Manchester United FC Wallpapers Collection

There’s been something reaching media hysteria over the idea that a group of Red Knights led by Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, will sweep into Manchester in something akin to a boardroom coup and snatch the world’s most famous football club from the grasp of the Glazer family.



And create a healthy return on investment for the secretive US family firm in the process!



Suggested valuations on the club swing ever more wildly from week to week– the latest was at the weekend when a value of £1.25 billion was being mooted by The Sunday Times.



All this conjecture is the stuff of great sports journalism, but does it make good business sense?



There is a lot of discussion on the level of debt that the club is currently carrying and how this will be removed by the Red Knights.



But have these well-endowed individuals agreed on what the Man Utd brand is actually worth?



I doubt it.



How much of the £1.25 billion is for the intangibles that the Glazers own and how much of it is wrapped up in the tangibles like Old Trafford stadium?



The reason I raise this is because in essence the Red Knights will be expected to pay a premium price for the brand, rather than the computer system or quality of the dressing rooms at Old Trafford.



So brand valuation will be a key issue.



And it’s one area that traditionally accountants love to hate as there’s never been an agreed method of measuring this value with some clarity.



Which is why 1st April 2010 could be a turning point in the Man Utd saga as the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) publishes the long-awaited standard on the thorny issue of brand valuation.



Aimed at both brand consultants and finance and marketing professionals, the general requirements of the new standard will include greater transparency of the process of brand valuation in deals like the one being contemplated by the Red Knights.

Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted to have presided over Manchester United's 18th league title - but number 19 is the one he really wants.

fter vowing to "knock Liverpool off their perch'' when he first headed south from Aberdeen in 1986, Ferguson is now just one league championship away from doing just that.



A goalless draw with Arsenal today was enough to ensure United completed a hat-trick of Premier League title triumphs.



Yet the champagne corks had not stopped popping in an ecstatic home dressing room when their notoriously driven manager delivered his ominous warning to Liverpool counterpart Rafael Benitez.



"The great challenge now is to try to win it next year because that would be something special,'' he said. "It would be a 19th league and give us a special place in the club's history.