May 16, 2005: Malcolm Glazer, owner of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, becomes the 1st American to buy a controlling interest in a soccer team in England's Premier League. He buys Manchester United Football Club, a.k.a. Man United, a.k.a. just "United," a.k.a. "Man U."
Born in 1928 in Rochester, New York, he developed a watch repair business, which he parlayed into a holding company that ran banks, health care companies, and food supplies, packaging and equipment. In 1995, he bought the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the estate of their late founding owner, Hugh Culverhouse. In 3 years, he turned them back into a Playoff team, and they won Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. He remained their owner for the rest of his life.
The joke is that Manchester United fans live everywhere but Manchester. Their success from 1993 onward, and the growth of worldwide satellite television to broadcast their games and achievements, made them the most popular sports team on Earth -- and also the most-hated. So, like the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys, the Los Angeles Lakers, Notre Dame football and Duke basketball. And, as with soccer in other countries, Real Madrid in Spain, Bayern Munich in Germany, and Juventus in Italy.
But their English base was appalled that their beloved team had been bought by a foreigner -- an American, no less. Stickers went up around Manchester, with the team's original colors, reading, "LOVE UNITED" in green and "HATE GLAZER" in gold. In the stands at Old Trafford, United's stadium in Salford, 4 miles west of Central Manchester, they sang:
We're having a party when Glazer dies!
Jelly and ice cream when Glazer dies!
Bouncy castle when Glazer dies!
Musical chairs when Glazer dies!
Pass the parcel when Glazer dies!
Strippers and whores when Glazer dies!
In this case, "Jelly" is what they call Jell-O.
What were they really angry at? The claim was that Glazer's purchase put the team into debt. As if that mattered: They were the most lucrative sports team in the world, and any debt was easily manageable.
Five days after this purchase, United played in the FA Cup Final against Arsenal. The game ended 0-0, and went to penalty kicks, and Arsenal won. This meant that, for the 1st time in 7 years, United won no trophies, although that could hardly be blamed on Glazer, who had just bought the team.
Two months later, on July 16, 2005, F.C. United of Manchester, a club formed by a group of Manchester United supporters in response to the Glazer takeover of Manchester United, played their first-ever match, a preseason friendly with Leigh RMI. The match ended in a 0–0 draw.
They began their 1st season, 2005-06, in the North West Counties League, Division Two, the 10th level of English football's "pyramid." These fans would rather have started all the way at the bottom than support a team owned by Malcolm Glazer.
They were slime. They had all the arrogance of Man U fans, with the added artificial sense of purity that self-appointed saints have, since they're "against modern football" and the "corruption" of the Premier League. (As if Man U weren't the most corrupt club in it well before the Glazer takeover.) Some decided they wanted to have it both ways, claiming, "2 Uniteds But the Soul Is 1."
FCUM won Division Two in 2006, and Division One in 2007, advancing to the Northern Premier League Division One North. They finished 2nd in that in 2008, gaining promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division. There, in the 7th division, they got stuck, until 2015, winning that, and getting promoted to the National League North.
At that point, after 10 years of renting Gigg Lane, the home ground of Bury F.C., FCUM opened their new home, Broadhurst Park, capacity 4,400 -- which, unlike the 75,635-capacity Old Trafford where Man U play, is actually in the city of Manchester.
Meanwhile, United had won the Premier League again in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013; and the Champions League in 2008, all while Glazer lived and ran the team. FCUM fans -- and many MUFC fans, too -- continued to sing, "We're having a party when Glazer dies." God forbid they should accept the trophies that Glazer's ownership brought them.
Glazer died on May 28, 2014, at the age of 85. Some United fans did indeed celebrate. Meanwhile, the FCUM branch of them sat in their tiny stadium -- about the same size as the one at my high school -- and sang their vile songs about hating Glazer, Liverpool, Manchester City and Leeds United.
In 2019, a bad season left FCUM relegated. They will begin the 2022-23 season as they began the preceding 3, in the 7th division.
