EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsManchester United are in crisis -- again -- and yet the people with ultimate control of one of the world's most historic soccer clubs are nowhere to be seen.United are a dysfunctional mess, a club with no obvious leader and a manager waiting to be fired, but the Glazer family, owners since 2005, are silent and invisible.Imagine owning the biggest and most glamorous house on a street and renting it to tenants who promise to upgrade and modernize it, only for them to start a fire that threatens to burn it to the ground. Right now, that is the view from the United States, where the Glazers are watching from afar as United plunges into turmoil and maybe even a Premier League relegation battle following almost three years in the hands of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the minority owner to whom the Glazers ceded control of soccer operations in exchange for a �1.5 billion deal for a 28% shareholding in February 2024.The Glazers have never been popular owners among United supporters, having saddled the club with �600 million worth of debt following their leveraged takeover 21 years ago. Many of the problems that have left United in such a perilous position can be attributed to their absentee owners.But having promised to revive United's fortunes on his arrival in February 2024, Ratcliffe has done the opposite, instead taking the club into a tailspin that sees the team just two points off the bottom of the Premier League table.At what point will the Glazers, led by 59-year-old Joel, decide the situation has become so alarming that they intervene and take back control of a club that is likely to be looking for a fourth manager in just two years before the end of the week?"The fans were all singing about the Glazers, but I'm not sure they realize how bad Jim is," a source who watched Sunday's 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth from the directors' box told ESPN. "He couldn't have masterminded a worse situation."He's downgraded in all departments. It's basically the opposite of what he said his strategy is."The Glazers, who also own the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, remain United's majority shareholders with nearly 72% of the club. They also retain full control of any potential sale due to a so-called "drag-along clause" in their agreement with Ratcliffe which, from August 2025, allowed the Glazers to force Britain's richest man to dispense with his stake if they decide to sell United to a third party.Until February 2027, Ratcliffe will be entitled to receive $33 a share -- matching his outlay -- if the Glazers sell, but that minimum share price expires in four months' time, allowing the Glazers to sell for any figure, higher or lower than $33 a share.But sources have told ESPN that there is no market right now for investors looking to buy a Premier League team, especially one with United's problems. Uncertainty over the outcome of Manchester City's appeal against a guilty verdict on 114 of 115 Premier League charges means that any potential buyer is likely to wait for that process to play out. The range of contrasting outcomes to City's appeal -- they could be kicked out of the league or win their appeal and remain free to operate as a financial powerhouse -- makes investment a riskier proposition.Yet at the same time, United are falling far behind their rivals in England and Europe and the value of the Glazers' asset continues to be hit. Rather than being valued close to the $33 a share paid by Ratcliffe, the United stock was worth $20.61 at close of business on the New York Stock Exchange last Friday.One source has told ESPN that the Glazers are waiting for the right time to cash in and sell. The failed European Super League plan in 2021 denied the Glazers an obvious opportunity to sell, but another source has said that there are two other potential sale triggers: the construction of a new stadium at Old Trafford, which would increase United's value, and the prospect of City being kicked out of the Premier League and a powerful rival no longer competing for major honors.However, if that is the Glazer plan, it means the club remains in limbo while they watch Ratcliffe diminish the United name with his repeatedly flawed decision-making.Since the Glazers handed over control to Ratcliffe in 2024, the minority owner has hired and fired senior executives, presided over a succession of failed managerial appointments and slashed transfer and salary budgets, as well as overseeing almost 500 job cuts at Old Trafford.Sources have told ESPN that the handling of the job cuts did not sit well with the Glazers, particularly co-chairmen Joel and Avram, with one source saying that Ratcliffe's implementation of the program jarred with Joel's "sense of decency and old-fashioned values."Many supporters would take issue with that portrayal of Joel due to his failure to communicate, the debt attached to the club by the Glazers and almost �2 billion in interest payments, dividends and financial costs that have gone out of the club since 2005. But Joel's silence and absence -- he hasn't attended a game at Old Trafford since United played Barcelona in April 2019 -- is a contrast to the persona painted by many who have worked with him at the club.Joel was once so hands on in his role as owner and co-chairman that he would, according to multiple ESPN sources, speak to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward "several times a day" about daily business at Old Trafford. One ESPN source said the 59-year-old was so involved in the day-to-day running of the club that he would even have the final sign-off on expenses as trivial as the paint order for the maintenance team at Old Trafford. Joel also vetoed plans to furlough United staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, insisting instead that employees remained on full pay, despite the cost to club.But after being so involved, Joel and Avram Glazer are now watching United burn and leaving Ratcliffe to put out the fire, even though he is showing no sign of being able to do it.
