A SPOKESMAN for Malcolm Glazer’s British public relations firm said yesterday that no statement from the new owner of Manchester United was imminent. That is no surprise: one rarely is. In the pantheon of quotable public figures, Glazer, 76, makes Roman Abramovich seem like Max Clifford. Never in the field of sports business has one man done so much and said so little to so few.

“It has been ten years since the Glazers purchased the [Tampa Bay Buccaneers] and still we have no idea what to make of this phantom family,” John Romano, a columnist with the St Petersburg Times wrote yesterday. Dick Greco, a former mayor of Tampa, has formed a clear opinion. “He’s one of the most focused people you’ll ever meet,” he said. “It’s not ego with him, it’s business. He’s not vocal or visible.”

The Glazers live in the party zone that is Palm Beach, but Greco said that Malcolm “does nothing that’s frivolous in his life. His family are nice, quiet people.” Soon after he bought the Buccaneers in 1995, the stadium’s giant video screens did occasionally show Glazer waving a flag in his seat during matches, but that stopped when people made fun of the sight of a gauche, gesticulating, ginger-haired sexagenarian.

“I flew back with the team when we won the Super Bowl in San Diego [in 2003],” Greco said. “It’s the happiest I’ve ever seen Mr Glazer — he wasn’t jumping up and down screaming, he put both thumbs up in the air and had the biggest smile you’ve ever seen and that’s it. A few months ago I pulled him to one side and said, ‘Why don’t you pick a reporter and tell everybody your life story?’ He said, ‘You can do that, not me.’ End of story. He has no intention of making himself look good or being egotistical.”

A member of the 300-strong Tampa Bay Buccaneers UK supporters’ club who happens to be a Manchester United season ticket-holder claims to have met the billionaire on several occasions since 1997. He asked not to be named because his family have been threatened by United fans after he spoke out in favour of Glazer. “He’s a very big family man. You can see when you meet him that his family adore him,” the source said.

“He’s a very astute businessman. I don’t think he does care too much about sport, but his sons, Joel and Bryan, are interested in soccer. Joel particularly is very knowledgeable on Man U — the reserves, who’s coming through and so on. I’ve found them a very nice, close-knit, astute family.

“He is a businessman through and through. He once said to me, ‘What United fans have to remember is that gamblers die broke.’ The other phrase he used was, ‘If it doesn’t happen off the pitch it doesn’t happen on the pitch.’ ”

Greco had lengthy dealings with Glazer when he bought Tampa Bay a decade ago. “I thought for a very long time [American] football was maybe something he loved as a kid. But I attended a game with Malcolm Glazer and realised he knew absolutely nothing about football, zero,” he said.

Katherine Smith, The Tampa Tribune’s Buccaneers writer, said that, although the Glazers initially knew nothing about sport, they surrounded themselves with people who did and developed a passion for their team. “Glazer is at all the games, greets the players in the locker-room after every game, win or lose,” she said, adding that the first concern of Tampa fans is how the take over will affect their team.

“The truth of the matter is, just about everything [Glazer] has done has been successful,” Greco said. “He’s going to do everything in his power to make that investment grow. He’s not going to hurt the team because he’s got more invested in it than anyone else. I don’t think it’s something that people need to worry about.”