has knocked them down in terms of financial superiority.
Forbes, a go-to list used by the Glazers, ranked United as the third most valuable club in May of this year, behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. A year prior, only Real Madrid were ahead of them.
For context, United were top of the pile as recently as 2018 and owned that spot for a five-year stretch between 2007 and 2012.
Debt is at the centre of United supporters’ frustration with the Glazers, who leveraged money from banks to take over the club in 2005, with the total debt coming in at £689million as recently as June. That’s a steep increase on the previous year of £52m and it shows no sign of going away.
Ineos have been brought in as a minority owner and while Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team dictate football decisions, and have done since February 2024, Avram and Joel Glazer remain at the centre of budgets and other key decisions.
Bruno Fernandes celebrates as United stop the rot with a superb comeback win against Roma
This is why United fans have no faith
Analysis by Nathan Salt
Comments made by Glazer in September at this convention for financiers only reinforce what many supporters believe and that’s that the Glazer family are not interested in sporting success and instead only focus on the balance sheet.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s win over Roma in the Champions League, 2,000 green and gold balloons – the colours synonymous with the fans’ protests against the Glazer ownership – filled the Stretford End and tennis balls were later thrown towards the pitch.
In recent weeks, with results and performances on the slide after a summer transfer window that left Michael Carrick short compared to rivals, fans have started to escalate chants against the Glazers, director of football Jason Wilcox and Ineos, calling for them to ‘sell United and f*** off home’.
A rousing rendition of ‘stand up if you hate Glazers’ also whipped Old Trafford into a frenzy before United’s players pulled an unlikely win out of the hat on the pitch to keep hopes of progressing in the Champions League alive.
The other side of this is that Glazer may well have been trying to be bullish in the face of finance folk and investors given the rather bleak debt picture.
That won’t be how it’s viewed in Manchester, though, and it does little to give fans hope that the majority owner and minority owner are both seemingly taking this club in the wrong direction.
