Reading this will tick off a lot of you. Some of you will stop right here and cuss. Some of you will send angry emails. Some of you will read the rest of this column with a cloudy mind, but it’s the absolute truth:

David Glass is severely misunderstood in Kansas City.

While we’re at it, here’s another truth about the Royals owner:

Most of the misunderstanding is his own damn fault.

This is particularly important right now because this is Glass’ best and last chance to own a winning team. More than Dayton Moore or Billy Butler or Eric Hosmer, it’s up to Glass. He has to know this. Has to feel it.

Glass has to come out of All-Star week — a packed Kauffman Stadium for the Futures Game, rocking atmosphere for the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game — seeing what Kansas City would be like if the Royals become worth the passion.

There is an enormous disconnect between Glass and the fan base. Fans don’t give him enough credit for his evolution into what people around baseball call a model small-money owner the last six years, and Glass has never been accountable enough for the disastrous years before.

The coming months are his best chance to change all of that, because fans understandably aren’t going to give credit unless they see a winner.

Glass can make it happen, but he’ll not only have to continue his much-improved support of the team — he’ll have to raise his ante.

The words David and Glass have come to evoke so much emotion in this town that the best way to see clearly is to take the man’s name out of it and play a hypothetical game.

What if Glass, after six years of well-documented rotten ownership, sold the Royals in 2006? What if the new guy then hired the game’s hottest general manager prospect and completely changed the way the Royals did business?

The new guy adds a minor-league affiliate plus more than a dozen baseball operations positions, filling most of them with people who have World Series championship experience. The new guy green-lights an enormous increase on resources for amateur talent, breaking major-league records for draft signings and taking the franchise from dead last to the very top in Latin America spending. The new guy pays out the biggest free-agent contracts in the AL Central two offseasons in a row, pushing the club’s payroll close to the middle of the pack in baseball.

And while Glass infamously allowed Carlos Beltran to walk over $1 million on an extension offer, the new guy OKs extensions for every worthy homegrown player — Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Zack Greinke, Salvador Perez, Joakim Soria and, if we can count him, Alcides Escobar.

Wouldn’t the new guy be getting some love?

Wouldn’t people be talking about how far the franchise had come in six years? Wouldn’t they point out that the Royals’ scouting and player development went from an industry joke to the industry standard?

Wouldn’t the narrative be that the Royals — even while averaging 93 losses the last five seasons — are finally in a position to compete, thanks in large part to the new guy’s commitment?

If your stance is that Glass allowed the franchise to deteriorate after his bargain-price purchase in 2000 and therefore shouldn’t be given credit for doing the right thing the last six years, then fine. You made up your mind long ago.

If Glass doesn’t take his increased financial commitment to the next level, his reputation as a Kansas City villain will be permanent and in most ways earned.

But it’s worth considering the other side.

Because if Glass handles this critical upcoming time the right way, we’re not too far from needing a major rewrite on a popular Kansas City narrative.

Baseball’s tradeoff for small-money franchises like the Royals is time. They can load up, but often for shorter windows further apart.

And the Royals can’t really load up unless Glass steps up.

The payroll is now in the $55 million to $60 million range. Tentative plans to stay there mean it’s essentially impossible to buy a free-agent pitcher or even trade prospects — the Royals still have plenty — for a frontline guy or two.

The Royals, now more than ever before, are worth Glass spending more. He OK’d $70 million payrolls in 2009 and 2010 and if he’s willing to go there or higher again, then what the Royals are trying to do becomes much more realistic.

This would require Glass effectively budgeting a financial loss. But he’s maintained he’s more interested in breaking even than generating profit, and while it’s important to remember the team’s low payrolls the last two years (30th in 2011, 27th this year) are more a product of baseball’s youngest roster than a cheap owner, it has also made for a profitable franchise.

Forbes estimated Glass made $28.5 million last year, he figures to make money again this season, and is sitting on a gold mine — 12 years after buying the team for $96 million, Forbes estimates the franchise is worth $354 million.

So he can absorb some losses, especially with the possibility of increased attendance for a winner covering much of the increased investment.

And if we learned anything from the past week — All-Star festivities are hardly ever met with such passion — it’s that Kansas City will show up for a winner. As it turns out, this is still one of the great baseball cities in the country; it just hasn’t had the chance to show it.

The free-agent market will be loaded (the Royals should take their best swing at Greinke, but also long looks at Anibal Sanchez and Shaun Marcum) and this winter will open up all kinds of trade possibilities. And new MLB-imposed limits on spending for amateur talent mean the Royals have millions more available.

Spending won’t guarantee success, and while Tampa Bay keeps winning on basement payrolls it’s a good policy not to expect miracles.

Glass has never had a chance like this, and can’t be sure he ever will again. This is his defining moment.

He will always be remembered by many for the dead-end mess he oversaw before 2006. But he has made significant improvements since then, and if he plays the coming months right can rewrite his legacy in Kansas City.

He can be the man who stepped forward to keep the Royals in town, learned from his failures and eventually owned the city’s first playoff baseball team since 1985.

More than anyone else, it’s up to Glass. Chances like this don’t come around often.