In defeat, Beckham scores one for the home crowd

Well, AC Milan were handily defeated yesterday by Manchester United by a score of 4-0, winning the tie by an aggregate score of 7-2.  Much like the first contest between the two teams, the star player rising to the occasion was not David Beckham (who did not start but came on in the second half), but fellow Englishman Wayne Rooney, who scored in the opening moments of each half to bump his season's goal-tally to 30 goals in just 35 matches.

In the first minute of the second half, Rooney poked in his second goal of the match

With a run to the Champions League final, Rooney could potentially play in 14 more games for Manchester United this season.  Scoring a goal per game would break the Man U record for goals scored in a season, 42, set by Cristiano Ronaldo two years ago.  Rooney's manager, the famed Sir Alex Ferguson believes he can do it, but has said he "would be happy if [only] he got to 40."

The protests also continued last night at Manchester's Old Trafford Stadium, with fans growing more and more irate with the Glazer family's financial handling of the club.  While a boycott of the first ten minutes of the game did not materialize, there were many visual displays and loud chanting throughout the night that typified the way Mancunians feel about the ownership situation: "Love United, Hate Glazer."

The Green and Gold were out in force.

The protesting did not end with the fans, however.  As the game concluded, Beckham, one of Manchester United's self-professed biggest fans, added his support to the anti-Glazer movement.  The last player to leave the field, Beckham took a scarf and placed it around his neck as he thanked United fans for his warm reception.

Beckham's actions speak louder than words?

It was a striking gesture from a man who has always chosen to carefully preserve his public neutrality on controversial issues.  That neutrality, it should be noted, was re-affirmed in the post-game press conference where Beckham sidestepped an opportunity to criticize the Glazers.  When pressed about the scarf, he said, "I'm a Man United fan.  I saw the scarf there.  I put it round my neck, it's the old colors of Man United, that's all I knew."  Later, he added, "To be honest, [the protest] is not my business."

All in all, as long as Manchester United continue to excel at the top level of club soccer, experts say the the Glazers probably won't be going anywhere.  Their business model is built on the idea that the continued success of the team will offset the high interest payments (which has cost the club almost $488 million since the Glazer takeover) they have on the money they borrowed to buy the club in 2005.  These payments have, thus far, been counterbalanced by ticket sales, television rights, commercial sponsorship deals, and the more than $75 million the team earns by playing in the Champions League (Man United has been in the final the past two years).

But for fans of the club, the high interest payments as well as the continual increases in season ticket prices has left them with concerns that the Glazers are running the club as their own personal ATM.  Including the millions loaned to each member of the Glazer family, as well as other fees the family has taken out totaling $34 million, there are reports that the Glazers could take out as much as $200 million from the club next year alone.

The sentiment of the fans is seemingly captured by the following news piece from Euronews.  If you're interested in the situation, the segment does a fine job of articulating the financial mess I've tried to document above.

With support from the fans and the Red Knights, a group of wealthy local Mancunians, and now - even in silence - David Beckham, can the protests expand to current players, board members, or the team manager?  Should be an interesting situation to monitor, especially when Manchester United plays American-owned Liverpool FC later this month at Old Trafford.  Longtime rivals, the two equally frustrated fan groups may actually join in protest together against their American ownership groups at a match on March 21st.

By the way, the Glazers aren't biased against frustrating fans on either side of the pond, since many of the same gripes are now emanating from fans of the Glazer-owned Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  After a 3-13 season, the team has done nothing in free agency besides letting one of their best players at their thinnest position walk away.  Furthermore, not even the guys at NFL Network can figure out what the Buccaneers are doing.  Good luck in the draft, Tampa Bay.