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The Sun
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Ballon d'Or-winning Man Utd star Denis Law's will revealed after death aged 84 – with touching gift for his children
FOOTBALL legend Denis Law left a massive £2million fortune as a touching gift to his kids. The former Scotland and Manchester Utd favourite died at the age of 84 in January after a battle with ill health. 4 4 4 Law, who revealed in 2021 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, is immortalised in a statue at Old Trafford alongside George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton. A Ballon d'Or winner in 1964, he won the European Cup, two English titles and the FA Cup in his years at Old Trafford. Born in Aberdeen, Law began his career with Huddersfield Town, had two spells at Manchester City and also played in Italy for Torino. Probate records have revealed he had amassed an estate worth £2,035,475 which will be handed down to his family. A will penned in 2018 ordered his wealth should be given to his wife Diana but she predeceased him. His estate will be handled by his son Andrew and daughter Diana. An earlier statement from the Law family said: "It is with a heavy heart that we tell you our father Denis Law has sadly passed away. "He fought a tough battle but finally he is now at peace. "We would like to thank everyone who contributed to his wellbeing and care, past and much more recently. "We know how much people supported and loved him and that love was always appreciated and made the difference. Thank you." Sir Alex Ferguson led tributes to his fellow Scot. He said: "There is a saying in Scotland, 'who do you think you are? Denis Law?'. "He was the best Scottish player of all time. He was a fantastic player. He epitomises Scotland, fighting away, having a fight in an empty house. He was an incredible human being." Manchester Utd issued a statement following his passing: "Everyone at Manchester United is mourning the loss of Denis Law, the King of the Stretford End, who has passed away, aged 84. "With 237 goals in 404 appearances, he will always be celebrated as one of the club's greatest and most beloved players. "The ultimate goal-scorer, his flair, spirit and love for the game made him the hero of a generation. Our deepest condolences go out to Denis's family and many friends. His memory will live on forever more." Former captain Bryan Robson said: "Denis was more than just a fantastic footballer, he was a fantastic man. So generous with his time and everything delivered with that great sense of humour of his. "He would always be in my greatest ever Manchester United XI. He was a player so many of his peers idolised and with good reason, that iconic image of him with his sleeves pulled down and the one arm salute after scoring." Two giant murals honouring Law have been painted on a high-rise block in Aberdeen. The murals in the Printfield area of the city show him playing for Scotland and Manchester Utd. He is Manchester Utd's third-highest goal scorer of all time behind Wayne Rooney and Charlton with 237 in 404 games, and Scotland's joint top scorer with 30 goals from his 55 caps. 4
BBC News
06-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
How many footballers have been knighted?
Former England captain David Beckham is set to become the 16th men's footballer to be Sport has been told Beckham will become a 'sir' in the King's Birthday Honours list for 2003, Beckham was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to football and he is now set to be awarded a the former footballers to have been knighted are 1966 World Cup winners Geoff Hurst and Bobby Charlton, former Manchester United managers Alex Ferguson and Matt Busby and former England bosses Gareth Southgate, Alf Ramsey and Walter Winterbottom. Every footballer with a knighthood Sir Hubert AshtonLord (Ian) Botham*Sir Trevor BrookingSir Matt BusbySir Bobby CharltonSir Charles CleggSir Kenny DalglishSir Alex FergusonSir Tom FinneySir Geoff HurstSir Stanley MatthewsSir Alf RamseySir Bobby RobsonSir Gareth SouthgateSir Walter WinterbottomThis list excludes honorary on this list has made at least one professional appearance in England's professional leagues.* While Lord Botham was knighted (and then ennobled) for services to cricket, he also made 11 Football League appearances for Scunthorpe article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. What is Ask Me Anything? Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio. More questions answered... When is the Nations League final?How is the Ballon d'Or winner decided?When are the 2025-26 Premier League fixtures released?Why are England playing Andorra in Spain?
