Rio Ferdinand

Edwin Van Der Sar

Wayne Rooney

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Glazers hit back over United debt claims
The Glazer family have strongly denied that Manchester United's debts are spiralling out of control.
A report from the Manchester United Supporters Trust, due to be released tomorrow, claims that the club's interest payments have increased by £28million this year.
It also claims that increased TV revenue and money from a new shirt sponsorship deal with AIG is being used to service debts.
But a Glazer family spokesman this morning dismissed the report saying: 'The story is inaccurate. Nothing has changed. The debts continue to be comfortably serviced by the business, which is performing better than ever.
'As always there have been substantial funds for the manager to purchase players over the summer.'
The Manchester United Supporters Trust have challenged the Glazer family to 'open up the books to independent scrutiny' amid claims that the club's debts are spiralling out of control.
A publication from the MUST, due to be released tomorrow, claims the interest payments of the Old Trafford club have increased by £28million this year.
A statement from MUST released to PA Sport read: 'The Glazers' claim that 'nothing has changed' is laughable. Why then were they forced to cancel plans to refinance some of the debt this summer? Have interest rates not gone up? Has the global credit crunch not begun to bite?
'The Glazers' debt is tied into LIBOR [the London Interbank Offered Rate], and if the economics of the world change, then debt changes.
'Furthermore, our calculations are based on the Glazers' own refinancing documents of 2006, which were signed by Joel Glazer himself. If they wish to dispute the figures, then let them open up the books to independent scrutiny.
'Let the Glazers bring their own figures out and we would be happy to be proved wrong and for the club to be shown to be less debt-laden than we think it is.'
The statement continued: 'The facts are simple: there is a vast debt of £660m hanging over the club, which carries with it vast interest rates and annual repayment demands of up to £100m, whilst ticket prices have risen astronomically in each of the last three seasons under the Glazers.
'Money for players has either been offset by sales, or has had payment schedules spread way into the future, with little money offered up front.'
The statement concluded: 'The team did wonderfully last season, and we're delighted, but sticking our heads in the sand about what's happening off the pitch would do a grave disservice to those marvellous efforts.'
United have spent heavily since the end of last season, recruiting Owen Hargreaves, Carlos Tevez, Nani and Anderson, and Sir Alex Ferguson has not been restricted in the transfer market since the Glazers completed their £790m takeover in 2005.
United fans have been hit with a 14% rise in ticket prices this season but the club has to fund rising player salary demands and keep stars like Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand at Old Trafford.
The Trust report claims that the Glazer family 'continue to face an extraordinary and growing debt problem'.
The report states that since last year's refinancing, United and the Glazers have been faced with 'a series of interest rate rises which have increased the annual debt service bill from £62m a year on the total debt of £660m.
'The interest bill is currently an annualised £100m-plus, of which £73m is payable this year and the other £27m in the future - a ticking debt time-bomb.'
Reports have emerged over recent weeks of potential buyers for United based in China and Dubai but the Glazers have stressed that they have no interest in selling and are completely committed to the club.

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Stam 'not surprised' by Ferguson's admission
Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam claims Sir Alex Ferguson's recent admission that he made a mistake by selling the Dutchman in 2001 has come as no surprise.
Ferguson sold the Dutchman to Lazio in a move viewed by many United fans as one of his few errors during more than two decades in charge at Old Trafford.
Six years later, 35-year-old Stam is still performing to a high standard for Ajax after returning to his homeland from Italy in 2006.
'It is good that a man like Ferguson dares to admit that he makes mistakes,' Stam told AD Sportwereld. 'It doesn't surprise me, though. I always knew for myself that United made an error by selling me.
'I know that this is the same feeling for many people around the club, from colleagues to fans. When I speak with people I hear they should never have let me go.'
Speaking earlier this week, Ferguson admitted the size of Lazio's offer clouded his judgment of the player's worth to the Premier League champions.
'We got the offer from Lazio - £16.5million for a centre-back that was 29,' said Ferguson. 'It was an offer I couldn't refuse. But in playing terms it was a mistake. He is still playing for Ajax at a really good level.'
In response, Stam conceded that Ferguson's honesty must be applauded.
He said: 'A big coach must also be able to see the mistakes he made - if needed, a few years after he made them.'
The former Holland international's exit from Old Trafford in August 2001 came shortly after his autobiography was published amid controversy.
He claimed that Ferguson had illegally tapped him up before buying him from PSV Eindhoven and revealed blunt insights from the United dressing room.
Many assumed his book was the reason behind his departure, a take on events that Stam is happy to subscribe to.
'Until that transfer I learned to know Ferguson as a man who thinks along fixed lines, who always handles interests of the club,' Stam said. 'In the weeks surrounding my departure the relationship became difficult.
'My biography played a role for sure, because the club needed to sell it to the fans that I could leave Manchester United.
'That book became the stick to hit me, you could say.'

