31/08/2010

FOOTBALL'S NEW AGE OF FAN POWER

A great article featuring MUST and the Green & Gold campaign appears in the latest issue of Prospect Magazine, an influential political journal.

It includes this:
Paul Marshall, one of the original Red Knights, argues that involving fans in the ownership of even the largest football clubs should make both social and commercial sense. The Red Knights have not finalised the structure they would put in place at Manchester United, but it would probably combine a membership scheme along the lines of Barcelona (where supporters pay €78 a year to take part in club elections) and a long-term plan to sell a minority stake in the club to a trust held by supporters. Marshall sees the yearning symbolised by green and gold as an untapped resource that could one day rival the spending power of the oligarchs.

"The potential funding that we have uncovered is much more than we expected" he said. Now, he added, it was a matter of waiting for the Red Knight and the Glazer valuations of Manchester United to coincide. "We are delighted to wait while the Glazers acclimatise themselves to the double dip."