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Jim Rat Cliffe?
17 Plays7 days ago
Sam discusses the state of our club.
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Transcript
Introduction and Mistrust Towards Jim Radcliffe
00:00:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Boys, girls, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Daily Manchester United podcast with myself, Sam Brady, all by myself tonight.
00:00:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
And we've got a pretty interesting topic ahead. Before the episode, don't forget to follow all of our socials for a lot more episodes like this.
Manchester United's NBA Europe Agreement: Direction Concerns
00:00:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now, I don't trust Jim Radcliffe, and we're going to talk about it in this episode.
00:00:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
and my reasonings and and get straight stuck into it. So in the last 48, 24 hours, the Italian Basketball Federation president,
00:00:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
has come out and he said that Manchester United agreed be part of a principle. So they've agreed to actually join and NBA Europe um in the next couple of years. Now, I mean, it's it's an interesting one. It is a really, really interesting one. I mean, imagine a ah basketball team. Maybe we would have to start GSPN basketball with ah with a full ah
Contradictions in Financial Statements: Spending and Cutbacks
00:01:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
United team. But... um Look, I started off this sort of episode by you know saying I don't trust Jim Radcliffe. and and And I think it's a topic really that isn't being spoken about and ah enough. and And the reasons, by the way, of him ah reportedly going down this route into a basketball team is for a new source of of revenue, for a new income stream. um And with since Jim Radcliffe has come in, we've heard this narrative from the club, from himself, that say we're losing money year on year. We we need to find new income streams. We need to sort of... um
00:02:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know make some make some cutbacks. And and we've heard that throw throughout. And we've seen that in action last season, where obviously um a lot of redundancies, and and Jim Radcliffe did it in an interview with Gary Neville halfway through the season, highlighting the the point again. and So we we have seen that element of it, of them delivering on sort of what they're saying. However, they haven't been keeping to their word entirely. and And this is where I bear the issue with with this this narrative and with
00:02:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
fully trusting Jim Radcliffe because, look, I don't mind having that narrative of we're losing money, blah, blah, blah. But the the issue comes when you spend over 200 million the same the same summer after the season you've claimed that we're losing money and we need to make cutbacks and and and all of this. Like,
00:03:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
i I spare a thought and, you know, i God knows how those people who got made redundant during last season then had to watch United spend over 200 million in
Club Investments vs. Financial Instability Claims
00:03:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
the summer. Those things contradict each other, in my opinion. On one hand, you're saying we need cutbacks and and where players need...
00:03:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
need to pay for their own lunch and we're making redundancies here. And yet, not only are are we spending over 200 million, by the way, so so where's that money come from? And look, I know we've sold players and and generated revenue that way, but not not to the extent of of what we were believed and um what we were being told. 200 million is a lot in another summer. so not ah but But that is part of the problem. You have that
00:04:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Then you have renovations to the training ground, which that that must, I don't know the exact figures, but that must have cost in the millions. And and don't get me wrong, that that needed to be done. um and And these things need to be done in the in terms of getting a better squad and better training ground. They need to be done.
00:04:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
So there's there's that as well, that we we're getting a new training ground or or renovation at least. And then to to really put the the cherry on top of the cake, last season, no less, we announced in five, six years, seven, I can't remember the exact date, but we're actually basically building a new stadium, which costs millions and millions and millions.
00:04:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
So the narrative that we're we're losing money and we're actually financially, um we're not stable here, but then you're doing all of those things. I just think this topic of um the the narrative and and how Jim Radcliffe has constantly contradicted himself in terms of speaking about the finances of the club And yet no one really mentions that enough, in my opinion. um and And that's in my opinion why there's distrust there. And look, he owns Nice as well. And I definitely know and I think
00:05:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Most United fans who who really care about the club did research, obviously, into Jim Radcliffe before he joined. And I read and and heard that Nice fans were were unhappy and and maybe still are unhappy at the ownership.
