Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger today urged panicking Manchester United supporters not to crucify Malcolm Glazer before he has even set foot in the door at Old Trafford.
Hundreds of United supporters congregated outside the ground last night to protest at Glazer's proposed £790million takeover of the club, burning season ticket renewal forms and an effigy of the American tycoon.
Glazer has taken his stake in the club to 74.81% over the last 24 hours and today officially launched a formal takeover bid that is to be funded by borrowed money.
Fans, angry their club is poised to be taken from them, fear Glazer's involvement will be its death knell.
But just over a week before Arsenal meet United in the FA Cup final, Wenger said: "I don't agree that Manchester United will fall apart for the simple fact that if you invest £790million into something, do you want to destroy that capital? No. Why should he want to destroy the club?
"Football is at an intermediate stage where we are going from a guy who loved the club and supports it to a completely economic state where people are not linked anymore with their heart and the club.
"There is a reluctance from Manchester United supporters at the moment. The United fans have a feeling that he is not really in love with the club. There is a reluctance and the hurdle is more psychological than realistic. They are a public company and they have to accept that if the main shareholders sell. That's what happens."
Malcolm Glazer's son Joel, who is believed to be fronting the takeover bid, issued a statement today claiming the family are avid supporters of Manchester United.
Those remarks were immediately questioned by Mark Longden, spokesmen for the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association, who described them as an insult to human intelligence.
But Wenger questioned why United supporters are so sceptical of a man who has fought tooth and nail to invest heavily in an industry where making money is so difficult.
"It's difficult for me to understand how a guy who has no special interest in football fights so hard to take command of the club," said Wenger. "Why does he fight so much to invest £800m in a company where, in my opinion, he cannot make a lot of money?
"The last country where you can make money in football right now is England."
