Manchester United players would reportedly consider launching a rebellion if they saw the state-of-the-art facilities they are missing out on.
The Glazer family, their part-owners, are also in charge of American football outfit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, unlike other Premier League clubs visiting their ‘sister’ teams in the United States, United never go to Tampa on their pre-season tours.
‘I was told a story by somebody who worked at United, and it’s the elephant in the room that we haven’t really discussed: It’s the Glazers. It’s the Glazer family and their ownership of the club,’ Ogden said on The Football Reporters podcast.
‘I asked this person, I said, when United go to America, why do they never go to Tampa?
Manchester United reportedly never go to Tampa on their USA tours because they would get jealous of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ facilities
The NFL team’s £57million AdventHealth Training Centre opened its doors in 2022
Manchester United are renovating Carrington training complex for £50m and Sir Jim Ratcliffe admitted it lagged behind their rivals’ this summer
‘Arsenal will do a link-up with the LA Rams or with whoever (owner Stan) Kroenke’s team are. Liverpool did it with FSG in Boston, they spent a lot of time there.
‘United have never gone anywhere near Tampa, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that the Glazers own in the US (are).
‘I was told it’s quite simply because the owners didn’t want the United squad to see how good the Tampa Bay facilities were.
‘They didn’t want them to see the training ground because the training ground at Tampa is meant to be state-of-the-art.
‘The stadium is a top stadium. The Glazers have put a lot of money into the facility at Tampa and if the players had gone to Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ training ground and realised what they had and what United don’t have, there might have been a mutiny at the club.’
United’s Carrington training centre is currently undergoing a £50million transformation to bring it up to speed with their rivals’ facilities.
The architectural practice Foster + Partners, who were responsible for redesigning Wembley Stadium and planning the Lusail Stadium in Qatar, are carrying out the work.
Speaking over the summer, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said: ‘We want to create a world class environment for our teams to win.
The Glazer family own stakes in both United and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa play at the 75,000-capacity Raymond James Stadium in Florida
Over the summer, United announced plans to modernise the men’s first-team building
The architectural practice Foster + Partners, who were responsible for redesigning Wembley Stadium and planning the Lusail Stadium in Qatar, will carry out the work
‘When we conducted a thorough review of the Carrington training facilities and met with our men’s first team players, it was clear the standards had fallen below some of our peers.
‘This project will ensure Manchester United’s training ground is once more renovated to the highest standards.’
Cristiano Ronaldo was understood to be so unimpressed with the facilities when he returned in 2021 that, according to the Daily Mirror, he refused to use their main pool or plunge pool until both had been refurbished, as he claimed ‘loose, chipped and missing tiles’ made them a danger.
United officials took his complaints very seriously and immediately ordered remedial works on the two pools.
Meanwhile, as Mail Sport has exclusively revealed, United are planning to demolish Old Trafford and build a new 100,000-capacity home on adjacent land in a £2billion project. Leakages and rats have been a problem at the ground this season.
