Sir Alex Ferguson's private JOKE that allowed the Glazers to seize control

It is now 18 years that the fans of Manchester United have had to put up with the Glazers as owners. Almost two decades of decline and decay of their club. Almost two decades of protests and vitriol.

The American family have saddled the club with debt, lined their own pockets in the process and overseen one of the most lamentable chapters in the club's history as their slide from the pantheon of European heavyweights continues to gather pace.

It is anything but amusing to those who fill Old Trafford week in, week out. Funny then, that their reign should have come about courtesy of a private joke between Sir Alex Ferguson and shareholders John Magnier and JP McManus.

That is just one of the jaw-dropping revelations in a new book detailing the Glazers and their time in charge of United. The World's Largest Cash Machine has been written by Chris Blackhurst, a former journalist who has picked through the details of the last 20 years and beyond to understand just how one of the world's biggest brands ended up in the hands of a little-known family based in Florida.

The book explains how, after initial push back from the lofty world of horse racing, Ferguson and his companions concocted an elaborate ruse to allow the then-United manager to speak at an owners' function.

That plan included putting Sir Alex down as the owner of Rock of Gibraltar, the legendary horse whose success would eventually lead to an irreparable dispute between the Scotsman and his Irish acquaintances.

It was this dispute that created the perfect storm, allowing the Glazers to swoop in and seize control at United.

'The Glazers kind of essentially took advantage of a moment in time,' says Blackhurst. 'The story of how they actually got the shares is an incredible