Manchester United's debt is spiralling, but the Red Knights won't be rescuing the club from the Glazers

By Ian Ladyman for the Daily Mail
Northern Football Correspondent
Updated: 06:33 EDT, 20 May 2010

Massive debts: United supporters are furious with the current owners

Manchester United fans can expect many more years of ownership by the controversial Glazer family after it emerged last night that members of the so-called 'Red Knights' group no longer expect their takeover bid to succeed.

United fans disillusioned by the burden of debt placed on their club by their American owners have been angered further this week by news that interest on one of the Glazers' loans is set to rise in the summer, costing them in the region of £67million over the next seven years.

And last night the feeling of gloom among the substantial anti-Glazer green and gold faction deepened even more after suggestions from informed sources in the City that the Red Knights are now all but resigned to their bid for United failing.

They are now aware that only a bid far in excess of United's £1.1bn value would tempt the family to sell.

This is something that the group will understandably not consider and with the Knights' plea for United fans to boycott the club by tearing up season tickets falling largely on deaf ears, it is now understood that influential people within the group are struggling to see a way forward.

It emerged yesterday that the controversial £138m payment in kind loan taken out by the Glazers in 2006 looks set to carry a 16.25 per cent interest rate from August. This represents a rise of 2 per cent and would add a massive £67m to the club's debt by its scheduled expiry date in 2017.

Supporters feel that this development will impinge on Sir Alex Ferguson's transfer budget this summer, yet it is something Uni ted and the Glazer s vigorously deny.

The official line from the American owners continues to be that manager Ferguson has as much money as he wants to spend on players, despite his own assertion this week that he will buy only one player between now and the start of next season.

Speaking in America, where he is publicising United's preseason tour, chief executive David Gill was sanguine about the club's failure to win the Barclays Premier League title and happy to let the Red Knights know that their attempts to undermine the sale of season tickets have not worked.

United we stand: Fans vent their frustrations at the Glazer family on the final day of the campaign

Gill said: 'There haven't been any boycotts. Every game at Manchester United has been sold out. We are envisaging sell-out crowds going forward for United.'

When the Red Knights' plans to buy United first emerged in January, members of the group called on fans to stop buying tickets and effectively force the Glazers' hand. I t is now accepted, privately at least, that it may have been better to put together an offer quietly without any publicity.

Whatever the case, Ferguson's own suggestions this week that he will only dip into the transfer market once this summer will alarm many fans who feel their team were fortunate to finish second to Chelsea in the league by only a point.

What was particularly notable was Ferguson's assertion that he will not be looking to replace reserve goalkeeper Ben Foster, 27, who yesterday completed his £6m move to Birmingham.

'Ben Amos will be our third choice goalkeeper now,' said Ferguson.

'He is very talented and has a good future ahead of him.'

Ferguson is taking a risk by not signing another world-class keeper. First choice Edwin van der Sar will celebrate his 40th birthday in October and his deputy is the inconsistent 28-year-old Poland No 1 Tomasz Kuszczak.

It also seems peculiar that the manager is not willing to spend more of the cash the Glazers insist he has at his disposal as he looks to keep pace with champions Chelsea next season and hold off the challenge he says he expects from Manchester City and Tottenham.

Certainly it was telling towards the end of last season how reliant United remain on not only top scorer Wayne Rooney, but also veterans such as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

Giggs, 36, and Scholes, 35, are in their final years as players and the intention two years ago was to use them sparingly as the likes of Michael Carrick, Ji-sung Park and the Brazilian Anderson came to the fore.

But with Anderson injured and disillusioned with life in England and Carrick and Park sitting on the substitutes' bench, Giggs and Scholes started each of United's final seven league games last season.

This is something that Ferguson can not realistically expect to continue into the next demanding campaign.

He has already bought central defender Chris Smalling from Fulham for £10m and the Mexico forward Javier Hernandez. Yet this may not be enough in a Premier League likely to become even more competitive next season.