Glazers put £137m of Manchester United shares up for sale

The owners of Manchester United are selling 9.5 million shares, valued at around £137m.

In a notice to the New York Stock Exchange last night (October 5), directors Kevin and Edward Glazer announced the sale, which will not involve any of the proceeds going to the club.

In March this year Avram Glazer sold £70m worth of shares in the club.

The latest sale is worth about eight per cent of the Glazer family’s total combined ownership, which now stands at 69%.

The share sales follow a pledge by United co-chairman, Joel Glazer, that the family would divest itself of some shares and offer them for wider sale following protests over the club’s involvement in the failed European Super League earlier this year.

Five months ago a Premier League game against Liverpool had to be abandoned after United fans protested against the move at their Old Trafford ground.

After the proposed new league collapsed, Joel Glazer apologised to United fans, admitting the board had “got it wrong, and we want to show that we can put things right”.

Joel Glazer has since attended Fans Forums where he pledged to open up share ownership to fans.

In June he announced that the club had initiated a direct dialogue with Manchester United Supporters Trust with the aim of identifying a mutually beneficial Fan Share Scheme involving a new class of shares which will each carry the same voting rights as the shares owned by the Glazer family.

He said this would establish a foundation for supporters to build a meaningful ownership stake and create a new spirit of partnership with the club.

In September, he said implementing a share scheme was “rather complex”, but said “we’re jumping those hurdles” and he hoped to bring the initiative to a conclusion “in the not-too-distant future”.

United shares fell on the news of the sale from an opening price of $19.70 per share to $19.55, before recovering to $19.62.