Floating Downer

Not too much around today, Olympic fever perhaps distracting the papers from their usual transfer speculations. The Sun are the only ones to indulge today, and that a mere 2 sentences saying Galatasary are after Berba.

Then there's a couple of articles on the delay of the share flotation, one from each side of the argument.  The Independent have what might be termed the official version, while The Guardian blog has the sceptical MUST version.  An excerpt from each:

Manchester United appear to be planning an imminent launch of the marketing roadshow for their proposed $300m (£193m) New York flotation, despite the apparent postponement of the move designed to reduce the club's crippling debts.

Sources suggested yesterday that the roadshow, a vital component of the drive to make the United States initial public offering (IPO) successful, may begin today or possibly early next week and that the offering may be priced in three weeks.

But the situation is fluid and jitters in the market showed no sign of receding yesterday, providing more evidence for why the float is understood to have been delayed. The S&P 500 index fell for a fourth day on Wednesday, amid worries about the European debt crisis and earnings

...

After a proposed float in Singapore was pulled last year, it has emerged that United's planned initial public offering (IPO) in New York has been temporarily postponed because of volatile US markets. While United and Jefferies, the investment bank signed up to lead the flotation, remain tight-lipped about the process, those that forensically examine the Premier League club's accounts are questioning whether the latest setback is about more than the fiscal shockwaves triggered by another turbulent week in the eurozone.

"Obviously it's a tough time economically but the US stock market has barely changed from where it was when they published the original prospectus," said Andy Green, a financial analyst who writes the "andersred blog" about football ownership and is an adviser to the Manchester United Supporters Trust (Must). "Although it's hard to see inside a process like this, they're obviously having problems, and I get the impression from people that I'm talking to in the market that it's at high risk of being cancelled."

The Mirror has a few quotes from Kagawa, not sure where they originated from, here he is on claims he turned down the number 7 shirt:

“I haven’t heard anything about that,” he added.

“But the most important thing is not which number I have on my shirt but how I play for the club.”

Slightly off topic but there's not much else around, The Mail make a silly issue of Giggs and Bellamy not singing the national anthem at their Olympic match yesterday.  Because footballers are notoriously raucous singers of anthems...

Finally, The Mirror have some pictures of Sir Alex and the players on the catwalk for some reason or other.