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New Red Issue #257 Out Vs. Bolton
The next mag hits the streets tomorrow - available from the usual places around the ground, priced £2.50.
To have it delivered to your door, subscribe now for 10 issues here or you can order the new copy only here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It will also be available in the following shops from Monday:
OLD TRAFFORD
Red Star Sports, Chester Road
MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE
Aleef Newsagents, Piccadilly Station Approach
Aleef Newsagents, 87 Piccadilly (by Hurley Sports)
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Road
Aleef Newsagents, High Street (opposite Debenhams)
STRETFORD
Jones Newsagents, Park Road
URMSTON
HNS Newsagents, 81 Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
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Treat Yourself This Christmas
And buy a Red Issue subscription.
Have all the latest inside gossip on United (and many other clubs besides) delivered straight to your door. Subscribe now for 10 issues here.
Meanwhile, for those who missed it, the Christmas issue that went on sale at the Wolves game will be available from the following shops:
OLD TRAFFORD
Red Star Sports, Chester Road
MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE
Aleef Newsagents, Piccadilly Station Approach
Aleef Newsagents, 87 Piccadilly (by Hurley Sports)
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Road
Aleef Newsagents, High Street (opposite Debenhams)
STRETFORD
Jones Newsagents, Park Road
URMSTON
HNS Newsagents, 81 Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
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Roll up, roll up. The latest mag is still on sale...>>Show...>>Hide
A new one hit the streets against the Rent Boys.
If you missed it at either of the Chelsea or Bayern games then fear not, you can still purchase this famous publication. It really is rather good.
You can order the current copy online here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It is also available in the following shops:
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
Graves Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital) |
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Latest Red Issue still on sale...>>Show...>>Hide
If you missed it at either of the Chelsea or Bayern games the fear not, you can still purchase this famous publication. It really is rather good.
You can order the current copy online here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It is also available in the following shops:
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
Graves Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
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Latest Red Issue on sale against the Dirties...>>Show...>>Hide
The mag hits the streets again on Sunday - available from the usual places around the ground, where it's still only £2.
Along with all the usual guff is an extensive interview with Keith Harris in which he talks about plans for a post-Glazer United and offers assurances that the Red Knights group can give supporters who back any takeover bid.
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7993/ri232.jpg
To have it delivered to your door, subscribe now for 10 issues via the links on the left or you can order the new copy only here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It is also available in the following shops (note though that the price in the shops has recently gone up to £2.50):
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Rd, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
Graves Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
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Red Issue in the shops...>>Show...>>Hide
The current mag will be on sale on Sunday against the Dirties but if you cannot wait until then it is available in the shops at the bottom of this page.
Along with all the usual guff is an extensive interview with Keith Harris in which he talks about plans for a post-Glazer United and offers assurances that the Red Knights group can give supporters who back any takeover bid.
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7993/ri232.jpg
To have it delivered to your door, subscribe now for 10 issues via the links on the left or you can order the new copy only here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Rd, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
H&S Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital) |
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Even our sellers can count to 20 - a new RI Vs. Fulham...>>Show...>>Hide
The next mag hits the streets on Sunday - available from the usual places around the ground, where it's still only £2.
Along with all the usual guff is an extensive interview with Keith Harris in which he talks about plans for a post-Glazer United and offers assurances that the Red Knights group can give supporters who back any takeover bid.
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7993/ri232.jpg
To have it delivered to your door, subscribe now for 10 issues via the links on the left or you can order the new copy only here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It is also available in the following shops (note though that the price in the shops has recently gone up to £2.50):
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Cross St, Manchester (corner of John Dalton Street)
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Rd, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
Graves Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
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Even our sellers can count to 20 - a new RI aganst Fulham...>>Show...>>Hide
The next mag hits the streets on Sunday - available from the usual places around the ground, where it's still only £2.
Along with all the usual guff is an extensive interview with Keith Harris in which he talks about plans for a post-Glazer United and offers assurances that the Red Knights group can give supporters who back any takeover bid.
The next mag hits the streets on Sunday - available from the usual places around the ground, where it's still only £2.
Along with all the usual guff is an extensive interview with Keith Harris in which he talks about plans for a post-Glazer United and offers assurances that the Red Knights group can give supporters who back any takeover bid.
