THE GLAZER FAMILY allegedly considered giving Manchester United fans VOICE METERS to wear in order to award free tickets to the loudest-singing supporters.
That is according to a new book ‘titled The World’s Biggest Cash Machine: Manchester United, The Glazers, and the Struggle for Football’s Soul’ which is released this week.
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The Americans bought the Red Devils for £790 million back in 2005 in a controversial highly leveraged deal that has been heavily criticised since for loading United with debt.
Despite them selling 10 per cent of their holding via the 2012 US listing and more shares since, they still currently maintain a majority ownership.
Angry supporters have staged a number of protests over recent years trying to get them to sell and thought they had gotten their wish in November when they announced it was up for sale.
Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe has agreed a £1.35billion deal for a 25 per cent takeover of the Red Devils.
The 70-year-old’s bid was initially expected to be given the green light in a board meeting last week after Sheikh Jassim withdrew from the race.
Despite a slight delay to that being confirmed, the Ineos chief wants to be granted control of football operations at United and is hoping to be in charge for the January transfer window.
However, despite the ill-feeling and anger towards the Glazers at matches, there was reportedly a time that the unpopular owners wanted to give the fans another reason to make noise.
In a groundbreaking idea, they allegedly considered letting fans in Old Trafford for nothing as long as they sang their hearts out.
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That is the revelation in this new book that looks at some of the ploys the Glazers have thought up during the reign.
Author Chris Blackhurst claims that club chiefs looked at allowing punters on the Stretford End and East End in for free so long as they had an impact on the atmosphere.
They allegedly believed that enhancing the crowd noise would add to the experience of those in hospitality as well as viewers watching on TV from home.
And that led to some board members wanting to give fans voice meters on lanyards at matches in order to record them singing for a set period of time at a certain volume.
And if those targets were met, then the cost of their tickets would be covered by United.
However, that audacious plan never failed to materialise and the Glazers have now ensured that the Red Devils are one of seven Premier League teams that charge over £1000 for some season tickets.
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