[Tommyjw]

[DaveSmith99]

The tartan gets worse every time I see it

[Kevmeister]

(Original post by DaveSmith99)
The tartan gets worse every time I see it

Haha, I think it looks better [from behind] with numbers/names on it!

Still won't buy one, though. I want last season's away kit.

[VQG]

I liked our 10/11 kit, I like collars. I think they look quite classy. Wasn't a fan of last years kit as well, looked strangely uncomfortable. Saying that I haven't bought United shirt since I was about 13.

[rohitbd]

Kagawa has been nominated for fifa world player of the year along with the usual others, just shows how good this guy is as none of our other players got nominated, we needed someone like a silver/ozil and kagawa is just that.
Here are the others.

Spoiler:

Show

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mario Balotelli, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Didier Drogba, Falcao, Karim Benzema, Yaya Toure, Eden Hazard, Iker Casillas, Gigi Buffon, Xabi Alonso, Andrea Pirlo and Mesut Özil.

Disappointed with pogba's departure I really thought he might have gotten a chance to start this season alongside carrick and behind kagawa, just hope Ferguson does buy a more defensive minded midfielder so we can play the 4-2-3-1 formation when needed.

Great news for Valencia getting the no 7, totally deserves it with the season gone and his great attitude.

Nani apparently wants to get his contract sorted out in 2 weeks, we have to keep him at all costs in my opinion, the most gifted player at United, but if he does want to leave I wouldn't take any less than £40 mil after the Euro he's just had, especially as hulk could go for about £38 mil when he's older than Nani.

[DaveSmith99]

Decent post from Redcafe explaining the IPO in a little more detail

Investors typcally hate being prejudiced against. I work at a bank in London and typically have to convince clients that want to keep a tight leash over voting control that it is a bad idea. I mean, i have a portfolio of companies that I invest in personally but I would never enter into a position like that even if i am only owning 0.0000001% of a company and my vote would matter little anyway.

Nevertheless, the dual share structure has worked for some companies. The Murdoch run News International as a good example. If you ignore the battering their share price has taken post the failed Bskyb bid and post the phone hacking scandal, it was a very successful media company despite its obviously flawed share structure.

I would point out a few things in case people are wondering, I have only skimmed over the short-form prospectus atm so can't be too thorough. Sorry if you knew this already, I don't mean to patronise.

The actual amount raised will be more than US$100. I phoned my mate at Jefferies in London and he said he would ask around as he knows a few people @ the NY office. Initial thoughts were this could be over US$500m, and anywhere up to US$1bn. It all depends on investor demand. If they can get the price they want (i will come onto this in a minute) then I can definitely see them flogging US$1bn. This is for 2 reasons. The first is that share sales are expensive. (genius) Let me elaborate. The cost of MUFC listing in NY without any sale of shares will still be high. Listing fees, acc fees, legal fees. That whole document of 283 pages would have been prepared even if they weren't selling any shares at all. That is required just to list as a public company. Therefore it is cost effective to split your fixed costs (those mentioned above) over as large a transaction size as possible. The only cost that will increase is the listing fees (negligably) and underwriting fees (massively). They also do not have the problem of losing control of the company (as outlined above). Basically, if demand is there, they will make the most of it. We won't know the banking fees until the underwriting agreement is finalised. Typically in the US legal fees are lower than the UK but banking fees are higher.

Markets are picking up nicely at the moment. The IPO market is still pretty lethargic after a really promising start to the year. Still a lot of anger about following the Facebook debacle so there is some weariness that may detract from our valuation. Morgan stanley off the syndicate was a good move; they were one of the main protagonists for the Facebook valuation and so are keeping their head down at the moment. Could be other reasons like they didn't agree with the Glazer's valuation though - proven by the existence of Jefferies as the lead bookrunner (unusual to say the least) as smaller banks like Jefferies suggest higher valuations to get onto syndicates they wouldn't otherwise have got anywhere near. I have absolutely no idea baout valuations at this point, but the banks must be nearing the Glazer's estimation for this to be proceeding now - 90 days to get it done.

The risk factors. Whilst it might look all doom and gloom, the factors listed in this section as 'threats' to the business is just complete legal *******s that covers the companys backs should a doomsday scenario occur. They are just used to inform potential investors of the absolute worst case scenario so that they can't be sued should that 0.000001% chance of it occurring actually happen. Things like the Premier League/Sky may fold, we might lose all our sponsors etc. Nothing whatsoever to get worried about.

Dividend policy. Very good bit of news. No dividends will be payable to holders of A Shares for the foreseeable future. Whilst this is not 'binding' in the sense that dividends may be paid in the future at least it shows that the Glazers see the need to retain any profits in the near future for investment in players, and to pay down any debt (if there is any left) after the IPO. However, hidden away in the doc is a sneaky little £10m dividend paid to the Glazers in April of this year.

Use of proceeds. ALL OF THE PROCEEDS WILL BE USED TO PAY DOWN DEBT. WOOP!

Over-allotment option. Once the size of the offering has been clarified and the bookbuild is finished (the order book), the banks may sell additional shares on top of the total amount to be raised to satisfy demand in the secondary market. Essentially -the Glazers will only get any cash after all of the new shares have been sold, and it will be their existing shares that they are selling.

