Owned by the wealthy American Glazer family,Manchester United’s revenue was $905 million last year and the club was listed as the tenth most valuable sporting team in the world by Forbes in 2020,said to be worth more than $5 billion. In the last summer transfer window,the club’s net expenditure on players was $101 million. Of all football clubs,they have the third largest social media following with just shy of 150 million.
Despite the gulf in stature between the two clubs,the Mariners have a longstanding close tie with Manchester United's inner sanctum.The Red Devils' assistant coach,Mike Phelan,was appointed sporting director of Central Coast in late 2018.
United is arguably the most well-supported overseas team among Australian football fans. They attracted a sell-out crowd of more than 83,000 when they came to Sydney in 2013 to play the A-League All Stars at ANZ Stadium. Fourteen years earlier,the Red Devils drew a combined attendance of 148,000 when they played Australia in two exhibition games at the MCG and Stadium Australia.
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The cash-strapped Mariners have consistently struggled financially and have been in a desperate hunt for investment in recent years. That search was accelerated in August when Charlesworth announced his intention to cut all ties with the club by selling his entire stake,and did not rule out enticing investors with commercial property and a training base in Tuggerah that is affiliated with the Mariners but privately owned by him.
TheHerald andAge sought comment from Charlesworth and Football Australia on Monday.
Charlesworth has previously held sale talks with Singapore-based consortium First11 Capital,which included former young Socceroos Zac Anderson and Kaz Patafta,as well as Sydney businessman Abdul Helou. Neither parties managed to strike a deal with Charlesworth.
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