Charles Sale: Uniteds cold calls hunt capital gains

Published: 14 Apr 2009 - 00:15:11

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Charles Sale: Uniteds cold calls hunt capital gains

The need for Manchester United to maximise their earning power hasseen the growth of their London commercial offices, from where a teamof sales personnel are making cold calls to companies around the globeto drum up extra business. The extraordinary £511million worth of debt that the owning Glazerfamily have dumped on the club means that United must bring in £45.5m ayear just to pay the interest on the loans. Hard times? Joel, Bryan and Michael Glazer More from ... VIEW FULL ARCHIVE This has seen United build up their separate London operation overthe last year. It now has a staff of more than 20, who are devoted tothe commercial aspect of the club. The executive pyramid is headed bychief of staff Ed Woodward, and he reports to the Glazer headquartersin Florida rather than United chief executive David Gill, whoconcentrates on the football side of the operation. A plush London base which costs around £5m a year to run is seen as an attraction to the foreign investorsUnited are courting with such urgency. But the Manchester club do notadvertise the location of their offices near Trafalgar Square for fearof inciting rival fans although United have as many supporters in thecapital as they do in Manchester. The most surprising addition to the IOC co-ordinating committee, making one of their bi-annual checks on London 2012 progress this week, is Wang Wei, the sinister spokesperson for the Beijing Games. He dead-batted every question from the international media during the Olympics that wasn't China positive, as well as cancelling the daily press briefing whenever possible. On his last appearance, he signed off by saying the foreign press were biased with little knowledge of China or Tibet. If London listen to WW's advice, they must have a lot to hide. Friction: Golden boy Gary There was no disguising the reported friction that exists between BBC's golf anchor, Gary Lineker, and ancient pundit Peter Alliss during the Masters coverage, even if there was a good half-mile between their commentary positions at the Augusta National. Alliss, who famously marked Lineker with four out of 10 for his presenting of the Masters, didn't seem too pleased when Lineker, having been talking about Robin Hood, flippantly called him: 'Our very own Friar Tuck.' Also irritated by Lineker were Masters viewers, who had purposely avoided finding out the football scores so that they could enjoy the Match of the Day highlights, only for Gary to announce while interviewing Arsenal fan Ian Poulter that his team had beaten Wigan 4-1. And analyst Sam Torrance should know better than describing American Todd Hamilton, the 2004 Open champion, as a Canadian. The combination of new Head of Sport Barbara Slater and Head of North Peter Salmon, who once picked Dirty Den from EastEnders to introduce the golf segment during the Sports Personality of the Year show, looks like doing nothing to end the celebrity however minor obsession on the Beeb. The woeful interviewing techniques during the Masters of the overawed Shane O'Donoghue, an Irish TV host who stars in a Flora commercial with Padraig Harrington, made one even wish Hazel Irvine hurries back from maternity leave. Turnberry off the pace The Turnberry golf course hotel, which changed builders during the winter, is in danger of becoming yet another construction project at a major UK sports venue - think Wembley and the South Stand Hotel at Twickenham - which doesn't finish on time. Turnberry hotel staff claim the renovation is still on course for all 216 rooms to be ready for The Open on July 16. But locals say there is no chance of that happening, such is the amount of building work still to do. Turnberry have had since September 2005, when they were awarded this year's Open, to get the course hotel ready. There are so many conditioning coaches and physios working at Manchester City that insiders say the personnel count in manager Mark Hughes's back-up team matches the army of helpers employed by Sam Allardyce when he was boss of Bolton Wanderers.