DIVIDEDThe Glazer family defend their debt strategy and say they respect United's great heritage but so far they have failed to convince fans' groups who are digging in for a long war against the new regime at Old Trafford
On Thursday, May 12, 2005, an American tycoon picked up the telephone to conclude a business deal - and the world's most famous sporting institution was plunged into civil war.
There have been some unpopular team owners in professional sport but, with his ruthless acquisition of Manchester United, Malcolm Glazer has become the daddy of them all.
His effigy has been hung outside Old Trafford; the fans' favourite song these days is a ditty that goes, 'How we kill him I don't know, cut him up from head to toe, all I know is Glazer's going to die'; and on their first visit to the stadium, his three sons were forced to leave in the back of a police van as truncheon-wielding officers fought with fans.
The battle lines have been drawn. On one side sits Glazer, 78, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team, a career businessman from humble beginnings with a fanatical obsession about making money. Hard-hearted? Absolutely. He once took his five sisters to court in a dispute over their mother's will. Sitting beside him are sons Joel, Avram and Bryan - all newly elevated to the club board - and, squirming in their seats, United chief executive David Gill and director and former player Sir Bobby Charlton, both of whom have made polite comments about the owners without being effusive.
Bitterly opposed to the Glazers and vowing to do all in their power to oust them are thousands of United supporters - impressively organised, fully briefed in complex matters of high finance and passionately militant. They see the Americans as soulless, money-grabbing outsiders looking to rip off the fans.
