``They are a team with glamour and a team with history, and these are things which I think Asians respond to and admire,'' said Paul Kam, secretary of the Hong Kong branch of the Manchester United Supporters Club. ``And of course, it also helps that they win trophies a lot.''

United have had a stunning year, pulling off the `treble' by winning the English premier league title, the FA Cup and European Cup in succession.On the sidelines of the matches played so far two in Australia and one in Shanghai the United entourage has found time to launch two newstrips as well as finalise details for the opening of a network of Manchester United mega-stores across the Asia-Pacific region.

Stores in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and possibly China will stock everything from Manchester United replica kits, videos, bedspreads, and books to cups, plates and cuddly toys. ``We've looked into the Manchester United mega-stores carefully and there is clearly a demand for memorabilia from our fans across the world. We anticipate most of the shops will be open by the end of 2000,'' United commercial director Peter Kenyon said.

But any suggestion that treble-winning United's all-conquering players are being exploited for commercial opportunities presented by the tour were bluntly dismissed by chairman Martin Edwards.

``Our first priority is to have a successful football team and I think we do that rather well. On the back of that success we try and market the brand and capitalise on the team's success,'' Edwards told a press conference on the eve of theirmatch against Hong Kong team South China.

``Without the team's success it's very difficult to enhance the brand. So the team always comes first -- always has done, always will do.''

Edwards defended United's aggressive commercial tactics, saying it was necessary to be profitable off the pitch in order to meet escalating costs.``In these days of expensive transfer fees, higher wages and everything else, you have to be successful commercially in order to be able to keep improving facilities, the stadium and players.''

``So we do capitalise on the success of the team and we make no apologies for that. But we are first and foremost a football club and I'll say again, the team always comes first,'' Edwards added. United, who were valued at 1.0 billion dollars by foiled suitor Rupert Murdoch last season, were said to be the richest club in the world earlier this year following an in-depth report by Deloitte and Touche accountants for a British football magazine.

The report showed United coined in astaggering 87.9 million pounds (144 million dollars) in the 1996-97 financial year, nearly 50 per cent more than its nearest rival, Spanish giants Barcelona.

A sizeable chunk of that financial success is derived from worldwide commercial activities. In Asia, the Manchester United brand is bigger than ever, according to Paul Kam, whose company Pro-Events is United's official marketing partner in Asia. ``We've been involved with United for four years and the fact is that they just keep getting more and more popular,'' said Kam.