Rock of Gibraltar, the iconic racehorse that was at the centre of a tug-of-war that many fans believe ended up being the catalyst to the Glazer family’s much-maligned takeover of Manchester United, has died from heart failure at the age of 23.
The racehorse was named the European Horse of the Year in 2002 and was the first horse to claim seven consecutive Group 1 wins in the Northern Hemisphere. This earned his owners £1.2m in prize money, two of which were Sir Alex Ferguson and Susan Magnier, the wife of former United shareholder John Magnier.
Rock of Gibraltar was a regular winner while he was racing and all was well, but it was his retirement that ignited the feud that would open the door to the Glazers.
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Ferguson believed that he owned some of the horse's breeding rights, and the horse was in high demand due to its pedigree and winning record. However, the rights wholly belonged to Magnier and his partner J.P. McManus, who were both shareholders in the club and the co-owners of Coolmore, the world's biggest breeding operation for racehorses.
Because of this Ferguson launched legal proceedings against the pair. The Scotsman literally took his bosses and the owners of the club he managed to court.
And of course, United were dragged into it. McManus and Magnier responded by submitting a list of 99 financial questions to the club to find out about the state of the club and even threatened to take legal action against it.
All the while, the Glazer Family was monitoring the situation. They only had 2.9% of the shares, but they began to increase that regularly, with the eventual total sitting around 30%.
At the same time Cubic Expressions, a company owned by McManus and Magnier, also increased it's ownership to around 28.7%. What their goal was nobody really knows, maybe it was to put pressure on the manager as during the AGM they would call for his resignation, however Ferguson did not budge and the relationship continued to sour.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire stated in an interview with Goal: "I think if that particular discussion over the horse had never taken place, we could be watching a very different Manchester United today. If that relationship had remained amicable, then Manchester United might not have been sold."
That's because the Glazer's seeing the state of play made an offer to Cubic Expressions for their shares, and Magnier and McManus quickly accepted. By the end of the year, the family would own 98% of the club and the era that United fans have long since bemoaned and protested against would begin.
Ferguson would settle outside of court with Magnier and McManus, for a sum of around £2.5m. He would say in his 2013 autobiography: "He ran in my colours under an agreement I had with the Coolmore racing operation in Ireland. My understanding was that I had a half-share in the ownership of the horse; theirs was that I would be entitled to half the prize money.
"But it was resolved. The matter was closed when we reached a settlement agreeing that there had been a misunderstanding on both sides. Obviously, there was a potential clash between my racing interests and the ownership of the club, and when a man stood up at the AGM and insisted that I resign, there was awkwardness for me.
"I have to say that at no point was I side-tracked from my duties as manager of Manchester United. It didn’t affect my love of racing and I am on good terms now with John Magnier, the leading figure at Coolmore."
However, the damage was done and the protests over the Glazer ownership now rage on.
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