00:05:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
um And now we're going into basketball. um it I don't get the direction we're going in. And don't get me wrong, I i do believe Jim Radcliffe cares about the club.
00:06:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
I do believe the board cat care about the club. They want, obviously, the club to succeed, not only from a standpoint of, well, Jim Radcliffe is a United fan, he said that himself, but also business-wise, you want your product to perform well,
00:06:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
because that generates financial wealth effectively. So obviously they want the club to succeed. But to me, they're trying to sort of pull the wool over our eyes, i think, in my opinion.
00:06:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
um But I don't think they're necessarily bad guys, if that um makes sense. I just don't like the contradiction. the contradiction in narrative and um look if if we're a club where we go out and say no actually like we have money we're going to spend it like we have been doing and and we kind of own that look it's not it's not ah you know is kind of maybe looked down upon if ah you're spending a lot of money nowadays, but really, like, who isn't spending that um amount money? And
Dan Ashworth's Departure: Disagreements with Radcliffe and the Board
00:07:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
at the end of the day, I'd rather own it and say, yeah, do you know what? Like, we have spent a lot, we have had a lot of failures, but we're going to keep spending a lot because we we can do, then fine.
00:07:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
or and And to sort of um say the other side of it, where if we were also a club, which I feel like the narrative is trying to push that we're losing money, with we're poorer and poorer year on, year out. And I think the ownership of trying to push that narrative, then I would also own that side. I'd be like, yeah, fair enough, we are. But then when we spend big, it makes us look better.
00:07:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
like mugs a little bit, I think, to rival fans. And look, we shouldn't care at all what they think. But also there's a little bit of that where they're going, wait, your owner just said you were losing money and you've had to make redundancies and players that have to buy their own lunch because you can't afford to give them free meals. And yet you're splashing 200 odd million in the summer again, by the way.
00:08:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
um And look, I think it's way too early to say, you know, they're doing a bad job, they're doing a good job. but I think especially at that senior level, you have to give it a couple of years sort of the to let the long-term plan play out. However, Dan Ashworth clearly wasn't a plan, ah clearly wasn't a...
00:08:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
a He didn't like the the long-term plan, basically. And and he he he got out of there because of that. And I think there is an element of of that where we chased Dan Ashworth so hard and pursued him even when he was at Newcastle.
00:09:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
um And then he came and only stayed for a couple of months because the relationship broke down. i think... okay, it might you know we have to look at both sides to this. And I think Dan Ashworth's a smart guy. He knows how to build projects. he He's done it England. He's done it in Newcastle.
00:09:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
he's He's a smart guy. and And he felt like he had to leave his job and quit his job entirely because he couldn't make the relationship with the board and Jim Radcliffe a success and a working relationship.
Necessity of Squad Investment Amid Financial Difficulty
00:09:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
So the fact that, look, you don't have to like the the people you work with, but you can still, if you're aiming for the same goal, you can still work together to do that. And the fact that they couldn't make that work tells me that there's a deeper deeper level of, um you know, disagreement that the went on between, not I'm sure not only Jim jim Radcliffe, but Omar Barada as well. um
00:10:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
And look, like... i from a fan's point of view, I should probably say that i I, as I said before, I don't mind which narrative we swing in. And if anything, as as I said about...
00:10:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
The training ground, that is needed. We needed to do that years ago. The stadium, Old Trafford, look, I'm on the side of I would have rather rather um renovated Old Trafford and refurbished Old Trafford instead of building a new stadium entirely. Nevertheless, it needs renovating, whether you build a new one, whether you just you know touch up Old Trafford.
00:10:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Old Trafford, it holds the the highest attendance in in england in England, in the Premier League. and Honestly, the the state of it compared to the Arsenal's, Chelsea,
00:11:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know chavey So that needed to be done. And of course, the squad on the pitch, we needed investment. Like we desperately needed investment and we still do need investment. And as I said on previous episodes, it's hard in the summer because you can't fix the whole squad at once. We we need we need ah we need still need a midfielder. We needed a full new attack from last year. I think we still need a couple of defenders. So obviously we need investment on the pitch as well.