The Guardian
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Two decades of the Glazers: a debt of morals at United with football paying the bill
The first time the Glazer family visited Old Trafford, in June 2005, they paid a visit to the megastore. Outside, hundreds of furious Manchester United fans turned up with banners and placards, shouted slogans such as 'Die Glazer die', and a few clashed with police. Inside, the Glazers were doing a spot of – and here we must stretch the word to its broadest possible definition – shopping. For Joel, Avram and Bryan had no intention of doing anything quite as undignified as parting with their own cash. Instead they swarmed the aisles, scooped up armfuls of replica shirts and merchandise, which shop staff dutifully ran through the tills and bagged up. When the time came to leave, the Glazers simply took the bags and left. This was, after all, all their own property, theirs to take and use as they pleased. And as a metaphor for how they intended to run Manchester United over the next 20 years, it is about as good as any. Sir Bobby Charlton would later apologise to the Glazers for the hostile reception they received from fans on their first visit. David Gill, the chief executive who had initially resisted the takeover, was the man who greeted them at their car, smoothed the transition and was rewarded with a doubling of his salary. Sir Alex Ferguson, perhaps the one figure capable of stopping the takeover dead in its tracks, repeatedly refused to do so, telling a bunch of disgruntled fans on a trip to Budapest to 'go and support Chelsea' if they were dissatisfied with the way United were being run. The Labour government, deep in election mode, refused to scrutinise the takeover despite the urging of many of its own MPs. And for all the diligent reporting of the takeover in many sections of the press, there were also plenty of journalists happy to take the inside line in return for a stream of Glazer PR. All of which serves, two decades on, as a reminder that for all their single-minded brazenness, the Glazers did not act alone. On the contrary: at every turn they were abetted by the pliant and the opportunistic, the spineless and the unprincipled. Dissent, whether from outraged fans or concerned directors, was either ignored or extinguished. Contrary to common belief, the Glazers did invest a little of their own money in buying United: much of it raised through refinancing of their retail property empire. But of course the bulk of the purchase was funded by debt. And not simply of the pecuniary kind, either: a debt of morals and safeguards, a debt of oversight and care, a debt of courage and conviction, an original sin for which not just United but English football as a whole is still paying heavily. Ferguson would continue not simply to tolerate the Glazers but to defend them at every opportunity. Seven years later, on a pre-season tour of South Africa, he rounded on United fans who still opposed the regime. 'There are a whole lot of factions at United that think they own the club,' he said. 'The majority of the real fans will look at it realistically and say it's not affecting the team.' Many of Ferguson's quotes have aged like fine wine. This one, it's safe to say, has not. And not simply because performances on the pitch since his departure have shattered the illusion that the United trophy machine and the Glazer cash machine could somehow coexist in perpetuity. For in the sophistic dichotomy between 'real fans' and fans who 'think they own the club' is revealed a pure disdain for the paying public, a vision of the game in which the job of the fan is simply to cheer, to vindicate, while being told exactly what it is they should want. This sense of palpable disenfranchisement is perhaps the most toxic inheritance of the Glazer takeover. Unlike many of English football's big recent takeovers – Chelsea, Manchester City, Newcastle, Arsenal – the sale of United has been loudly and vocally resisted at almost every turn. Many of the more disillusioned fans broke away to set up FC United of Manchester, still fighting the good fight in the Northern Premier League. There was the green and gold movement of 2010, the arrival and swift departure of the Red Knights, the protests of 2021 and 2022, the tireless and often thankless work of supporters' groups. None of which really managed to move the dial. Ineos and Sir Jim Ratcliffe now provide a public face and a handy lightning rod for criticism. Communications between the board and the fanbase have incrementally improved in the days since Gill refused even to engage with fan groups such as the Manchester United Supporters Trust on the basis that they were 'at war with the owners'. There is now long-overdue investment in the training facility and a long-overdue new stadium in the planning. There are, as there always are, fleeting glimpses of promise on the pitch. But the fundamentals of the transaction have not altered. The Glazers are still there, still unmovable, still loading the club with debt and debt interest that totals more than £1bn since the takeover. And £1bn is a lot of money. It would certainly have paid for a lot of the staff laid off so indelicately by Ratcliffe over the past few months. It would have funded significant improvements to Old Trafford. It would have made a very handy transfer war chest for Ruben Amorim. Where can it have gone? Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion By a weird coincidence, £1bn is not a million miles away from the amount of money – net – that the Glazers are estimated to have earned from United in annual dividends and share sales, once you take out their initial outlay. And of course they fattened the asset appreciably in the meantime. The piecemeal sponsorship model – in which every part of the club was essentially reimagined as a high-end advertising space – became the dominant commercial model in the sport. The audacity of purchasing the club using high-interest hedge-fund loans is spoken of in reverentially hushed tones within the game. The reimagination of transfer business as a form of theatre – an instrument not simply of team-building but of branding, clout, supporter PR – is another phenomenon not invented by United but certainly perfected by them. The re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 – a transfer that has to be seen in the context of the Super League protests earlier that year – made no sense for United the team, but was a clear win for United the brand, albeit one that has come with a heavy knock-on cost. This is, or was, your money. It came from your season ticket, your club shop purchase, your satellite television subscription, your Nissin noodle. For all the opacity and financial jargon, perhaps the simplest way of conceiving the Glazer takeover is as a kind of aggressive counter-revolution: a massive direct transfer of wealth from the fan to the owner. And in the process, the sanctification of the principle that a football club does not exist for its public, or for its community, or for its heritage, but purely as a vehicle for generating wealth for one family, for as long as they choose. Have we learned anything in two decades? The leveraged buyout was finally banned in 2023, the independent regulator is finally being winched into existence, and across the sport there is a greater awareness of the dangers of malign ownership, of unaccountable power, of creating a class that is basically untouchable. For all this precious little has changed at United except the league position, except the evaporation of hope and the increasingly forlorn balance sheet. In the meantime, the Glazers continue to sit upon their still-appreciating asset, monarchs atop the throne of rentier capitalism. Meanwhile your club has no money. Your council has no money. Your government has no money. Your family has no money. Everyone you know is fighting ever more bitterly over smaller and smaller slices of what we once comically believed was our common inheritance. The Glazer ownership of Manchester United is a sporting tragedy. But in a way, it's also a parable for where we all went wrong.
New York Times
11-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Man Utd's new stadium plan explained: What will it cost, who is paying for it and how long will it take?
At 10am on Tuesday morning, in an architects' office in London, Manchester United peeled back the curtain and invited the world to look upon their future. The decision has finally been reached to build a new 100,000 capacity stadium, replacing their 115-year Old Trafford home at costs forecast to reach £2billion ($2.59bn). Advertisement Part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe predicted it can 'become the world's greatest football stadium' and the first designs have shown the vast scale of United's ambition. United believe they can build a new place to call home in just five years, helping to drive regeneration of the wider Trafford area and stimulate economic growth. The plans, concluding 12 months of consultations, could hardly be grander. The Athletic examines the key issues as United target a fresh start away from Old Trafford. United have made it clear in the last 12 months that two remedial options were under consideration to restore pride in their home; redeveloping Old Trafford incrementally to bring capacity up to 87,000 or opting for a new build nearby that could house as many as 100,000. The latter has eventually offered greater promise and the least complicated, quicker path. Building on the 100 acres of land that United already own next to Old Trafford will allow for home games to be played without reducing the 74,310 capacity and dismiss the need to temporarily relocate. A new, modern build close by was able to be anything United wished it to be, unbound by the train line that currently runs behind the Sir Bobby Charlton South Stand of Old Trafford. It can also follow the lead of others and be a stage for major outdoor concerts and sporting events beyond rugby league's Grand Final that is currently staged each October. The blank canvas promises to lead United towards a stadium like no other. Three towers, inspired by the Red Devil's trident on the club badge, will hold up a giant canopy that keeps supporters dry inside and outside the stadium. And, more importantly, a new stadium will drive up revenues. Increasing corporate capacities and adding 13,000 more seats than a redeveloped Old Trafford could ever do, United will see millions added to their bottom line each season once they move home. United brought in £137m through matchday revenue in 2023-24, more than any other Premier League club, yet can expect that number to jump north in shiny new surroundings. This is very much the pet project of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of chemical firm INEOS. Although masterplans for a redevelopment were set in motion as far back as 2022, Ratcliffe's arrival as United's single biggest shareholder in February 2024 — he has since increased that stake to 28.9 per cent — accelerated the stadium conversations and led to the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force, chaired by Lord Seb Coe, being established last March. Advertisement Key stakeholders, including Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, spent 12 months exploring options that would include a wider regeneration of the area surrounding United's historic home. Ratcliffe called it a 'once-in-a-century opportunity' to be seized and the big decision to press ahead with a newly-built stadium is ultimately his. The majority of supporters, too, will back the plans. As part of a feasibility study held by the task force, a survey of 50,000 fans suggested that 52 per cent were in favour of a new-build stadium, with only 31 per cent leaning towards a redeveloped Old Trafford and the remainder undecided. It was telling that the Glazer family, who together still own 71 per cent of United, were not referenced once in a lengthy statement announcing plans. An enormous sum of money, inevitably eclipsing any stadium project in the UK. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, opened in 2019, cost in the region of £1billion and the scale of United's plans will inevitably demand greater investment following the rising cost of raw materials, such as concrete and steel, in the last five years. The early estimate, long before a spade is planted in the ground, is for costs to reach £2bn. Real Madrid's Bernabeu home, with its capacity now up to 84,000, offers useful guidance. The renovation was said to have cost £1.51bn according to information released in the club's accounts last March but the reigning Champions League holders can now point towards matchday revenues of £208m a season for validation. United will view their new stadium as a worthy long-term investment but precisely how it will be funded remains unclear. Ratcliffe previously dipped his toe into the water to suggest that central funding might be sought from government around his vision for a 'Wembley of the North' but he has since confirmed that United will fund the stadium build alone. Advertisement The details, though, remain lacking. 'It's still quite early and as a PLC we can't speculate too much about the funding,' the club's chief executive Omar Berrada said at the club's presentation in London on Tuesday morning. 'What I will say is, as a centrepiece, it is a very attractive investment opportunity. We are very confident we will find a way to finance the stadium.' Naming rights, of course, could go some way to paying the builder's bills. United would likely earn in the region of £15m a year if they were to hand over the name of their new stadium to a commercial partner, something they had not previously entertained at Old Trafford. External loans would be unavoidable without huge equity funding from Ratcliffe and the Glazers, who have consistently resisted that approach in their 20 years as owners. United do not have the funds to even begin to think about funding it alone. Ratcliffe again offered up an alarming assessment of the club's finances on Monday night, with £300m currently owed in outstanding transfer fees and existing debts incurring annual interest payments of £35m. Borrowing money is not as cheap as it used to be, either. Interest rates on the funding of Spurs' stadium stand at 2.75 per cent after long-term loans were arranged before Covid-19 altered the financial landscape but the Bank of England base rate is currently 4.5 per cent. Borrowing money, in short, now costs significantly more. The one benefit for United is that they already own the site on which a new stadium will be built. Small mercies. Unique, if nothing else. The first conceptual images and scale models of United's proposed new home were revealed on Tuesday morning at the London offices of masterplanners Foster + Partners, the architects founded by Mancunian Sir Norman Foster. Advertisement A vast 'umbrella' design will cover the entire stadium, held up by three supporting towers. A tree-lined approach will stretch from the site of the existing Old Trafford, replicating Olympic Way at Wembley, while there will also be a public plaza twice the size of Trafalgar Square. And it will be big. Among the biggest in the world, in fact. English football has not known a 100,000-capacity stadium since Wembley's capacity was trimmed in 1985 and United will be able to house a third more supporters than the 74,310 they are currently able to at Old Trafford. Barcelona's Camp Nou, currently undergoing its own costly rebuild, would be the only bigger stadium in Europe at 105,000. A project of this size typically takes between six and 10 years from feasibility studies to completion, but United's bold prediction is for the build to be done in five years from now. The basis for that optimism is the use of a modular design. Foster suggested there could be 160 components built off site and pieced together when transported up the Manchester Ship Canal, which will run alongside one edge of the new stadium. Ratcliffe drew a comparison with the vast Project ONE site under construction by INEOS, the petrochemical firm he owns, in Antwerp. That has seen parts built in Abu Dhabi, Indonesia and Thailand and transported to the site. 