MGT 489

Case: Manchester United: The Glazer Takeover

Submitted to:

Bobby Hajjaj (BHj)

Submitted by:
Md. Ehsanul Haque ID #1130452030
Abdullah Al Hasan ID#1120143030
Sadique Muhammad ID#1230233630
Mohammed Rakibuddin ID#1220090030
Safkat Rabban ID#1130375030
Syed Shahriar Amin ID#1210254030

Identity:
As Manchester United is one of the oldest and successful football clubs with a huge strong
fan base. With the purchase of Malcolm Glazers of 90% of its shares, Manchester United now
is looking towards to building the trust it once had among its fans. As a representative of
Glazers our objectives are the following
-

To develop the trust among fans of Manchester United

To establish brand image
Create a strong team of players for the Manchester United
To make it into a profitable club

Our Vision
Our vision is to be the most successful football club in history, have the strongest fan base,
have the most committed staff to support the club internally and externally, and establish a
proven financial scheme/ discipline so that we can provide long-term growth for shareholders
and sustain financial policies as well as create a strong impression among our fans.

SWOT Analysis Step 1

Strengths
1. Brand image- MUFC is a 127 years old globally reputed and most successful English
football club.
2. Merchandise revenue
3. Alex Ferguson most successful coach in the football history
4. Strong players- both experienced and talented youth
5. Strong fan base across the world
6. Financial support- One of the most earning soccer club
7. Identifying and recruiting new talents
8. Sponsorship deals
9. CSR- Youth academy
10. major league trophies
11. Club history
12. Strategic investor
13. Platinum sponsorship plan
14. Media rights to decades

Weaknesses
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

In debt of 540 million euro.

Decrease in the profitability
Struggling with staff costs to turnover ratio
Recent fluctuation in performance in the football team
Conflict between management and players.

6. Lack of consistency amongst players

7. Being unable to hold on to star players
8. Not being able to pay the interest of the money Glazer wants to borrow

Opportunities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Tapping global fan bases like India, China, USA

More advertising and brand visibility would help build on brand equity
Turning fans into customers- market for their branded goods
Media rights to thousands of videos and footages
Providing better match day experience
Expansion of Old Trafford venue
Can foray into sports goods industry
More investment and proper use of resources
Trying to prepare more new players from the academy

Threats
1. Other top clubs buying out good players
2. Financial debts incurred due to expensive player transfers
3. Strong competitors like Chelsea and liverpool
4. Entry barriers and fierce competition in many emerging market e.g. Sports industry.
5. Losing sponsorship contracts to more successful clubs
6. Further growth of transfer market and player wages
7. Market is flooded by replica goods.
8. Market is well saturated.
9. Single person owning and making it a mere business
10. Other rich clubs buying Manchester United players

SWOT Analysis Step 2

Strengths
1. Brand Image
2. Strong Players
and Talented
Youths
3. Established
History
4. Strong
Management
5. Alex Ferguson
Successful Coach
of MU
6. Good talent
development
program

Weaknesses
1. Losing trust after
new acquisition
2. Lack of
Profitability
3. Lack of
consistency in
play
4. Lack of
managing costs
to turnover ratio
5. A high level debt
pressure

Opportunities
1. Tapping in new
regions of fan
base like in Asia
2. More investment
assurance
3. Using the brand
power in more
versatile way
4. Using the history
of club for
branding
5. Utilizing the
wages ratio

O/S strategies
1. Using the brand
image to pull
more sponsors
2. Seek new talents
to ensure low
wages
3. Tapping into
regional fans
using branding
4. Garnering more
investment
through coach
and the
management

Threats
1. Other clubs are
buying out more
players
2. Increasing
players transfer
cost.
3. Other clubs can
tap into new
regions sooner
4. Clubs spending
more on players
5. The demand of
this field is
saturated

T/S Strategies
1. Need to pull
more players
with our brand
image
2. Need to focus on
new youths to
play for the club
3. As we have
strong regional
fan base, we
need to utilize
them sooner
4. Need to make
our merchandise
more versatile.

O/W Strategies
1. Enabling more
investment
would help to
gain trust
2. By tapping in
more fan base
they could sell
more
merchandising
product
3. Consistently
maintaining the
wages ratio will
help to decrease
cost
T/W Strategies
1. We cannot let our
fans lose trust
and our players
get bought off.
2. We cannot make
any more debts
3. We need to
ensure
profitability by
expanding our
merchandise
products into
more region

Recommendations Manchester United should come up with a well-balanced football team, comprising
both the experienced and fresh recruits.
The Glazers should ensure more investment and that the management stays in place to
the fans.
They need to utilize their fan base and brand image to pull up profitability.
Expanding the brand to more regions with fan base would be a good idea her.
The youth development program and new player acquisition should be more strictly
maintained.
Associating the brand with more goods can lead to a better revenue generation

Conclusion
So altogether this is what we have come up with for our SWOT Analysis for the Manchester
United Club after the Glazer takeover.