It has been reported that the owners of Manchester United, the American Glazer family, could sell the club after the true cost of David Moyes's disaterous reign at Old Trafford was revealed.
United did not qualify for the Champions League last season and the result was a fall in income of £38m and a loss of £1.2m.
According to The Times, the figures will leave some members of the family less enamoured of the club. "There has been talk from industry insiders for some time that the Glazer family are split on continuing to own the company," says the paper.
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Since the death of Malcolm Glazer last year, the family have sold a 20 per cent stake in the club and "bankers close to Manchester United say daughter Darcie, backed by brothers Edward and Kevin, are happy to sell altogether", reports the Times. However, "Joel, Avram and Bryan Glazer are said to want to hold an investment that has been a huge success financially for the family and, which until recently, was doing well on the pitch".
Another factor that may dissuade the family from selling is their decision to award a dividend on the shares, which will result in a £15m annual payment to the six Glazer siblings.
"The five sons and one daughter of the late Malcolm Glazer... will be paid $3.9m (£2.5m) each annually as the majority shareholders," says The Guardian. "The decision to pay the dividend, the first since the Glazer family floated the club on the New York stock exchange in 2012, was, the company said, made by the board, on which all six of the Glazer siblings sit."
And any impetus to sell may soon evaporate. There have been "predictions of record income and underlying profits in 2016", adds the Guardian.
News of the dividend has not gone down well with fans, who are angry about the way the Glazers have run the club. "This is rubbing salt into the wound," Manchester United Supporters' Trust vice-chairman Sean Bones told the BBC. "Profits from the club should go back into it.
"They are sitting on an asset worth £2bn, which still has debts of over £400m, yet are now milking it for even more. How greedy can you get?"
