Glazer Ownership of Manchester United - Red Knights Takeover Plans

Red Knights Takeover Plans

A fan campaign known as "Love United Hate Glazer" has existed since the origin of the family's bid to take over the club. The campaign has involved the spreading of the slogan and the acronym "LUHG" around various locations via stickers and graffiti. A number of banners have also been displayed in the stands at Old Trafford.

Despite its restructuring, the announcement about the club's debt prompted vociferous protests from Manchester United fans on the weekend of 23 January 2010, both at Old Trafford and at the club's Carrington training facility. A non-violent protest was organised by the club's supporters groups, following up on the "Love United Hate Glazer" campaign that had existed since 2005, and encouraging match-going fans to wear green and gold, the colours of Manchester United's precursor club, Newton Heath. A few days later, on 30 January, reports emerged that the Manchester United Supporters' Trust had held meetings with a group of wealthy fans with a view to buying out the Glazers' controlling interest in the club. The group then met with Keith Harris, a Manchester United fan and the chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce, to broker a takeover.

At the beginning of March 2010, further reports emerged that the group – dubbed the "Red Knights" – had met again to discuss the possibility of a billion-pound takeover of the club. Those present at the meeting included investment bank Goldman Sachs' chief economist and former Manchester United director Jim O'Neill and lawyer Mark Rawlinson, a partner at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, as well as Duncan Drasdo, the chief executive of the Manchester United Supporters' Trust, and Keith Harris, Executive Chairman of Seymour Pierce. The initial goal of the group was to increase the Supporters' Trust's membership to at least 100,000, to demonstrate the fans' support for a change in ownership. To better promote themselves, the Trust enlisted the services of Blue State Digital, the Internet strategy firm that worked on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election campaign.

Later that day, Manchester United announced that their gross debt for the final three months of 2009 totalled £507.5 million, a reduction of £30.6 million compared to the same period in 2008. They also reported pre-tax profits of £6.9 million, an increase of £9.6 million after making a loss of £2.7 million the previous year. This announcement was accompanied by a statement from the Glazers' spokesperson that the club was not for sale, as well as public support from the club's chief executive David Gill, who claimed that the Glazers were "running the club the right way".

Meanwhile, membership of the Manchester United Supporters' Trust passed the 100,000 mark on 3 March, before exceeding 125,000 a week later. The green-and-gold scarf campaign also grew, with large portions of the Old Trafford crowd showing the colours. Following Manchester United's 4–0 victory over Milan in their Champions League first knockout round tie, even former Manchester United player David Beckham was seen wearing a scarf that had been thrown onto the pitch; however, he later claimed that he was merely showing his support for Manchester United, and that the running of the club is "not business". It was also claimed that United manager Alex Ferguson would be prepared to invest his own money in the Red Knights' bid, but Ferguson dismissed these reports as "absolute rubbish".

Given the amount of debt that Manchester United is saddled with, some analysts have estimated that any takeover bid would have to total more than £2 billion, of which around £1.6 billion would be needed to match the Glazers' valuation of the club – double what they paid for the club in 2005. However, the Red Knights publicly stated that they would only pay "a fair price" when their takeover bid finally came. On 11 March 2010, the Red Knights appointed Nomura Securities Co. as their advisers for their takeover bid. Nomura previously advised the Manchester United board before the Glazers' bid to buy the club. The Red Knights later admitted that they would not make a bid for the club before the end of the season, but it was believed that their preferred bid option would have involved retaining the £500 million bond issued by the Glazers. Two-thirds of a further £700 million would be provided by 30–40 wealthy Manchester United fans, with the remainder provided by fund-raising from ordinary fans. Once the club was secured, shares would then be offered to fans, allowing them to take ownership of the club. Despite these plans, in June 2010 the Red Knights put their takeover bid 'on hold', citing "inflated valuation aspirations" in the media as the reason. Having already stated that they would only pay a "sensible" amount for the club, the group was thought to have baulked at the suggestion that the Glazers' valuation of the club was significantly higher than the amount they were willing to pay.