Reaction of the fans: They think it's all over . . . and they could be right, writes Mary Hannigan
When the Manchester United players and manager Alex Ferguson did their end-of-season lap of honour around Old Trafford on Tuesday night, they found themselves waving at largely empty stands, most of the supporters long since departed after a 3-1 defeat to recently-crowned Premiership champions Chelsea.
It was a defeat that just about put the cap on a woeful season, by their standards through the past decade, for United. Things couldn't possibly get any worse, the consensus appeared to be.
Well, in the eyes of most United supporters, they did just that yesterday with the news that Malcolm Glazer had bought the 28.7 per cent stake in the club owned by JP McManus and John Magnier, bringing his personal stake to 56.9 per cent.
And then they watched as he spent the rest of the day snapping up thousands more shares, bringing him ever closer to the 75 per cent target that would give him complete and unchallengeable control of the club.
Those "Not For Sale" banners that United supporters have displayed at recent games when they voiced their opposition to Glazer's interest in the club may as well have been binned. United, it would seem, had been sold.
Football supporters tend not to respond to developments of this nature in a calm manner, so the widespread conclusion, as repeatedly articulated yesterday, was: "This is the end of Manchester United as we know it."
If Glazer was an American Roman Abramovich, the man whose personal fortune has resulted in Chelsea becoming the new force in English football, his takeover of the club might have been greeted somewhat more enthusiastically.
But he's not; he's a man who the experts say will have to borrow £300 million to finance his purchase of the shares, and, consequently, will put a debt-free club in to the red overnight.
And whatever doubts there may be about Abramovich's long- term intentions at Chelsea, he does appear to be a man besotted with football, one who has made the club his favourite toy.
Glazer has no such reputation as evidenced by his record at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the American football club he owns.
One of his first acts there? To threaten to move the "franchise" out of Tampa if the city didn't build him a new stadium. The city bowed to his demands; its taxpayers footing the bill.
As well as paying increased ticket prices to watch the team; another of Glazer's early moves.
While many of the voiced objections to Glazer's interest in United have had a colourful anti-US slant to them, there is a fear that he will view this English sporting institution as merely a "franchise" and "global brand" rather than a "football club".
There are those, of course, who argue that United has long since been a "franchise", that from the day it became a "PLC" this was an inevitable and highly-predictable development. Merchandise United and all that. That the club already shows a greater interest in its Far East supporters than it does in the diehards from Salford. The latter tend not to purchase Cristiano Ronaldo duvet covers and Ruud van Nistelrooy lamp shades; the former do.
As one compassionate Manchester City fan put it yesterday on a United website: "It couldn't have happened to a nicer club - ha ha ha ha!"
In real on-the-field terms what does this mean? Well, after the season United have had it is painfully evident that some serious dabbling in the transfer market is required this summer if they are to challenge Chelsea.
But Glazer's vow that he will provide the manager with a transfer fund of £20 million suggests that either he is unaware of the current going rate for a single "soccer" player of genuine class (remember, Wayne Rooney alone cost £30 million) or, more likely, he simply will not have the resources to provide the kind of transfer kitty required.
Meanwhile, down south, Abramovich will furnish Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho with as many blank cheques as he requires. £20 million? He'd pay that for a reserve right back. If Mourinho says he'd like to add Rio Ferdinand to his roster, then Roman's advisers will say to Malcolm's people: "Name your price". And with a £300 million loan to pay off, will Malcolm be able to say no?