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Ferguson urges patience from United's fringe
Sir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United's fringe players should look to Champions League winner Nicky Butt for encouragement as they attempt to force their way into his plans.
The United boss freely admits his £51million summer investment, which saw the champions strengthen their hand with the recruitment of Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson, will increase competition for places.
But while that may leave the likes of Dong Fangzhuo, Fraizer Campbell, Lee Martin, Darron Gibson, Chris Eagles, Gerard Pique, Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson struggling to break through, Ferguson insists their patience will be rewarded.
To make his case, the Scot pointed to the Old Trafford careers of Butt, who played in the 1999 Champions League final because of skipper Roy Keane's suspension, and Phil Neville, both of whom claimed six Premier League titles and FA Cup winners' medals.
He told Inside United magazine: 'We have to have players here who understand the dynamics of the operation of the club.
'When we are going for everything, some of them will have to be patient.
'They are going to get chances and play games, and in those matches, they can be important players.
'It is a challenge for me and the staff to make sure we are being fair and picking the right team.
'It is also a challenge for the players to show loyalty to us, and if they don't think that we are being fair, then they have every right to come and see me. The door is always open.
'Look at players like Phil Neville and Nicky Butt - for three or four years, they were not regular starters, but they loved the club, they were patient and prepared to accept that they would not play every game.
'But they always got 20-odd games a season. You cannot do it forever, and you have to be fair to them and let them move on when they want to.
'I mean, Nicky and Phil can sit back and think: 'I have got eight or nine medals from my time there, which is a fantastic achievement'.
'Nicky played in the European Cup final, mainly because of the suspensions of Keane and Scholes.
'Phil played in the 1996 FA Cup final against Liverpool - (brother) Gary didn't make that one, he was on the subs' bench. Those are great rewards for being patient.'

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Fergie regrets selling of defender Stam
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he was too quick to write off defender Jaap Stam.
Ferguson sold the Dutchman to Lazio in a move viewed by many United fans as one of his few errors during more than two decades in charge at Old Trafford.
And while Ferguson still insists the £16.5million offer from the Rome club was too good to refuse, he has confessed the sale of Stam was a mistake 'in football terms'.
The Holland international's exit from Old Trafford in August 2001 came shortly after his autobiography was published amid controversy.
He claimed that Ferguson had illegally tapped him up before buying him from PSV Eindhoven and revealed blunt insights from the United dressing room.
Many assumed his book was the reason behind his departure. Stam had won three Premier League winner's medals and the Champions League in his three full seasons in England.
But Ferguson maintains his only criteria were Stam's inability to regain top form following injury, and the tempting offer from the Serie A outfit.
'At the time he had just come back from an Achilles injury and we thought he had just lost a little bit,' the Scot told an audience at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow.
'We got the offer from Lazio - £16.5million for a centre-back that was 29. It was an offer I couldn't refuse.
'But in playing terms it was a mistake. He is still playing for Ajax at a really good level.'
Stam went on to shine for Lazio and they sold him to AC Milan for around £7million in 2004 after he rejected a new contract.
And the 35-year-old - who previously claimed United knew they had made a mistake in selling him - signed a two-year deal with Ajax in summer 2006.
Ironically, Lazio funded the purchase of Stam through the £28.1million sale of Juan Sebastian Veron to United the previous month.
Veron failed to live up to his price tag at United, who replaced Stam with Laurent Blanc, the French defender who was approaching his 36th birthday.
The Red Devils failed to win a trophy in that 2001-02 season, which was meant to be Ferguson's last in charge before he performed a U-turn on his scheduled retirement.

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'Much more to come from Anderson'
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has promised there is much more to come from summer signing Anderson.
The 19-year-old Brazil midfielder was handed a Premier League debut for the club in Saturday's 1-0 win over Sunderland, but was replaced at half-time by Louis Saha who went on to score the vital goal.
However, Ferguson is confident his capture from Porto will come good as he makes his way at Old Trafford.
He told the club's official website: 'He will take time. He's 19 years of age and is a player with great skill. I'm sure he will be okay.
'I thought he found it difficult against Sunderland because of the speed of the game and the way they set their stall out made it difficult for us.
'Also, if you look at the four that played - Anderson, (Chris) Eagles, (Carlos) Tevez and Nani - they have never played with each other.
'But we were pleased to get 45 minutes behind Anderson. Hopefully, the two weeks before the Everton game will give him a chance to improve.'
Anderson, who was part of the Brazil squad for this summer's Copa America campaign, suffered a hamstring injury in the pre-season fixture at Doncaster on August 3.
That meant he had to wait to make his senior debut, but he was included in the reserves for Tuesday night's 3-1 defeat by Manchester City having not made his country's squad for the friendlies against USA and Mexico, and played for more than an hour.

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Hi all, this is Avery and Boon Choon for their CS project.



;DSeptember 2007