Let's not glaze over those vital 90 minutes

Die-hard United fan Mary Hannigan is not surprised at the Glazer move, but that won't stop her fretting

Haven't we been here before? What's it they say? Déjà vu all over again? True, the last time it was Rupert Murdoch and the talk was of Manchester United leaving Old Trafford, switching to a location nearer an airport handy for Singapore billionaires ("Go Reds!"), maybe even changing their name to Rupert's All-Star XI Ltd, having lap dancers entertain the crowd at half time, and playing every second home game in Beijing, where Fox Asia News would have sole rights to post match interviews.

It never quite happened, the hysteria was all for nothing.

But what about now? Is Malcolm Glazer really the Red Devil incarnate? Did Manchester United Football Club really die yesterday? Or was that emailer to Sky News just about the only one who had it right: "The day Manchester United went public it hung out a "For Sale" sign - so you can't complain when it is sold."

Well, exactly. Why the surprise? And why the venom aimed at JP McManus and John Magnier on United supporters' websites (we'd love to share it with you, but there are only so many "******'s" you can fit in one sentence before it becomes a blurry sea of stars).

McManus is, allegedly, an Arsenal supporter. Allegedly neither man has ever been to Old Trafford. That suggests they were never, allegedly, Manchester United supporters. That insinuates that they are, allegedly, businessmen. That indicates they were only ever in it for, allegedly, the money. Which generally is what businessmen, allegedly, are only ever in it for.

So why did Manchester United supporters ever believe they could appeal to McManus and Magnier's hearts, when their hearts were never, allegedly, in it? When, as our Sky News emailer suggested, a football club takes the decision to become a Public Limited Company this is the precisely the kind of thing that can happen: the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers adds Man Chester to his portfolio.

Right, that's the measured, grown-up analysis out of the way, now . . . sweet Jesus.

Where does one start? Manchester United devotees have raised their eyebrows for, oooh, a decade now while tolerating the endless twaddle written about the club. Manchester United bad, all the others pure as the driven snow, in a romantic flat-cap, Hovis-ad, 1950s kind of way.

Like Spurs, who announced a fortnight ago that, for the sake of their fashion-conscious fans, they would be changing their kit every season from here on in.

Liverpool? Cripes, the mush written about them since they reached the Champions League final has been . . . startling. Like they are the last vestige of footballing wholesomeness. When, in fact, they are no different to all the rest. Two home-grown players in their starting 11, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, and millions upon millions spent on players over the last decade (including that Spice Boys era), yet we are to believe there is a home-grown purity about them, a romanticism, that sets them apart from the rest.

There is more spirit and pride-in-jersey in Chelsea's expensively assembled back four than there is in the entire Liverpool XI, as evidenced by the fact that the latter have lost 14 of their 37 Premiership games this season.

And all the while, through the last decade, United's success was built on youth team graduates like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Wes Brown. How many other successful English clubs could boast that.

And it was that youth policy investment that enabled the expensive purchases of the supporting cast, like Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

So, less of the flat-cap guff about all the rest, for all the tacky off-the-field commercialism, which every other club is now trying to ape and which is the way it is for every professional sporting club in this day and age, for the supporters it is still about those 90 minutes on the pitch. Just as it was in Busby's time. In a flat-cap, Hovis-ad, 1950s kind of way. That's the purity, and that will never change. Duncan Edwards, Gordon Hill, Ryan Giggs.

So yesterday's news, about Malcolm Glazer all but acquiring the 'franchise' that is Manchester United, will alarm true devotees of the club just as much as Leeds supporters might have choked in recent years when they realised what had been done to their club.

United need a new goalkeeper, a new centre half and at least one new midfielder for next season. Glazer has promised £20 million in transfer funds. So, the richest club in world football will get one third of what it needs to catch Chelsea.

Don't know about you, but we're sensing an Alex Ferguson resignation mere moments after the FA Cup final. And if Martin O'Neill thought the Celtic board was tight . . . well . . . he hasn't yet met Malcolm Glazer.

The future for Manchester United with Malcolm Glazer? God knows. But their supporters will fret in just the same romantic flat-cap kind of way as all the others. It's the 90 minutes that matter, so they're no different to the rest. Their hearts are with a football club, not a franchise.