The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 122 Edwards is going to run away?

"Selling the club was a decision Edwards regretted for the rest of his life. Even more stupid was that he tried to sell it twice. The most speechless thing was that he finally sold the team completely. His attempt in 1989 ended up being a farce. Only Edwards' reputation was greatly damaged, and Manchester United just awkwardly received a wave of concern and ridicule."

--Inscription

While Ferguson was struggling to revive the Red Devils, the club's owner Edwards was secretly planning to sell the club. This move was kept secret from Ferguson because Edwards himself felt that he could not face Ferguson's loyalty and hard work.

The Edwards family has a deep connection with the Red Devils club. Martin Edwards' father, Louis Edwards, had a good relationship with legendary coach Matt Busby. He became a director of the Red Devils board in 1958. After the Munich air crash, Louis actively helped the families of the victims of the air crash and tried every means to help the team stand up again from the ruins. He increased his financial investment in the club and helped the Red Devils to recruit players in business. Busby's purchase of Dennis Law from Torino in 1962 was due to Louis. The Red Devils' assets continued to expand and their operations became better and better, which was also the result of Louis' efforts. The Red Devils rose again, won the English League again, and won the European Cup. Louis made a great contribution. Louis Edwards' company was also successfully listed in 1962, and his wealth further appreciated. At that time, it was a hopeful era for Louis and the Red Devils.

Louis Edwards continued to increase his investment in the Red Devils and continued to acquire shares in the Red Devils. In less than a year, he became the Red Devils' largest shareholder. Including the shares acquired by his brother and brother-in-law, Louis's shares in the Red Devils reached 54%. In June 1965, Harold Hardman, the chairman of the Red Devils club, passed away, and Louis Edwards took over smoothly, ushering in the Edwards era of the Red Devils.

Louis Edwards actively supported Busby in reviving the Red Devils, not only winning the English League One and the Champions League in competition, but also showing his prowess in business. Louis began to renovate the Theatre of Dreams, and the first step was to expand and renovate the new United Road stand, so that Old Trafford could host three group matches in the 1966 World Cup. This new stand introduced expensive boxes for the first time, effectively increasing the club's revenue. Louis is a chairman who makes decisions with a business perspective and is very optimistic about the future development of the Red Devils. Since becoming the club chairman, Louis has been acquiring residential houses around Old Trafford little by little, and gradually taking control of all the surrounding land, which has provided the best spatial foundation for Old Trafford to continue to expand the stadium capacity. The owners of powerful teams such as Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool do not have this vision. They never consider acquiring land around the stadium, so they naturally cannot expand on the basis of the old stadium.

Luiz only had Red Devils in his heart. As the owner of a listed company, he had abundant capital and could support Red Devils to the maximum extent. This support was very important. Busby quickly introduced strong foreign aid with sufficient resources to build a stronger team. In 1967, Red Devils won the league championship again. The following year, they broke through obstacles and realized the dream of "Busby Babe" 10 years ago at Wembley Stadium: winning the European Cup trophy.

As the Red Devils won the Champions League and dominated the domestic league, Luiz was extremely happy and he also felt the greatest glory that football has brought him.

After the European Cup dream came true, Busby retired and the Red Devils' performance plummeted. In 1974, they were even relegated to the second division. Louis Edwards also suffered misfortune, and his family business continued to lose money. But Louis did not give up the Red Devils club. Instead, he increased his investment in the Red Devils and began to train the next generation of Red Devils managers in his family. Louis introduced his son Martin Edwards to the Red Devils board of directors very early. At the age of 24, he was promoted by his father to become a director of the Red Devils. At this time, Louis gradually retreated behind the scenes, and Martin Edwards became the representative of the family to manage the Red Devils. Edwards continued to acquire shares in the club. In order to acquire the shares of another major shareholder Alan Gibson, Martin Edwards paid a high price of more than 172.7 pounds per share at 19 pounds. In the end, the Edwards family controlled 74% of the shares of the Red Devils.

In 1978, the Red Devils club carried out a shareholding reform, with each old share diluted into 208 new shares with a par value of £1. After the share dilution plan was implemented, Martin Edwards continued to buy more shares, investing a total of £74 in new funds into the club. Under Edwards's leadership, more funds were invested. The Red Devils also regained their momentum during this period, returned to the First Division, and further strengthened their strength, continuing to challenge for various championships.

Louis Edwards died in 1980 and Martin Edwards took over as chairman of the Red Devils. In the 80s, the Edwards family's business gradually lost its competitiveness. Martin Edwards invested the family's main resources in the Red Devils, reorganized the Edwards Family Holdings Company, and transferred all the Red Devils shares held by individuals in the family to this company.

After Martin Edwards became chairman, he gradually abandoned his father's extensive management and began to professionalize the club and implement professional management. In addition to business, human resources, legal affairs and other matters, he paid more attention to the coaching team. The Red Devils began to actively hire high-level coaches to coach, and the team's strength began to slowly recover. Atkinson brought the Red Devils the FA Cup in 1983, but his performance was still far from Edwards' expectations.

Edwards is not a die-hard Red Devils fan like his father. In fact, he only loves money, not football. Edwards' management of the Red Devils is to win more wealth. He has long hoped to follow his father's path of reviving the Red Devils and making a lot of money in the process of revival, but the Red Devils have repeatedly failed to win the league championship, which has seriously affected the club's commercial income, which is a big blow to Edwards.

