5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for all football fans

m.c. · 3 May 2025

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } Very well written, just shows how your club could be taken over by people who don’t actually care about football just money

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but

A.C. · 7 June 2025

Good but a bit repetitive

5.0 out of 5 stars The things you learn

K.C. · 18 March 2025

When you think you know football, trust me there is always something else. Many great features and insights. A big thanks for the mention it got on Talk Sport for bringing it to my attention.

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended

G.i.w.l.t.h.f. · 23 March 2025

Haven’t read yet but recommended

5.0 out of 5 stars Rock of Gibraltar.... i hope it was worth it?!

2. · 7 March 2025

A MUST read for every genuine United fan.......

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Important

G.W. · 30 October 2023

Football business books can often be dry, didactic and ultimately boring and hard to get your head around if you are not The Swiss Ramble or Kieron Maguire.This is an exception to the rule as it managed to be entertaining, thorough and informative all at the same time.The author is an experienced financial journalist as well as being a committed Fulham fan - well nobody is perfect - and he mines his extensive contacts on both sides of the pond to tell the story of Manchester United and its financial travails over the past decades.It is important to put the club's current situation in its historical context and this is done impeccably and will not make for easy reading if your surname happens to be "Edwards". The Whole Ferguson racehorse ownership mess is also dissected and seen as a catalyst that opened the door for the chaos that followed.The author delves deeply into the background of the Glazers and explains their modus operandi exceptionally well and clearly and if the club had done their proper due diligence then perhaps they would not have been initially welcomed into the fold.Bang up to date and topical too, this is well worth a read.Highly recommended!

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping - even if you loathe football

H.M. · 26 February 2024

I begin with a confession - I bought this book not out of any fondness for the subject matter, but out of casual interest because I am a childhood friend of Chris Blackhurst. I have zero problem with anyone else liking it, but I personally find football monumentally boring, and second only to tennis as a pointless hogger of the television schedules. I thus braced myself for a turgid read, even if the author is an old friend. How wrong I was - within a page I was gripped and I found myself swept along. I will not discuss the contents, because it will spoil the plot if you don’t know the story. The book moves along like a good page-turning thriller, but with the added bonus that at the end you will have a far better insight into the workings of the sports industry. Very warmly recommended, and were I still lecturing, I’d be recommending this book to students as a model of good factual writing style.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Insights and a warning to us all.

M.V. · 9 September 2024

Thoroughly enjoyed and devoured in 2 days. I’m no Man U fan but it’s a book for any football supporter whose club can be bought and it’s soul devoured. The egos, the money, the entitlement and ignorance of men with no true connections to our clubs is a warning shot to us all. Recommended read.

A True Soccer fan's damning Insights on the Conquest of Manchester United

J.A. · 4 November 2023

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } There will never be a better book about the Glazers’ conquest of Manchester United than this account by Chris Blackhurst. A top business journalist, with forensic knowledge of business cultures on both sides of the Atlantic, Blackhurst is also a died-in-the-wool English soccer supporter (Fulham FC, Barrow FC).His unique unravelling of this extraordinary story spares no-one, including the soccer manager revered by fans whose dispute over a racehorse opened the door to US corporate raiders buying the World’s greatest football club with its own money.Football will never be the same again.

Fascinating history and background research

A.C. · 3 October 2024

Very in-depth research and many interesting anecdotes from interviews that were conducted.Chris is an outstanding journalist and this excellent book is a fascinating read of the history of one of the world‘s greatest clubs.

How the beautiful game lost its soul to greed.

I.H.S. · 3 June 2024

A brilliant book. Highly recommended for every football fan in Britain. How the beautiful game lost its soul to greed with the unwitting complicity of the English football authorities.The book explains how greed has caused the once great Manchester United to become a cash machine for the Glazers, who have loaded the club with almost £1 billion in debt, and have taken £700 million out of the club in dividends. But no money has been made available to repair the leaks in the roof of Old Trafford nor to upgrade the ageing training facilities.I was left wondering where it will lead to, and why the Premier League and FA allowed it to happen in the first place.

informative

G. · 1 November 2023

I would have liked to see more of the author’s personal opinions about how football and ownership have historically related. Perhaps comparing the glazer’s to the stewardship of other colourful owners

Weak

K.C. · 21 June 2024

While an interesting story this book is overall quite weak.There are a few factual inaccuracies which any Man United fan can spot (relatively immaterial in the overall context though and to be fair the author is not a Man United fan).Book revealed nothing new, nothing that hadn't already been reported multiple times over across multiple different sources (press, fanzines, other books etc).He keeps referring to the horse as if that had something to do with the Glazers buying man United. In reality even if the horse hadn't existed, the shares would simply have been owned by other investors who would have likely sold given the premium that was paid.Disappointed to see many needless references to the fact that the Glazers are Jewish when discussing them negatively, adds nothing to the understanding of the story but displays a subtle undertone of or a hint of racism.Shows ignorance of the business world and SEC filings and treats mandatory disclosures that all public companies must make as some kind of "gotcha" moment or big secret being revealed.Could / should have been better