‘US-based Man U owners forced to pay debts without using club funds’

LONDON - Manchester United’s US-based owners have been forced to repay the club’s high-interest 220 million pound payment in kind (PIK) loan without using club funds, the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) has said.

MUST Chief Executive Duncan Drysdale said that Man U co-chairman Joel Glazer and his family would have raided the club’s coffers, but decided against it fearing another public backlash.

“We all believe the Glazers would have used the money from the Cristiano Ronaldo sale and anything else they could get their hands on to pay this latest debt,” the Sun quoted Drysdale, as saying.But when you see adverts in the national and local Press offering tickets for our next three home games - on top of protests about their handling of the club - there’s no way they can risk alienating even more supporters,” he added.

Earlier, in a statement accompanying its first-quarter results, the club’s holding company- Red Football Joint Venture Ltd- had confirmed that the Glazer family has not taken money out of the club to pay off the loan.

“The board can confirm that there has been no dividend of club cash,” the statement said. (ANI)