Bad Behaviour

The Sun tell us that Wesley Sneidjer..... sorry... what... fell asleep there, now, where was I, Ah yes - The idea of floating the club on an Asian stock market rears its head again.  The Independent give us the lowdown:

A number of financial sources disclosed yesterday that United are pursuing an IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the Singapore Stock Exchange – a move which would make the club publicly accountable in a way it has not been since the turbulent final days of the old plc, which the Glazers took private in 2005 by buying out John Magnier and J P McManus. ...

United supporters may suspect that the Glazers want to raise money to pay off some of their own debts relating to the ownership of the club, since no explanation has ever been given as to how the family managed to pay off £220m worth of payment-in-kind notes last year. But it is highly unlikely that money raised by the IPO would not be used to pay down the club's own debt and free it to focus on its development as a business. The club spends about £45m a year to service a £500m bond and if that burden can be removed by the float – expected by the end of the year – the Glazers' move would appear to be a positive one for United and Ferguson.

The last time the story reared its head, it was thought that it would be floated on the Hong Kong exchange, but Singapore is apparently preferable because, "of its less exacting demands. Hong Kong requires that new companies are profitable which United, after debt, is not."

The Guardian sound a note of caution on the Asian aspect of it:

Successful branded goods companies tend to retain, and nurture, strong roots at home – that's part of the brand's appeal.

The Glazers, if they decide to run half way around the world to sell a slice of United, may succeed in gaining in a few extra dollars on the float price. But there could be a long-term cost to diluting the club's ties at home – football clubs are not meant to be footloose, as supporters everywhere know.

On the sporting front The Daily Star report that Darren Fletcher might be back for the Arsenal game, they deduce this from him having played 90 minutes for the reserves on Monday.

There's a very odd survey quoted in The Telegraph which says that young people are put off professional sports because of sports stars swearing and misbehaving off the pitch.  They use Rooney in the headline because no one else ever swears.  

A survey of 2,000 11 to 18-year-olds by OnePoll on behalf of the Ambition AXA Awards found that stars swearing during live games would deter around three in 10 boys from trying to become a professional sportsperson.

Among girls the figure was even higher, with 35 per cent saying they would be put off by the bad language.

What?  Even odder is this:

sports stars behaving badly in their spare time was also a major deterrent for many would-be aspiring young athletes.

Almost half of 11 to 16 year-olds said that it would put them off wanting to be a professional sportsperson.

Is the thought process here that if you become a sports person you have to start behaving badly, no matter how moral and upstanding you were previously?

I'm very confused at the nations youth...