Andy Mithson: 曼联目前的财务状况非常糟糕,俱乐部负债累累,这与格雷泽家族的杠杆收购有关。格雷泽家族的收购方式给曼联带来了巨大的债务负担,这是不可接受的。格雷泽家族的经营方式对曼联造成了严重的财务损害,最终可能导致俱乐部破产。即使有了INEOS的注资,情况仍然很严峻。曼联的债务总额已达10亿英镑,这反映了俱乐部的财务困境。曼联不需要格雷泽家族的收购,俱乐部自身就具备强大的实力。曼联球迷对即将到来的票价上涨表示担忧,认为这并不能解决俱乐部的财务问题。曼联球迷组织认为,提高票价对俱乐部的财务状况影响微乎其微,反而会损害球迷的积极性。曼联需要削减成本并增加收入,但票价上涨并不能解决根本问题。提高票价让普通球迷承担俱乐部的财务问题是不公平的。曼联的财务困境是自身成功和外部竞争环境共同作用的结果。拉特克利夫似乎理解不应提高票价以至于让普通球迷无法承担。曼联的票价上涨会损害球迷的利益,并可能导致球迷流失。曼联需要谨慎对待票价上涨问题,避免损害球迷的积极性。目前,人们普遍认为花钱购买的服务质量却下降了。
Ian Irving: 拉特克利夫是一位精明的商人,他不会仅仅因为球迷的意见就改变自己的决策。格雷泽家族的经营模式类似于房地产投资,他们依靠租金收入获利,而对曼联的投资则缺乏长远规划。拉特克利夫是一位精明的商人,他会做出对自身有利的决策,即使这些决策不受欢迎。拉特克利夫的举动可能损害其自身声誉。拉特克利夫在意公众的看法,持续的反对声音会对他产生影响。持续的抗议和反对才能迫使拉特克利夫改变策略。许多球迷更倾向于INEOS而非卡塔尔对曼联的收购。拉特克利夫虽然需要做出艰难的决定,但他仍然希望曼联能够成功。新球场的建设将成为拉特克利夫的遗产之一。将曼联目前的困境更多归咎于格雷泽家族而非INEOS。对滕哈格的批评存在后见之明,当初球迷对他的支持率很高。曼联的困境可能还会持续一段时间。
Karl Anker: 瓦拉内在皇马比在曼联拥有更大的自由度。球队风格的选择取决于球员的质量和能力。许多欧洲足球俱乐部为了应对球员质量的差异,正在采用更结构化的战术体系。
Charlotte Harpur: 瓦拉内退役后在科莫俱乐部担任董事会成员,负责青年发展和球迷互动等工作。
supporting_evidences
Andy Mithson: 'And I shudder at that because it should never, ever have been allowed to happen. It is just disgraceful and we've been saying it for 20 years and the fans protested for a reason 20 years ago and nothing has changed.'
Andy Mithson: 'The analogy I've used was Manchester United was swimming along just fine. But if you put one brick on top and two bricks on top and put eight or 10 bricks on the back of Manchester United, at some point that swim is going to sink completely. We're seeing that because it is an inefficient way, in fairness to the Glazers, and I don't have a lot of time for them at all. They did nothing illegal then. They were actually pretty smart, cunning, call it that, to do what they did. But it's payback time because the fundamentals are pretty simple. Manchester United were geared up to be playing Champions League football and they're not. And there's a massive deficit, and that's where you see all of these cutbacks.'
Andy Mithson: 'And without the INEOS cash injection of 80 million, Manchester United would be down to 15 million in cash. Manchester United are basically going bust.'
Andy Mithson: 'If that's not bad enough, the finances also confirmed that the club are a billion in debt if you include the debt that they owe the money owed to other clubs in transfer fees I mean it's gloomy the picture we we have been very frank about that on recent podcasts but to see it confirmed by the club makes it feel even worse doesn't it really the Glazers have made one billion off Manchester United since their ownership while the club goes into one billion in debt'
Andy Mithson: 'I know there was a conversation about this or this or this, but Manchester United on their own back with such a huge fan base did not need the Glazers to buy them.'
