The World’s Biggest Cash Machine: Manchester United, the Glazers, and the Struggle for Football’s Soul
£17.00£22.00 (-23%)
‘A gripping tale, full of insight. Blackhurst is an enormously talented writer.’ – City A.M.
From Chris Blackhurst, the former Editor of the Independent, comes The World’s Biggest Cash Machine, a gripping and tightly reported account of how the Glazers, owners of Manchester United, became the most maligned figures in the Premier League, and how they changed the beautiful game forever.
Manchester United’s supporters span the globe and cross generations. But, with few exceptions, they are united in their anger with the American family who bought their club in 2005, plunging it into record levels of debt. The Glazers’ reign has become synonymous with the financialization of football, and has coincided with fan protests and a decline of Manchester United’s fortunes on the pitch . . . if not on the balance sheet.
But what defines this secretive family, and do these astute businessmen deserve the opprobrium they receive? In this captivating account, informed by interviews with key figures behind the scenes, journalist and commentator Chris Blackhurst charts the gripping story of the world’s biggest football club – as well as exploring the wider transformation of the Premier League into a playground for billionaire owners.
‘Packed with insights and details that will both amaze and appal you . . . if it doesn’t make you angry, you need to check your pulse’ – Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland, on Too Big to Jail
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Additional information
| Publisher | Macmillan, Main Market edition (26 Oct. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 320 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1035011174 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1035011179 |
| Reading age | 18 years and up |
| Dimensions | 15.56 x 3.18 x 23.5 cm |
by Amazon Customer
Really great read, yes I’m a die hard UTD(old) fan but even I learned a lot of stuff I didn’t know. It’s obviously not a nice story(the greedy grizzly Glazers) but one I think all fans of football, sport and business would enjoy.
Sports club Ownership is a strange rarified air these days, this book tracks the history of how we got there.
Thoroughly recommended
by Philip Baden
Fascinating insight into how the Glaziers acquired United and all down to a horse. The management of football finances and the clash between the corporate raiders and football fans. The amounts of money they have made are staggering. Chelsea also figure as does Fulham.
Gives a huge insight into the future of commoditised football.
The Glaziers are just the beginning.
Well worth a read.
by roger maddams
Great read – a proper page turner – making the complex and unbelievable easy and entertaining to follow
by rory godson
Chris has done an outstanding job on the history of Manchester United and the constellation of owners, investors and wouldbe owners interwoven with the story of sporting excellence. I recommend without hesitation.
by Greville Waterman
Football business books can often be dry, didactic and ultimately boring and hard to get your head around if you are not The Swiss Ramble or Kieron Maguire.
This is an exception to the rule as it managed to be entertaining, thorough and informative all at the same time.
The author is an experienced financial journalist as well as being a committed Fulham fan – well nobody is perfect – and he mines his extensive contacts on both sides of the pond to tell the story of Manchester United and its financial travails over the past decades.
It is important to put the club’s current situation in its historical context and this is done impeccably and will not make for easy reading if your surname happens to be “Edwards”. The Whole Ferguson racehorse ownership mess is also dissected and seen as a catalyst that opened the door for the chaos that followed.
The author delves deeply into the background of the Glazers and explains their modus operandi exceptionally well and clearly and if the club had done their proper due diligence then perhaps they would not have been initially welcomed into the fold.
Bang up to date and topical too, this is well worth a read.
Highly recommended!
by Eugene McEvoy
A really in-depth look ???? at the going on at this club
by LadyKel
As a die-hard Red Devil all my life I read this in the hope of gleaning some insight into the hated Glazers, would there be light at the end of the tunnel in this endless misery that has become Manchester United?
Excellently written with some wonderful anecdotes, this is a painful read for any football fan in how our beautiful game has been turned into nothing more than an overdraft facility for those with no interest in the game. Although primarily based on Manchester United, it is indicative of where our national game is going. Soon, the ordinary fan will be unable to attend and grounds will become silent graveyards of tourists filming themselves at the match, hands too occupied to even clap politely
by SH
The perfect subject matter for Chris Blackhurst: fact more outrageous than fiction. A must for any football fan, regardless of club allegiance. Highly entertaining, with anecdotes aplenty, and, with a wealth of detail, thoroughly engrossing. The Premier League in glorious, ghastly microcosm!