Green and Gold is admirable but is it effective?
Manchester United are in exceptional form on the field, but off it the Green and Gold campaign is gathering momentum, yet how effective can it possibly be?
Manchester United are doing what they seem to do every season, become increasingly awe inspiringly good as we enter a new year. Wayne Rooney has been in the form of his life and on the pitch things are looking increasingly rosy for United. With Chelsea’s surprise knock out of the Champions League their quest for further European glory is looking more likely. Yet off the field the Glazers are coming under increasing pressure to leave the club over its debts. Whilst I do not wish to go into the ins and outs of the well publicised debt, the Glazers are facing a backlash despite fantastic performances by the team.
Only last week the campaign received a boost from Old Trafford Legend David Beckham. He donned one of the Green and Gold scarfs after Manchester United defeated Milan in the Champions League last 16. Old Trafford is now awash with the colour and it does send a powerful message to the Glazer’s. Though I believe this campaign can influence some of the decisions made at board room level. Its effectiveness in terms of new ownership and more fan involvement is probably misplaced.
The problem is Manchester United is such a massive corporate business now. Its turnover exceeds £300 million a year and the club survives by its huge business connections all over the world. As much as Manchester United fans don’t like it, the club is a cash cow to investors. The Glazers have saddled the club with huge debts but they are not football fans, they are running it as a business.
David Gill earlier this month defended the Glazers in statement ‘The Glazer’s don’t want to sell; they have no wish to sell. You have many owners who come in and try to pick the team, be very visible and they have taken the view they are not there to do that.’
The refusal to sell is in reply to the so called ‘Red Knights’ group who I find a bit of a joke to be honest. The name itself is a PR attempt to gain support from the Green and Gold campaign. The fifty or so members we are told it involves who are ‘concerned’ Manchester United fans are men with money who want to own a football club and make more money. Furthermore how can fifty people run a football club? Especially the one the size of Manchester United. The whole thing stinks to me.
I think the campaign is admirable but I would stay away from the ‘Red Knights’. They most likely will ride the crest of the wave of support from anti-Glazer enthusiasts to get into Old Trafford. Then shut the fans out of any involvement of running of the club the Green and Gold campaign may aspire to.
The Glazer’s debt on the club is of a worry. The good years have enabled the debt to be serviced. Manchester United fans worry of leaner years where maybe an early Champions League exit occurs could force the club into financial meltdown are with strong merit. Though I would warn off the support of the Red Knights and lean towards an influencing of the Glazer’s business model which with continued momentum could occur. If the Glazer’s don’t want to sell, then they don’t have to.
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Matthew,
I’m getting used to reading this website and cringing…can’t you people do your research?
1. United’s turnover in the last reported accounts was fractionally over £278m, which by my calculator does not exceed £300m
2.”Furthermore how can fifty people run a football club?” Oh, have you seen the RKs plans for the business post-takeover?
I don’t recall anyone telling us that the RKs would ‘run’ the football club. I would expect with such a large number of investors they would look to appoint a board of directors to run the club for them. That model sounds very similar to the highly successful plc model that went before the Glazer takeover, when we had over 30,000 shareholders/investors. Ironically David Gill ran that too…..
3.”They most likely will ride the crest of the wave of support from anti-Glazer enthusiasts to get into Old Trafford. Then shut the fans out of any involvement of running of the club the Green and Gold campaign may aspire to”
Again, Matthew are you a Red Knight or are you just speculating?
The fans don’t need to run the club. We’d look to get a stake in the club which would prevent takeovers in the future, but we don’t want to run it for ourselves – we’d leave that to the directors.
All in all Matthew, the Red Knights will not proceed with a bid without the backing of the supporters’ trust, which will not back the bid unless they agree with the bid and business plan.
Now then, why would someone want to fill their article with such drivel and wild speculation, Matthew? It’s almost as if you have an agenda….
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Dom,
You clearly have strong views on this matter and that I applaud you for. We don’t agree and that is fine.
Yet you seem to believe I am not allowed to speculate on pretty much anything, well thats what my job is. To open the debate and give an opinion. Not read a headline. You yourself go on to ‘speculate’ that a Red Knights bid won’t proceed without the backing of the supporters’ trust. So I shall ask you the same question…….Are you a Red Knight?
Finally to even suggest I have an agenda with the Glazers is just lunacy. I think you need to stop watching the Oliver Stone films.
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At least someone is beng more pragmatic about the Green and Gold/Dodgy Knights issue. I’m no fan of the Glazres business model, but you can guarantee any one taking over will interfere quite spectacularly due to the amount of money/turnover generated by Utd. The Glazers made one fundemental mistake in that using the Club to service debt elsewhere and upping the admission prices thinking the onfield success will mitigate it, it doesn’t work in the real world, now theyhave a large and vociferous set of fans who are not happy and it has made the Glazers vunerable to takeover speculation in a way they never considered. The Glazers obviously know that when SAF goes the Clubs fortunes will dip for a while, so they had better have a plan to reduce the Club debt before that happens. It beggars belief the Glazers are naive enough to think the money will roll in as long they are hands off so to speak.
I don’t think it will be Cheque Mate for the Dodgy Knights somehow
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Your comment about ‘how will 50 people run a football club’ is drivel and has already been spoken about by Gill.
United were a PLC until the glazers took over and therefore were effectively ‘owned’ by thousands of people.
IF the Red Knights (IF…) take over, then it will be a similar scenario. They will appoint a CEO, CFO, etc and a board of directors. The aim is to give the supporters a stake and in the same way as Bundesliga clubs, a stake that cannot be sold to any Fat-Cat who turns up with a bulging wallet.
This is about Supporter Ownership, not Supporter Running…
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