Man Utd supporters call on sponsors to help oust Glazers
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The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), the voluntary organisation looking to force a change of ownership at the Premier League club, is calling on United’s corporate sponsors to join its battle to out the Glazer family.
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MUST wants sponsors such as Nike and Budweiser to put pressure on the Glazers on behalf of fans. Many United fans are angry about the way current owners the Glazer family have managed the club and the £700m debt with which it has been saddled.
To date, the group claims over 154,000 fans worldwide have become members.
MUST says that a change of ownership at the club would “create hugely enhanced value” for sponsors because it would bring the “whole Manchester United family back together”.
The group is supporting the Red Knights, the group of City financers looking to seize control of the club. The Knights are said to be in talks with a range of potential investors aimed at raising funds to launch a bid in excess of £1bn for the club.
Duncan Drasdo, chief executive of MUST, says: “Sponsors wish to benefit from the affinity generated by association with the most loved football club in the world but the commercial value of that relationship is being diminished due to the unpopularity of the current owners.”
MUST projected its message on the side of Old Trafford on Friday (23 April) evening. The message to the sponsors was “Time to choose sides: The Fans or the Glazers?”
Readers' comments (2)
Johnno | Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:13 pm
Naivety beyond comprehesion. Whilst the so-called 154,000 keep spending their money with the Glazers and their sponsors nothing will change. This is a business not a club - get it?
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Anonymous | Mon, 26 Apr 2010 1:49 pm
If I see another green and gold scarf I'm going to scream. Man Utd Supporters Trust are a bunch of hypocrites. They were quite happy to reap the rewards that PLC ownership entailed before Glazer stepped in. Removing the words "Football Club" from the club crest a decade ago signalled their intentions to expand MUFC commercial horizons way beyond the core football market place. Now as the world's premier football brand, United's commercial clout is arguably greater than all the other Premier League clubs combined and this was always going to attract attention from non football investors. Despite this, since the Glazers purchased, Man Utd have won the Premier League 3 seasons running and could still make it an unprecedented 4 in a row. Throw in 2 Champions League finals (1 won) 2 League Cup wins and you start to scratch your head regarding what all the fuss is about. Yes there is a lot of debt associated with the club but isn't that down to the parent company? If Glazer's business goes under, won't they be forced to sell United as a going concern to the highest bidder to clear the debt? It's not as if the club has either gone down in value over the past 4 seasons, or is unprofitable, or would not attract a stack of investor interest. Fans needn't worry as any future buyer would never be able to sell the Old Trafford land to be used for any purpose other than football, the local council would never allow it, unless Noel Gallagher became Mayor of Madchester, then things might get interesting!
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