Andy Mithson: 'It's been a disaster, 20 years of just the club going from the tippity-top footballing summit to a billion in debt. It's financial malpractice if you're not a member of the Glazer family, but also if you are or you're one of their accountants, this is good business, isn't it?'
Andy Mithson: 'It's created a moment for most of the Manchester United Supporters Trust that we spoke about a second ago to point out the potential ticket price increases that are coming and to ask the question of how much of a difference it's actually going to make when the numbers are so big for the debt. They say price increases would make a trivial difference to the financial picture of United.'
Andy Mithson: 'They describe it as futile and counterproductive, citing the harming of fan sentiment and also the worsening mood at the club at the moment as well.'
Andy Mithson: 'Manchester United need to cut costs and increase revenue. I think that's pretty clear, whether you like Ratcliffe, Ineos, whatever, or not. But Musk's point is absolutely right. These figures, which would be realised from a small increase in ticket prices, are pretty small compared to some of the payoffs given to individual staff members.'
Andy Mithson: 'Why should a working class person in the Stretford end be paying for the malpractice of others? It doesn't seem fair.'
Andy Mithson: 'It isn't fair. And yet I get it that life's not fair sometimes. I get it that this is extreme capitalism that allowed the Glazers to do this because they could never have taken over Barcelona or Madrid, for example. It's not allowed. They're member-owned. You're not allowed to do it. Manchester United had no such protection. So United become victims from their own success, coupled with the fact that coming up against state-owned clubs, clubs with Russian oligarchs like Chelsea, and it just sped the decline up of Manchester United.'
Andy Mithson: 'I really felt when I spoke to Jim Ratcliffe that he listened to me when I pushed him on ticket prices. He did understand that you cannot price out working class football fans. I don't think he was being polite when I said this to him. Equally, I expect ticket prices to go up. I don't think it's been decided yet. I know there's been talks.'
Andy Mithson: 'The minute that people are priced out of going, and some people have already been priced out of going. FC United exists because people were priced out under the glazes. My brother played for FC. I went to watch FC away games. I met people who couldn't afford to carry on going to Manchester United games. They exist. Manchester's a working class city, which was another point I put to Jim Ratcliffe.'
Andy Mithson: 'Well, I think the point about harming fan sentiment and worsening the mood as well at the moment is crucial, isn't it? You need the fans. You do. You need the fans. Also, how does this get better if a price increase would harm harm fan sentiment even more than the results and that the picture at the club already has do they need to be careful about exactly what decision they take with this yeah because of that very reason they do they do and they should'
Andy Mithson: 'However this is 2025 and quite frankly if you listen to the senior night kingdom the running trend for the last however many months is you are now paying more money for a qualitatively worse service and that can be your public transport that can be So many things in this country.'
Ian Irving: 'However, Sir Jim Radcliffe doesn't stay a billionaire by listening to people like you. That's the gross, nasty, hyper-capitalist facts of the matter. He's made an investment. He's made a deal. And you said on this podcast multiple times, he did the deal that he could. And maybe now he's looked all around and gone, oh, maybe this deal isn't good enough. I need to start doing things.'
Ian Irving: 'The Glazers historically made their money by financial real estate and rent of real estate. So they buy shopping malls in America and they just sit and just wait for the rental prices to increase, increase, increase, and just live off that revenue, which is what they've done to Manchester United.'
Ian Irving: 'If a billionaire comes up and tells you we're going to make some hard decisions, that very often means your wallet's going to take a hit, not theirs. And this is why when we ask questions like, who's going to pay for the stadium? The longer you don't get an answer, the answer is it's going to be you, eventually.'
Ian Irving: 'If his legacy is going to be the man who made Manchester United even worse... I don't know what he gets out of that. I don't know what he gets out of putting the 300 million. What's he getting? He's getting nothing but bad press at the moment.'
