What Next For Man. United?

The Glazers' ownership of Manchester United has been nothing if not controversial.

Nearly 10 years have passed since they bought the club, but will we see another decade with the reclusive American family in charge?

The late Malcolm Glazer's six children, who own United, have four basic options going forward.

1. Do nothing - reinvest profits into the club to spend on players and pay down debt

2. Continue selling small portions of shares on the New York Stock Exchange and retain control. Keep the money raised for themselves or put it back into the club

3. Turn United back into a fully public company by floating the whole club on the stock market, enabling the Glazers to exit at a profit

4. Sell the club to a private individual or consortium and potentially take a considerable profit

All this week North West Tonight has been talking to experts about Manchester United's future - what do they think will happen?

Jim O'Neill, former board member who led the Red Knights consortium's takeover attempt in 2010

"If somebody came to them with the right price they would sell.

"This is an asset to them - it is not something that they are interested in in terms of what Manchester United really means to most people."

Would he support another takeover attempt if it put fan-ownership at the heart of the club?

"I would always be interested in supporting something like that. Whether it was something I would get directly involved in kind of depends on a whole host of different things."

What does he thinks the Glazers will do next?

"Close to this valuation (around £2 billion) there are very few individuals in the world that could genuinely afford it from a cash perspective.

"There may be others that can try and take a lot of leverage too and replicate the same model.

"I know there are constantly people trying to do that. That could happen at some stage.

"I suppose it is possible they could bring it back to a true public float. If I think of the different paths - if they don't find some buyer from the planet Jupiter - maybe that is the path they may end up pursuing in terms of an exit.

"But it is very unpredictable."

Andy Green, financial analyst and United fan

He is critical of the Glazers' approach to United but says in business terms they have been successful.

"They have done exceptionally well," said Mr Green.

"They have already made back most of what they put in in 2005 and they still have complete control of Manchester United and own the vast majority of it.

"Now they're listed on the New York Stock Exchange they have got a wonderful money-making machine.

"They can sell batches of shares to investors, giving up almost no control, and pocket the proceeds.

"So I suspect they will continue, as and when they can, to carry on selling shares in the club."

He thinks the Glazers should do more to invest in players and the club.

"They have had to spend a huge amount on transfers in the last two years. It's a reflection that they under-invested in the squad for many years.

"It's become accepted that they are not going anywhere. This investment we have seen in the last two years is great but what we need to see is regular investment every year.

"United is the richest football club in the world and should be competing at the highest level, but to do that you have to invest regularly."

Philip Hall, consultant to football investors, Spotlight Equity Partners

"It seems like [the] status quo [will continue] at Old Trafford from my perspective, from an ownership perspective," said the man who represented John Henry in his takeover of Liverpool.

"I don't see anything on the horizon that tells me Manchester United is for sale."

But if the Glazers did start looking for a buyer in the future, with a valuation of at least £2 billion placed on the club, where would they look?

"You look towards Asia and some of those markets where you have a lot of billionaires being minted every day who are certainly big Man Utd fans, so that might be an area," said Mr Hall.

"And then you might also have a media company or a company that owns big brands - they might say 'hey, we see an opportunity here'."

Sam Hamadeh, Founder of Privco

"Over time, we think they are going to continue to pull out cash from the company by selling small pieces," said Mr Hamadeh, who specialises in valuing largely private companies like Manchester United.

"Those people will be buying the stock and putting cash into the Glazer family's pockets while the Glazer family gets to control Man Utd and gets to be the public face of the company."

Credit: BBC