By that point, these other North American sports team owners had invested in English and European soccer teams:
* 2007: Liverpool F.C. is bought by George Gillette, owner of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens; and Tom Hicks, owner of the NHL's Dallas Stars and MLB's Texas Rangers. It proved disastrous in terms of finances, and Liverpool, along with Man United 1 of England's 2 most successful and 2 most popular teams, seemed to be replaced as 1 of England's "Big Four" clubs, along with Man United, Arsenal, and Chelsea F.C., by Manchester City.
* 2008: Stan Kroenke begins his takeover of Arsenal, which he does, piece by piece, until becoming sole owner in 2018. Kroenke Sports and Entertainment already owned the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, and MLS' Colorado Rapids, and a share of the NFL's St. Louis Rams. He became sole owner of the Rams, moved them to Los Angeles, and, with Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium as a partial model, built SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. He becomes hated by old-line Arsenal fans, though not as much as Glazer was among United fans.
* 2010: Liverpool are sold by Gillette and Hicks to Fenway Sports Group, owners of MLB's Boston Red Sox, run by John W. Henry. The group would later buy the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and a motorsports company.
* 2013: West London team Fulham F.C. is bought by Shahid Khan, a Pakistani-American businessman who already owned the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.
* 2014: Italian club Bologna F.C. is bought by Joey Saputo, a Canadian businessman who already owned MLS' CF Montréal.
* 2018: Miami-based 777 Partners buys its 1st European team, Standard Liège of Belgium. They would also buy Paris team Red Star F.C., Spanish team Sevilla F.C., Berlin team Hertha B.S.C., Italian club Genoa C.F.C., Rio de Janeiro team C.R. Vasco da Gama, and British basketball team London Lions. (UPDATE: Later in 2022, they bought Australian team Melbourne Victory.)
* 2018: Aston Villa of Birmingham, England is bought by Wes Edens, already a part-owner of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.
* 2019: AFC Fiorentina of Florence, Italy is bought by Rocco Commisso, who owns the rights to the currently dormant New York Cosmos.
* 2019: Venice-based team Venezia F.C. is bought by Duncan Niederauer.
* 2020: Rome team A.S. Roma is bought by Dan Friedkin.
* 2020: Italian club Parma Calcio is bought by Kyle Krause.
* 2022: Italian club Atalanta B.C. is bought by Stephen Pagliuca, a former part-owner of the NBA's Boston Celtics. And Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who had owned West London team Chelsea F.C. since 2003, sold it to Los Angeles-based BlueCo, led by Todd Boehly, the main owner of MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers.
Since Glazer's death, MUFC have won the FA Cup in 2016, the UEFA Europa League and the League Cup in 2017. Let the record show that it was only after Glazer died that things began to fall apart.
Meanwhile, both the Buccaneers and MUFC continue to be owned by the 6 children of Malcolm Glazer, with eldest son Bryan Glazer having the most control.
UPDATE: United have since won the League Cup in 2023, and the FA Cup in 2024.
After this posting date in 2022, Italian team A.C. Milan, once famously (or infamously) owned by corrupt media mogul, and 3 times Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, was bought by New York-based Redbird Capital Partners. And Bill Foley, owner of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, started buying soccer teams, with English team A.F.C. Bournemouth.
In 2023, Edens bought Portuguese team Vitória de Guimarães. Foley bought French team F.C. Lorient, and established Auckland F.C. of New Zealand, an expansion team in Australia's A-League. And Boehly bought French team R.C. Strasbourg Alsace.
In 2024, Milan's intracity rival, Internazionale Milano, was bought by Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management. And Dan Friedkin bought Liverpool team Everton F.C. Foley bought Hibernian F.C. of Edinburgh, Scotland.
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May 16, 2005 was a Monday. Football was out of season. The NHL team owners had locked their players out, resulting in the cancellation of the entire season. The NBA Playoffs were in progress, but no games were played on this day. These Major League Baseball games were:
* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Chien-Ming Wang was the winning pitcher, outpitching Aaron Sele. Bernie Williams hit a grand slam. Derek Jeter went 2-for-6. Alex Rodriguez went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs. Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-4 with a stolen base.
* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-2 at Shea Stadium. Kris Benson outpitched former Met Paul Wilson. Cliff Floyd hit a home run.
* The Washington Nationals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-1 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-6 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Petco Park in San Diego.
* The Florida Marlins beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-4 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).
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