Manchester United debuted Friday on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and ended up garnering total market value of $US2.3 billion yet beneath the impressive numbers, analysts feared that the hugely popular Red Devils could go the same way that Facebook's IPO did - fizzling out too soon.

CNN reported that Manchester United's initial foray into NYSE has attracted share buys of close to 17 million issues or about $US234 million, which is not bad at all for a firm that mainly generates revenues from the football field exploits of its players and the subsequent excitements they generate.

The initial offering, however, missed the $300 million that the soccer club had hoped to raise, banking on hopes that global fan, said to number more than 600 million as of the last count, would drive up the campaign by snapping up some shares themselves.

Manchester's share price surged no further than $14, which dampened the firm's implied stock value of between $16 and $20 per share and indicating too that sports fans field enthusiasm do not necessary translates into market excitement.

Analysts observed that investors may have been turned away by not too high earning prospects of a fabulous club that resorted to the public market in order to pay off nearly the same amount of its debt, some $660 million according to Bloomberg, to the same number of its believers around the world.

Also would-be buyers seemed to baulked on the notion that their investment would still leave them outside of the circle that would define the Red Devils' financial direction, with the Glazer family, the American majority owners of the British club, enjoying such privilege.

Media reports have indicated that the Glazers will retain voting power of more than 90 per cent in Manchester, thanks to its dual class voting scheme that is attached with the market entry, following its much anticipated IPO and mostly likely the benefits of financial fluidity, which has eluded the soccer club in the past few years.

Despite falling short of its IPO target, Manchester United chief executive David Gill is upbeat that share exchanges will gain traction soon enough, stressing in an interview with NBC that "we have a sensible business plan going forward. What we are doing today is for the long term plan of the club."

Mr Gill dismissed also dismissed suggestions that Manchester's pile of debts were hampering its growth movements, pointing to what he described as the team's "growth of opportunities."

"We are very much a growth story, and in the current climate we all face, it's a very positive thing and people have bought into it."

But fanboys of Manchester were less optimistic that the club will settle its financial issues by plunging into the market, which they were convinced, media reports, were too different a world from the soccer field where the Red Devils course were more defined and controllable.

The only Manchester entity to benefit from the IPO the Glazers, according to Andy Green, who blogged: "The whole exercise has only been undertaken to help the Glazer family with their cash flow problems."

And the only analogy to Facebook, analysts said, is the likelihood that the hype that the two had generated prior to their actual market debut would take the same path - falling below the initial expectations and continue losing some lustre in the days and weeks ahead.

Facebook, at least, may be able to contain its current market predicament, analysts said, due to its deeper pocket and relatively debt-free financial status while Manchester United's famed deep bench is a direct contradiction of its money woes.

Amidst its claims that huge sponsorships were either in the bag or in the pipeline, Manchester United is expected to report a loss on its last financial year that ended in June 2012 while its overall earnings were also projected to take of no more than five per cent, according to CTV News.

Such development, analysts said, will hardly serve as a magnet for future investments or more cash flow for the team that Manchester management said will be crucial in further beefing up its roster and keeping its competitive edge in the face of rivals' build up efforts.