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| Robin van Persie brings new life to MUFC |
Last August, I wrote a post about Manchester United's IPO. I found it odd at the time that a club that had some 660 million fans worldwide could not bump up the stock price from its initial $14 US per share on the NYSE. Today, the stock is 15.50, a jump of $1.50, which won't even buy you a cup of coffee on Wall Street.
I thought that a team with a lead of seven points over its closest rival, Manchester City, last year's English Premier League's champion, would stir the market. Or the fact, that its best player was secured in a trade that has paid huge dividends and made Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, look like a genius.
Arguably the biggest brand in the English Premier League, Manchester United has also become something of a show stopper. Its defense has allowed teams even from bottom of the table to score with impunity, then with time running out the team charges back and has won a number of astonishing come-from-behind wins or ties.
And then with Wayne Rooney, the team's mainstay at striker, out with an injury for much of the season, Robin van Persie (RPV), shows up without missing a beat and gives the team a new face at striker. It must have been sugar on the pudding for United to watch RVP score against Liverpool last weekend.
For the most part, Manchester United has made everything look easy in spite competing in a highly inflated transfer market, which will probably reach more than $400 million leaving a lot of teams bleeding red ink.
With the kind of season MUFC is having, the club may even raise its stock price.
From an article about MAN UTD's IPO. http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/story/_/id/8181527/the-premier-league-financial-imbalance-ignored-no-longer-roger-bennett
ReplyDelete"The Glazers have owned the team that makes the most money in the world for seven years now and are yet to make a statement about their motivations," said Conn incredulously. "It is clear from the public offering prospectus that the money they hope to raise is just going to pay off debt accrued when they bought the club in 2005. Their fans have already had to suffer as they drained over $782 million out of the club to service that debt, while three miles across town, Sheikh Mansour has poured a fortune into Manchester City."