United: The Glazer Takeover

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 club’s 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.