Paul McGrath looks back on his time at United and what the future holds for the Old Trafford club

Manchester United fans imagine that Malcolm Glazer doesn't know what he's bought this week. The problem is I think he does know what he's bought. Fans just don't know the sort of person who has bought Manchester United.

What he has bought is a global brand. I don't know quite how the club got to be so big, but the Munich Disaster had a profound effect on a lot of people around the world and then the teams that followed with Charlton, Law and Best, they created a myth around United. The club has always seemed even bigger than it actually is.

There is no club like Manchester United. Some of the things I remember seem unbelievable to me now.

We went to Kuala Lumpur once and I felt like I could play the guitar.

It was like the Beatles coming to town. We were mobbed. There were people hanging from the rafters of the airport. Thousands of people everywhere.

We went shopping one day and I honestly believe that if the Beatles had re-formed in the shopping mall, and started playing a gig with The Rolling Stones as support, they'd have been pushed to the side by the crowd. People just love the brand.

Manchester United coming to town was an event. In terms of United we were one of the more ordinary teams the club has had. But we were treated like superstars everywhere.

All we were doing was coming to play a few games of soccer but the brand reaches beyond that. People around the world treat Manchester United as something different, something bigger.

It's something unique that I never experienced with any other team. At Aston Villa we went and played the games in far-flung places. We came, we played, we went again. Never experienced anything like United.

Some of it was so ridiculous you can't comprehend it now.

I remember a trip to Hong Kong, the same hysteria. We went to Australia once to play Juventus in the MCG in Melbourne. A full house for a friendly. Frightening.

I can understand perfectly why Malcolm Glazer would buy into all that. He has 63 per cent now of one of the greatest brands in the world. I can understand why anyone would want to be top dog in a set-up like that. Obviously he doesn't know anything about soccer, but he knows markets and brands. That would worry me.

We won't be seeing Rio Ferdinand with a baseball bat in his hand, but we might be seeing him with a ticket to London.

Glazer will understand that the brand can be profitable for quite a while without the success on the field.

You can spend less money and take as much money in. Then you can sell out like Magnier and JP did and you'll make a tidy lump sum and leave behind a weakened club for someone else to tidy up.

Naturally, I feel sorry for the supporters. There couldn't be a worse time for this to happen. United are coming off a bad season (by the club's recent standards) and there are so many veteran players who will need to be replaced. As will Alex Ferguson. Will the new owners spend the money required to properly replace Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs?

Sadly it's all part of the price we pay for the way football has changed.

When I signed for Manchester United Martin Edwards was in charge of the club as his family had been for many years. Compared to today's football world it was very low key, all run on a very open basis.

As players we would see and meet Martin regularly. He was always around. I know Martin went through his fair share of troubles in respect of other stuff since those days, but he wanted to do the best for the club.

It was a family business and if it seemed sometimes to the fans that it was run like a family business at least he genuinely did love the club .

He wore it on his sleeve. He wanted Manchester United to be the biggest club in the world.

Getting the club to be the biggest in the world was too much for one man or one family to manage. The club became a plc and once that happened it became vulnerable.

Money poured in and was spent on the pitch, but the influence of what Roy (Keane) called the prawn-sandwich eaters got to be more obvious too.

Being a plc gave opportunists the chance to make share deals or for people to come in with vast amounts of money and make it their club. That must be great for the ego.

Manchester United has got so big that it's hard to believe it all revolves around a football team. The marketable value of the club is hardly related to the performances on the pitch so people will come and go and try to take the most out of it.

I believe Glazer is one of those. I believe that he's in because it's a great going concern, a worldwide conglomerate.

He doesn't have a passion for success. He can make some shillings from United and I believe he'll make as much as he can out of it as quickly as he can. It's a business to him.

If he strips it he'll leave as quickly as possible. I hope he leaves before he puts Manchester United in the middle of a lower division along with Leeds United.

With Malcolm Glazer you just do not know. He's put money in other things like this before and he's taken it out again.

I admire the stance the fans at Manchester United have taken , but the lads (Magnier and PJ) selling their shares proves that there's not a lot fans can do.

They can put the banners up, they can make the headlines, but Glazer is the main man.

Part of the price of the changes in football is that money comes from TV and merchandising more than it comes from the old turnstile.

It's a tough time at the end of a tough season for United. The fans are looking at players like Rio being offered 100-plus grand a week to play and still holding out. That smacks of two fingers being raised to the ordinary supporters.

If I was Ferguson this week I'd be steadying the ship and tying everything down. I'd be offering Ryan Giggs whatever contract he wants, today. He's been such a loyal player and supporter of the team. He wants to finish his career there. Let him. Loyalty comes from both ends. Tie Roy down. Other key players as well.

As for Ferdinand, everyone is thinking Rio will be off to Chelsea and Rio is playing both ends of the deal.

That upsets any club, especially one that was so loyal to Ferdinand last year.

Maybe in the name of unity it's time Alex said, "Look, Rio, if you want to go to Chelsea, off you go. Goodbye."

That would be a statement to Malcolm Glazer about the character of the club he has bought and about the importance of loyalty and the special relationship with the fans.