Football has been famously described as 'a game of two halves', and recent developments at the world's most well-known football club show that this adage has never been more true.
On the one hand there's the football. On the other hand, the business. And the £800 million (US$1.4 billion) takeover of Manchester United earlier this year has brought the business side of the sport to the public's attention like never before. American businessman Malcolm Glaser's take-over has alienated many of the club's most devoted fans, with calls for a mass boycott of ManU shirt sponsor Vodafone. The fans' objection was to the apparent commoditisation of something they felt should be more about passion than pounds and pence.
On the one hand there's the football. On the other hand, the business. And the £800 million (US$1.4 billion) takeover of Manchester United earlier this year has brought the business side of the sport to the public's attention like never before. American businessman Malcolm Glaser's take-over has alienated many of the club's most devoted fans, with calls for a mass boycott of ManU shirt sponsor Vodafone. The fans' objection was to the apparent commoditisation of something they felt should be more about passion than pounds and pence.
But the club's hugely successful business enterprise has been built on the team's dominance on the pitch. ManU won the Premier League eight times between 1993 and 2003, and has a fan base in the UK of 1.5 million people, and as many as 75 million people worldwide. Up to one-third are in China.
The Reds' business empire has expanded along with the fan base, ranging from the obvious merchandising opportunities such as team shirts, to a broadband service, credit cards, and mortgages. There are even plans for a casino. The wealth that the business has generated has allowed ManU to buy big-name players like Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. But ManU's magnetism on the pitch has diminished of late. Glamour player David Beckham quit for Real Madrid, and since then the team has failed to bring much in the way of silverware back to Old Trafford. This is especially a problem in Asia, the land of promise not just for ManU but a host of other European sides who have been touring the region during the off-season.
Fans here are fickle; few will stick with a struggling team in the way that many British fans are committed to doing. They want to identify themselves with champions. And when it comes to football, they also want to identify themselves with footballers, not businessmen. Herein lies the challenge for ManU -- to make sure that the club is successful in both halves of the game.
