The end of Manchester United?

To put it quite simply, I see Malcolm Glazer's take-over of United as end of United, as we know it. Melodramatic? I don't think so. Never mind the who, what's & whys of everything that has brought us to this position, the focus has to now be on what happens from today onwards. Glazer has managed to transform United, who returned a £12 million profit in the last 6 monthly figures, to a club that is now some £900 million in debt (see the Files page for a detailed layout of his finances). In a very short space of time he has taken us from a debt free profit making company to one absolutely crippled with debt. Now has managed to acquire OUR club, he now has to repay this money. How is he going to do it? How is he going to begin to repay this staggering amount of (not his) money? That is the £900,000,000 Question. There are many, and they are experts in this kind of thing, who think he cannot. That his figures just don't add up. This debt will be so large; he will have to devote all of Uniteds finances into servicing it. So, how did he get the banks to lend him the money? Why did they lend this creature such a staggering amount of money, on the off-chance he might be able to pay it back. No-one has seen his Business Plan, but surely it has to make sense? Well, yes and no. Yes, it has to be reasonably sensible, but look at Leeds United. Look at how much they got lent, and then look at their subsequent collapse. And if the worst does happen, the banks then get hold of United, lock, stock and barrel. When you consider that the new Wembley is costing some £1.2 billion, £900 mill for United and their stadium doesn’t seem to bad. Throw in the training facilities at Carrington, all of the retail outlets and merchandising, and you probably have the loan covered, and that is before the team and its value is considered.
Of course, before the banks move in and collect their pound of flesh, things would have to get pretty bad first. It will all start pretty simply enough, Glazer will do his best to increase revenue streams to cover the repayments. Ticket prices will be increased, therefore pricing the ordinary fan even further out of the game. The money available for transfers will be affected by his efforts to secure the money needed to repay the loans, as will player’s wages. If no players are willing to sign for United because they can earn more at other clubs, or we cannot afford to buy any because we have no funds available for transfers, then the performances on the field will suffer - older players retiring will not be replaced with players of a similar quality and the current stars will not be willing to stay if their wage demands are not met and the team are not capable of challenging for trophies. So, they will leave, and again, not be replaced by players of a similar quality. United would only need to finish out of the top 4 once for the slide to start. One season without Champions League money and that, I believe, will be the beginning of the decline. Once that starts, Glazer will be unable to repay the loans. The Champions League brings in some £25 mill a season. With that gone, there is no way that Glazer would be able to meet the repayments. It may even get as far as relegation, as a team going into administration is automatically docked 10 points. So, we could even see United playing in the Championship. Once he defaults on the loans, then the banks & hedge funds that he is currently using to bankroll him will then have control of United. Once that happens, there is nothing to stop them selling off the ground, the training facilities at Carrington, the whole lot, therefore destroying one of the greatest football clubs in Europe.