While most of the attention will be on whether the Glazer family also make a statement about their future intentions, those inside the club are more interested in rejecting a recent report that United's popularity is on the wane. It was claimed the club's merchandising had suffered heavily from on-going anti-Glazer protests, with the visual 'Green and Gold' campaign helping to persuade supporters not to put money in the coffers of United's controversial American owners. However the report, conducted by respected sports business analysts Sport+Markt, has been received with incredulity at Old Trafford. They claim statements regarding a 10 per cent drop in sales come from figures only relating to United's massive Megastore within their stadium complex, and from a season when they only played 29 home games compared to 32 in the previous campaign. In fact, as Friday's results are likely to show, United are on course to become the first Premier League club to crash through the £100million barrier for annual commercial income, if not this financial year, then the next. "The results of our merchandising business have continued to set records within the club, despite the figures for 2009 including 10 per cent more games at Old Trafford, and the impact of winning the Premier League and appearing in two Champions League finals," commercial director Richard Arnold said. "The business has continued to grow in 2010. To achieve that result using figures based only around stadium sales is remarkable. "When sales from the rest of Manchester, the UK and Europe are added to those figures, it is a clear demonstration of the unique strength the club has. "In addition, the report represents an area of the world which contains only one in 14 of our 333 million global fans. "The remaining 93 per cent, because they are largely based in an area of rapid commercial growth such as China, the USA, India and Indonesia, have meant that 2010 was a record year for our partnership with Nike. "This season, following the launch of the new Nike/Aon branded shirt, has seen sales far in excess of previous years, resulting in sell-outs in many shops around the world. "Merchandising is just one part of our very successful commercial strategy, which has seen those revenues increase from £42.5million in 2005 to £81.4million in 2010." The actual figures will pale into insignificance though alongside any news from the Glazers. Rumours have continued about a buyout by the Qatari royal family that could cost £1.8billion despite repeated denials from both the club and sources close to the family. "A statement was made about this last week and absolutely nothing has changed since then," said the source, referring to an equally unequivocal statement. "Qatar Holding is not and has never been in discussions to buy Manchester United football club. There is no truth to the rumours."