Ferguson's time as coach did not really fill Edwards with confidence. Edwards believed that the club's revenue could not be further increased, and he began to have other ideas.

Edwards also envisioned more sources of income. He participated in the planning twice in 1981 and 1985, hoping to establish a new league. However, the "Super League" planned by the "Five Big Ones" (Arsenal, Red Devils, Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham) failed to succeed. In the late 80s, it encountered opposition from the English Football Association. Edwards suffered a major setback in commercial operations.

Edwards's desire to continue running the Red Devils was seriously shaken by the fact that he could not win the league championship and encountered setbacks in business. He now began to think that the Red Devils club was no longer the hen that would lay golden eggs, and he would sell his shares if someone was willing to pay a high price.

The news spread quietly among the capitalists, and soon someone made a bid. The news soon reached the Red Devils, and Edwards had to hold an emergency meeting with Ferguson and other team representatives. Edwards said: The Red Devils need a large amount of money to get out of the predicament, so they need to find new shareholders. Because of the Hillsborough disaster and the Taylor Report, the Stretford Stand at Old Trafford needs to be renovated and the entire stadium needs to be converted to an all-seater. The project will cost a huge amount of 1000 million pounds, and the club cannot afford this money.

Edwards told Ferguson that he would accept an offer from anyone who could pay for the renovation of the Stretford Stand, assume the Red Devils' debts, and then pay £1000 million to buy his shares in the Red Devils. He would then withdraw from the Red Devils board of directors.

Ferguson felt deeply betrayed, but didn't say much. Ferguson was frustrated that Edwards couldn't be stopped from doing anything he wanted, and he was determined to use every opportunity he could to get Edwards to support the team as much as possible at this moment to strengthen the lineup.

Throughout the summer, Edwards became more generous than ever before. Edwards had a plan in mind, thinking that the transfer fee would be paid by his buyer, and that he would hand over the deal to Knighton, so he was suddenly willing to spend.

Because of Edwards' cooperation, the Red Devils' transfer cost reached 825 million pounds, and Ferguson bought almost all the players he wanted.

Upon learning the news that the club was going to be sold, some Red Devils fans expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Edwards family. Some extreme fans blocked the road in protest and even shouted and cursed in front of Edwards' mansion all night.

Robert Maxwell, a wealthy Englishman, first approached Edwards and paid a down payment for the purchase of shares. Robert Maxwell, who made the bid, was a media magnate and the owner of Oxford United at the time. But Maxwell was soon exposed for commercial fraud and was banned from buying the Red Devils club.

Edwards had to cancel the negotiations with Maxwell and endured a barrage of scolding from the fans.

Next up was Michael Knighton, a seemingly affable man who was only 37 years old at the time, but injuries had ended his playing career at Coventry City. Knighton met with Edwards through an intermediary, saying he had made a lot of money through his real estate business and could meet Edwards's needs.

Edwards was overjoyed and happily reached a preliminary purchase and sale agreement with Knighton.

Edwards's advisers later found that things were not as smooth as they had imagined. Although Knighton had entertained Edwards graciously in his castle in Scotland, the buyer might have been just bluffing and did not have enough strength, let alone the wealth he boasted.

Edwards commissioned a commercial investigation company to conduct the work, and the final result was that "Knighton was more like a liar than a rich man. He couldn't even afford 10% of Edwards' shares."

At this time, Edwards had to watch the embarrassing farce with a grim face.

The first game of the new season had just begun, and the Red Devils were playing against the newly crowned champion Arsenal. An hour before the game, the two head coaches Ferguson and George Graham were drinking tea together. At this time, the Red Devils' jersey manager Norman Davies came over and said that Knighton wanted to wear a Red Devils jersey. Ferguson joked that the team's starting lineup had already been decided, and it might not be convenient to arrange him to start. It was at this time that Edwards saw through Knighton's trick, but he and Ferguson were both played by this guy.

At the Theatre of Dreams, Knighton, accompanied by the Red Devils' press officer, enthusiastically showed himself to the fans at Old Trafford. He declared that "he will continue to invest more than 1000 million pounds to make the Red Devils the top team again." Knighton's words aroused the emotions of the fans. When he ran to the center circle of the court wearing the Red Devils jersey, then ran towards the goal in the direction of the Stretford Stand with the ball, and kicked the ball into the empty goal with great force, the fans laughed kindly.

"What is he doing?! I'm starting to feel a little sick to my stomach," Ferguson said. "This new chairman is such a showman."

The Red Devils fans thought that a more generous and magnanimous boss had arrived. They cheered loudly at the Theatre of Dreams and cheered happily along with this guy.

Knighton's promise soon became empty talk. Of course, he had no way of paying so much money because he was not a wealthy man and almost all his money was just talk.

By early October 1989, Knighton was unable to pay the full first installment of the deal. He claimed that he needed a loan from the Bank of Scotland, but hoped that the Red Devils would provide him with a guarantee first. Faced with such a blatant fraud, Edwards confiscated Knighton's deposit and angrily rejected him.

Many years later, Edwards concluded with great regret: "I almost sold the Red Devils in 1989. It was the stupidest decision I made in my life."