'If we get going, I think it is a five-year project rather than a 10-year,' Ratcliffe said about United's new stadium on Tuesday. That, in theory, could see United moving home in time for the 2030-31 season but there were caveats added about the need for legislative and planning support. It will be a long road to that point. In-depth planning proposals will have to be submitted and funding secured long before ground is broken on the site. Everton, for example, will play their first Premier League game at their new home almost exactly four years after they planted a first ceremonial spade in the ground at the Bramley-Moore Dock site in August 2020. Advertisement That is currently unclear. United Women currently play the majority of their home games at Leigh Sports Village, with occasional WSL games in the 2024-25 season being staged at Old Trafford. The next of those is due to be the Manchester derby against City on May 4 but much will depend on the levels of demand. The laborious phase of planning will soon begin, with United having to provide in-depth plans to Trafford Council on how they will manage an increased capacity and how a new structure would look beyond the conceptual designs. That will require a wider consultation period, with the chance for local residents to make their objections, but the support already shown by local stakeholders, including Trafford Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Burnham, would suggest there will be ample support for United's plans to move forward. The framing of United's statement on Tuesday morning was pointed. Rather than merely announcing their ambitious plans for a new 100,000 stadium, the opening line spoke of a club 'throwing its support behind the (UK) Government's growth agenda.' This has always been about more than just a stadium for Ratcliffe and the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force he established last year. United's new home would be the centrepiece but this has always been earmarked to become a wider, transformative project. Comparisons have been drawn with the regeneration of Stratford in East London for the 2012 Olympic Games, with new life breathed into an area of Greater Manchester that has been left to decay. The clear aim is revitalise the area between Trafford Park and Salford Quays, with a new stadium acting as the catalyst for the wider community. Outline proposals would include space for 17,000 new homes, as well as opportunities for business, retail and entertainment to cater for an estimated 1.8m visitors each year. Findings from the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force suggested that 'an extra £7.3bn gross value could be added to the UK economy and more than 90,000 employment opportunities' when accounting for all aspects of the project beyond a rebuilt home for United. Coe has called it 'one of the biggest regeneration projects ever undertaken in the UK.' Advertisement And that is where Ratcliffe wants the UK government to step forward. In January, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves gave her public backing to the redevelopment of Old Trafford, 'which promises to create new housing and commercial development around a new stadium to drive regeneration and growth in the area.' Reeves also pledged to expand Heathrow airport and create 'Europe's Silicon Valley' between Oxford and Cambridge but United will now expect government backing to their wider project. 'I think they want to get going quite quickly, they want to see progress this term,' said Ratcliffe on Tuesday. It was no coincidence that the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force saw it necessary to display their vision at both the Labour and Conservative party conferences in the autumn. The political games began long ago. United might have been looking for unanimous support to their plans but there was some scepticism in the hours that followed the grand plans being announced. The Manchester Untied Supporters Trust (MUST) called the designs 'both stunning and exciting' but curbed their enthusiasm. 'Against the backdrop of uncertainty around next year's ticket prices, continuing poor performance on the field, speculation around sales of key young players, and the recent financial results, the news probably does beg more questions than it gives clear answers,' said a MUST statement. It added: 'Until the questions are answered, our optimism about plans to make Old Trafford the biggest and the best again will be restrained by caution about what the consequences for fans might be.' The build-up to United's Premier League game with Arsenal on Sunday, a fixture that ended 1-1, underlined the rising anger towards the club's owners. The grievances are abundant but among them is the rising cost of tickets at Old Trafford. Advertisement One fans group, The 1958, organised a protest in December after it was announced that some matchday tickets would rise to £66 mid-season, with no concessions for children or elderly fans. That was called a 'clear exploitation of our loyal fan base,' by the group in a letter to United's chief executive Berrada. The cost of season tickets for the 2023-24 season had already been increased by five per cent after 11 years of freezes and Ratcliffe admitted on Monday that another small rise was coming for next season. Premier League games at Old Trafford have not been impacted, largely owing to the 51,000 season ticket holders, but the recent FA Cup tie at home to Fulham did see a marked fall in attendance. Just 67,614 were there to see a meek exit from the competition United won at Wembley last May, pointing towards growing dissatisfaction among the fan base. United's home since 1910 will be no more. All the history and romance of Old Trafford will make way for modernity, with the old structures demolished once the new stadium is ready for United to move. The 100,000-capacity replacement will be close enough for Old Trafford to remain United's spiritual home but there can be no place for the old stands to remain now that the biggest decision of all has been made. A decision will also have to be made on what happens to the statues of Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby and the 'Holy Trinity' of Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best which stand outside the ground. Sir Alex Ferguson, the most decorated manager in United's history said: 'Old Trafford holds so many special memories for me personally, but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made.' (Top images: Manchester United)