Management/consultancy fees. We paid c.£10m in total to the Glazers for these 'services' in the last 12 months. Again not great but not the end of the world. This kind of thing does not go down well at all with investors when the existing principal shareholder pays himself through the premise of 'consulting'. It certainly wouldn't be very attractive were it to remain in place but thankfully the plc will dispense with these 'services' prior to listing so no more hidden payments made to them.

Cayman Islands incorporation. Means absolutely nothing. No doubt newspaper boards will be full of "they don't even pay tax in this country, the robbing bastards" and we will ge the Jimmy Carr treatment. Fact of the matter is that we will be paying tax in the US (lower than the UK, but not Jersey low) so we will still be paying tax, just not in this country. Purely for capital gains tax reasons I believe although I am no where near knowledgable enough to confirm (lawyer in our team deals with all that nonsense).

Sorry for the long post. My dad rang me up to ask what was going on with it so assumed there might be others who are curious.

[TheInvincibles14]

Andy Green ‏@andersred
A few "wow" figures in #MUFC doc. "New media and mobile" revenue £17m. Arsenal's total commercial income from all sources is only £46m.....

Incredible...

[Tommyjw]

Valencia Paradox

[doggyfizzel]

PRSOM, that is classic. I still don't understand how he is able to bamboozle full back so often. The guy only has a right foot, isn't a great shot and hardly has an array of tricks. One of the most limited, but valuable and effective players we have.

[SirMasterKey]

(Original post by VQG)
I liked our 10/11 kit, I like collars. I think they look quite classy. Wasn't a fan of last years kit as well, looked strangely uncomfortable. Saying that I haven't bought United shirt since I was about 13.

I had the white 2008/2009 shirt bought for me a couple of years ago and only United shirt I have bought was the 2009/2010 one with the black V for a couple of pounds as it came into my charity shop. Was awesome that it was such a great fit.

[TRS-T]

England fan in peace.

Where do you think Rooney should play for England?

#9 or #10?

[Tommyjw]

"United have signed Atletico Madrid's 18-year-old Spanish goalkeeper Rodrigo Alvarez. "

Loan out Amos/Johnstone and bring this guy in i suppose?

[IanLim93]

(Original post by TRS-T)
England fan in peace.

Where do you think Rooney should play for England?

#9 or #10?

I think it'll depend on how promising english players develop next season. Cleverley and Wilshire will be the ones to watch. Mcchearn from Chelsea spend half a season at Swansea sitting on the bench but if he continues to progress could see him enter the squad.

If Cleverley and Wilshire develop well we could perharps see Rooney being put up front on his own.

However in the short term i do think he'll continue to be the link between the midfield and striker due to the fact he always drops back to get on the ball. The emergence of Welbeck also forces Rooney to drop back a bit.

Realisticlly who do you guys think will be our remaining summer signings? Surprised Berba hasnt been picked up yet.

[JJames]

(Original post by Tommyjw)
"United have signed Atletico Madrid's 18-year-old Spanish goalkeeper Rodrigo Alvarez. "

Loan out Amos/Johnstone and bring this guy in i suppose?

Is there a source? I've been looking for one and all I have found is his supposed Twitter account @Aalvarez__1. His info says 'MUFC. Busby Babe' and he tweeted thanking United fans.

[Tommyjw]

(Original post by JJames)
Is there a source? I've been looking for one and all I have found is his supposed Twitter account @Aalvarez__1. His info says 'MUFC. Busby Babe' and he tweeted thanking United fans.

Only english one ive seen

For reference i view all news/sources from here

[rohitbd]

It looks like Van persie is going to leave arsenal for cheap as well as he's got one year left in his contract especially with the way he left he is leaving, completely shocked and kind of hate how he has just ditched arsenal after all those years they tolerated him being injured, I can already see city offering 250K a week.

[VQG]

(Original post by rohitbd)
It looks like Van persie is going to leave arsenal for cheap as well as he's got one year left in his contract especially with the way he left he is leaving, completely shocked and kind of hate how he has just ditched arsenal after all those years they tolerated him being injured, I can already see city offering 250K a week.

It's not really shocking though is it? He wants to win trophies and he's going to be 29 in August, so his 'peak years' are running out. He'll move somewhere where he'll win trophies - City seems a safe bet as they'll be challenging for trophies for a while.

I think Arsenal were already prepared for his exit anyway - they only play one striker up front, so signing Giroud to match Van Persies ambitions seemed like a strange move.

[rohitbd]

(Original post by VQG)
It's not really shocking though is it? He wants to win trophies and he's going to be 29 in August, so his 'peak years' are running out. He'll move somewhere where he'll win trophies - City seems a safe bet as they'll be challenging for trophies for a while.

I think Arsenal were already prepared for his exit anyway - they only play one striker up front, so signing Giroud to match Van Persies ambitions seemed like a strange move.

I actually thought he would've stayed, he might go to another club and win trophies but where will he get the support and love that he does at arsenal, and will probably not become a legend anywhere else.

[Tommyjw]

Robin the red: Ferguson lines up bid for Van Persie but first he must fight off City

It begins.

[DH1']

(Original post by Tommyjw)
Robin the red: Ferguson lines up bid for Van Persie but first he must fight off City

It begins.

There's this from the Mirror on Lucas Moura too. Don't see why we'd buy/need either of them tbh, just the usual summer transfer nonsense. That said, i do think Moutinho would be a good buy in central midfield, hopefully he isn't too expensive.