United need a Sheikh but I wish I bought them instead of the Glazers - Fred Done on the Old Trafford crisis
Fred Done has revealed his regret at not buying United – but believes the Reds need a Sheikh of their own.
In an explosive, heart-on-his-sleeve interview, the self-made Salford millionaire and lifelong fan has slammed owners the Glazer family, called for David Moyes to be given more time and cash and lifted the lid on how close he came to joining the Red Knights consortium that wanted to buy the club.
A dyed-in-the-wool Red who was passed over the heads of the Stretford End crowds as a child, bookie king Fred has watched in dismay as his beloved club have delivered a miserable season and lurched from one crisis to another.
Now he has had enough – and cannot keep quiet any more and turned his fire on the Glazers.
“It breaks my heart,” he exclusively told M.E.N. Sport. “They’re sat in Florida while 70,000 who love the club are paying for their debt and dividends and are not seeing a good team. We’re watching rubbish.”
Fred, who has amassed a fortune from humble beginnings in Ordsall, raged: “It’s purely a financial instrument for the Glazers. When the right cheque is waved at them they will go.”
Fred believes it would take £2bn to shift the Americans, who took the reins in 2005 and saddled the club with the debt of the borrowings they made to buy it.
But despite his own vast personal wealth and that of many of his high-ranking acquaintances, he does not feel he is the man to do it and thinks fans should be hoping for a similar owner to the man who has taken control across town and taken City to unthinkable heights.
“It will take an Arab sheikh or a Russian oligarch,” he said. “Look at City. They are murdering them. When you go there everything from the catering to what is on the pitch is better than United at the moment. Sheikh Mansour does not care about a return on his money. He has done fantastic for City and for the city of Manchester. The Glazers want dividends.”
Fred, who shelled out £265m for the Tote in 2011, was rumoured to have been approached by the Red Knights, a group of wealthy United-supporting businessmen who attempted to buy the club in 2010.
He confirmed that he was asked three times and said no but revealed he regretted not buying it on his own.
“I was asked on three occasions would I join,” he said. “If I wanted United I would want to own it for myself.”
Fred, whose empire includes more than 1,350 Betfred shops, also had strong words for Moyes – but believes Reds officials should back rather than sack the under-fire new boss.
“You saw him slouched in his seat at Olympiakos,” he said.
“That looks like a defeated man. Sit up straight, David, and don’t do that nonsense. Stop apologising for players who are not good enough. Change them. Next season be ruthless. You have to dismantle this team. I don’t expect you to be Premier League champions next season or the year after.
“You need seven or eight players because they are just not good enough. Get the knife out. You don’t make omelettes without breaking eggs. Break some eggs.”
Fred feels that the £100m summer transfer kitty being talked about is not big enough and warned that the club could suffer a similar fall from grace to that suffered by Liverpool, who have not won the top-flight title since 1990 after dominating for years.
“If I look at United I see captions claiming they are the biggest club in the world,” he said.
“I do not believe that for one minute. I don’t think they are in the top half dozen and if they are not careful they will slip down that ladder quickly. I hear arrogant talk about how United don’t need to play well and win to pull crowds. You watch. I sit at Old Trafford and see strangers around me where you used to see the same faces week in week out. They are not selling the tickets believe me.
“Look at whats happened at Liverpool. I hope it doesn’t take United 24 years to come back. They talk about spending £100m – I don’t think that’s enough.”
At the end of a sobering interview for every Reds fan Fred, who thinks that City will win the Premier League and that United will not qualify for Europe, thinks that the club can already no longer be classed as part of Europe’s elite.
“When you talk about biggest in world United don’t measure up to Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Bayern Munich,” he said.
“And in footballing terms they are not as good as Chelsea or City. I think we are going to be mid-table for the next few years.
“The jury is out on Moyes but given time he could be a good manager.”