00:11:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
So we we either invest in everything or and go with the narrative of you know we're not losing money and you know we're strong. Because what what i should say is, well, look, i am no I'm not trying to you know pretend to be an economics graduate or or know a lot about finances.
00:12:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
But to me, and I know about the loan that the Glazers had to take out and the interest that that's taken the club into, into the millions now, and they still haven't paid off that loan since the Glazers bought the club. So I know about that.
00:12:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
But also, we must be making per year as ah as a club up there in the highest earners, in the highest earners. And look, I haven't looked in depthly into it, but look, we we would have dropped down places just because of recent success. you you Part of your income stream is obviously how you you perform on the pitch with Champions League prize money, Premier League prize money. you know So obviously from that aspect, we we're not doing anything.
00:12:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
But still off the pitch, we are... I mean, I will always say this, that Manchester United and Real Madrid are the two biggest clubs in the world. I just think globally and, you know, as as a franchise, as a business, away from football, we are the biggest with Real Madrid.
00:13:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
um So for me, it almost feels like we're never too far off... um you know financial success again because realistically away from the pitch we should be in safe hands in into and financially stable in terms of what I said before in terms of a franchise in terms of you know going on tours and and being a brand we've got that financially covered we should do So if we turn it around on the pitch in terms of, you know, winning a few cups for prize money and then hopefully, you know, getting into the Champions League prize money, we should, for where we want to get to, um
00:13:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
the the pitch will also be providing ah an income an income stream, hopefully in the next
Radcliffe's Business Approach vs. Football Club Ethos
00:14:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
couple of years. And don't get me wrong, I understand where where Jim Radcliffe's coming from in terms of a pure business sense, in terms of I need to find more income streams, footballers maybe, and the club is maybe not um having the benefits financially that I thought it would was, and we're in a worse place than maybe I thought I was. However,
00:14:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think he thinks too much of the club as a business rather than a football team. And that's my whole issue with Jim Radcliffe.
00:14:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I remember distinctly thinking that watching the interview last year with Gary Neville on the overlap.
00:14:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
I distinctly remember thinking that, that he looks at United as a business first. And look, it might be my naivety and it might be, you know, my um my heart swaying my my ah my sort of business brain or my brain decisions.
00:15:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
But I just think as an owner of a football club, it's different to owning any other business, any other business. There is that element of difference, whether you like it or not.
00:15:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Owning a a chain of supermarkets compared to a football team is a completely different business. And if you just treat it as a business, yeah, you might be financially successful in the long term, but also you've got people that that rely on you.
00:15:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
You've got millions of people, fans, who rely on you to do well. So don't try and think the fans are stupid and, and as I said, trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
00:15:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
We watch United before you came in and we'll watch you your United after you leave. So to come in and say one thing here, one thing here, now we're going into basketball, now we're having a new stadium, you're you're delivering on on a lot of promises.
00:16:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I hope for your sake, you deliver on on those promises. Otherwise, yeah United and our fan base, we we are not one to to joke around and and and to...
00:16:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know, rely on fake promises.
Podcast Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
00:16:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
So look, I don't have an issue really with him right now, except from the, you know, obvious deception, I think, and the mistrust. So I i don't trust him.
00:16:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
As I said, do I think he's a bad guy? Do I think the board are bad guys? um that That is for a couple of years to to be decided.
00:16:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
um But look, if you agree with me, if you disagree with me, let us know um in the comments of the socials. And hey, I mean, if you've made it this far in the episode, you must...
00:17:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know like what we're speaking about and like me just a tiny bit so go on hit that follow button and m yeah we will catch you in the next one where hopefully um we're a bit more positive and we're looking ahead for that for that big game on Monday night it's been a while since we we played Monday night football so looking forward to that one but for now it's a goodbye