Ian Irving: 'He cares about public perception. So therefore, if you are a ticket holder and you're not annoyed about this, it is up to you to start being annoying, disruptive.'
Ian Irving: 'So this is why you have to be annoying over a long, long, long, long, long, long period of time. And this is why the we want Glazers out chance and the various things directed at the Glazers from the Stratford end have been very, very good.'
Ian Irving: 'I preferred INEOS to Qatar and a form of state ownership. I think a lot of people in my world, were of a similar opinion.'
Ian Irving: 'I do think he wants Manchester United to be successful. Of course, yes. No question about that.'
Ian Irving: 'Because if he does deliver a stadium, regardless of who eventually pays for it, there will be a section of people in the football world that go, so Jim Radcliffe, the man who either refurbished Old Trafford or built New Trafford and that will be his legacy and then we can all argue round and round and round and round and round about who paid for it in the same way that we argue about the Millennium Dome in the same way we argue about the Olympic Village'
Ian Irving: 'I would put more of this onto the Glazers than I would than I would onto Ineos and Ratcliffe who at least they're putting their own money in'
Ian Irving: 'I remember the polls around the time when the decision was being made and Eric Ten Hag enjoyed very, very favourable rates of support. You might say, well, do not listen to fans. Don't listen to fans because they're charged by emotion. You're the ones who should be making the more difficult decisions.'
Ian Irving: 'I think it could get worse before it gets better. I'm not saying Jim Ratcliffe is a panacea to Man United's problems, because I think we're actually going to have even more problems. I think the criticism against him is only going to increase.'
Karl Anker: 'Yeah, the prescriptive nature of playing on the Eric Ten Hag compared to the freedom on Don Carlo Ancelotti. And Zidane as well, to be fair.'
Karl Anker: 'I think it comes down to player quality. I want to find a kinder word than player intelligence, but we're going to go for player intelligence as well. There has to be a balance.'
Karl Anker: 'this is why so many football clubs in Europe now are getting more straightforward structured routines because the structure protects you for when when you don't have a football player like Kylian Mbappe you can go and go off and score a hat-trick when you don't have a centre-back as good as a young Rafael Varane who can sweep up 30 to 40 yards and make a huge tackle at the end when you don't have a goalkeeper who's as good as Courtois or even David De Gea in 2018 you do need to structure in there eventually and I suppose it's all about finding the balance'
Charlotte Harpur: 'So the role is on the board of Como. It takes an educational aspect. So he's, you know, really interested in youth development, passing on his experience to that. Set up some summer camps this year and also then on kind of more innovation, fan engagement, because he does have a business mind. So yeah. incorporating those two aspects of his life but it's a massive change like imagine going from professional football he's only 31 and you know I was asking about this what what are you happy about and he said it's something new it's a challenge but of course you miss that adrenaline and that rush that that's irreplaceable'
Raphael Varane's unexpected retirement from football at 31 and his new role on the board of Como are discussed. The conversation touches on his experience at Manchester United and the contrast with his time at Real Madrid, highlighting his fondness for the Manchester United fans.
Varane's retirement at age 31
New role on the board of Como, focusing on youth development and fan engagement
Fondness for Manchester United fans but critical of some aspects of the club
Our normal schedule resumes and we're back on some familiar subject matter, but not before another big interview courtesy of the team at The Athletic; this time, Charlotte Harpur sat down with Raphael Varane and while he spoke in a measured manner he was fairly candid about his time at the club.
Manchester United's accounts were published on Wednesday and, even for those versed in the club's financial problems, some alarming figures emerged. Debt repayments resulting from the Glazer family's leveraged takeover have now passed £1b.
On the pitch, it's the last ever trip to Goodison Park this week. After a long sustained period of success there, fortunes changed somewhat; a solid recent record might be threatened by a Blues side resurgent under the doubly familiar figure of David Moyes.