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7993/ri232.jpg
To have it delivered to your door, subscribe now for 10 issues via the links on the left or you can order the new copy only here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It is also available in the following shops (note though that the price in the shops has recently gone up to £2.50):
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Cross St, Manchester (corner of John Dalton Street)
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Rd, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
Graves Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
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Check under the sauce - The sellers are ugly...>>Show...>>Hide
But the content is great.
The latest mag will be on sale tomorrow - available from the usual places around the ground, still only £2.
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3194/ri231.jpg
To have it delivered to your door, subscribe now for 10 issues via the links on the left or you can order the new copy only here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It is also available in the following shops (note though that the price in the shops has recently gone up to £2.50):
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Cross St, Manchester (corner of John Dalton Street)
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Rd, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
Graves Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
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Myths Of The Glazer Takeover...>>Show...>>Hide
[FONT=Geneva][FONT=Geneva]From February's mag. For more from the RI team subscribe here:[/FONT][/FONT]
Subscribe U.K.
Subscribe Europe
Subscribe W.Wide
[FONT=Geneva][FONT=Geneva]A comprehensive debunking of the main fallacies surrounding the pillaging of an institution[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]You’ll have noticed that the alarming state of United’s finances has suddenly been big news of late. Which, given that the impending shitstorm has been brewing for years, says as much about the way the media operates as it does about United. Still, better late than never. Make no mistake, United is up a well known creek here, and paddles are in short supply.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]This is one RI Told-You-So in which there’s zero pleasure to be had. Not that it required any particular intelligence or foresight to see it coming. Merely a basic willingness not to ignore the obvious. As soon as the insane, impossible debt was loaded onto the club, it was inevitable that trouble was on the way. The only questions were: what kind, how much, and how soon?[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Three years’ worth of extraordinary on-pitch success have kept both the wolf from the door and the accounts off all but the financial pages. But United were a side running on momentum and fumes, overseen by a manager who had rediscovered his fading brilliance, and blessed with a player who might have turned any contenders into champions.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Now, the team is in a run of poor form. The squad looks relatively threadbare. The Glazers are attempting to shore up their position at the club via this bond issue, meaning they’ve refinance the debt via private investors, and given themselves more control than the previous creditors might’ve allowed as money gets ever tighter. And the ‘story’ at long last broke.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Eyes are opening. More and more people, especially United fans, recognise the terrible risks the Glazers have taken with the club. But still, myths and misunderstandings about United’s situation - past, present, and future - persist. And as long as they do, it’ll be that much harder to grapple with the problem. Here, with as much brevity as we can bring to a fearsomely complex affair, is our list of ten to look out for.[/FONT]
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Geneva]“This was all inevitable from the moment United became a PLC.”[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Geneva]This one crops up a lot. The implication being that our current predicament is payback on a Faustian bargain made back in 1991, and that we’re now suffering for the success brought to us by PLC cash. The argument goes: anyone can buy into a PLC, so you have no control over who owns you or how they gain possession.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]There are two nonsenses there. The first is the notion that going public was the only way United could generate the cash which in turn helped the club to dominate the English game. On the contrary, it was perhaps the least efficient way, but it certainly helped to enrich some of those involved more than, say, taking out a manageable level of debt might have. (Not all debt is bad. Debt you can well afford is fine.) What’s more, other clubs spent large sums in the same period to little or no effect. Money is usually essential to success, but it doesn’t guarantee it. The manager and the players did that.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]The second nonsense is the belief that not being a PLC would have prevented a leveraged takeover. Didn’t help [/FONT][FONT=Geneva]Liverpool[/FONT][FONT=Geneva] much, though, did it? All a leveraged takeover requires is a willing buyer, a willing seller, and willing lenders. It was only when the last of the three pulled out that Martin Edwards failed to sell the club to Michael Knighton. There is no reason to assume a private owner wouldn’t have cashed in on a ridiculously over-valued and debt-laden offer just as readily as Coolmore did with the Glazers’ bid. [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]We’re not paying a karmic price for our success. We’re paying a needless price for supine or absent regulation yielding without so much as a whimper to predatory, short-sighted greed, hubris and arrogance. (Sounds familiar in the credit crunch era, no?)[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]2. “The fans had their chances to stop it.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Another blame-the-victim myth. When the club floated on the Stock Exchange in 1991, share ownership (despite the Tory government’s best efforts to popularise it) was far from commonplace. It remained an arcane and offputting business even for many in the middle classes, let alone United’s still chiefly working-class support. The idea that United fans ought to have suddenly and presciently grasped both the significance and the process is mean-spirited and unfair. Even if they had, on the back of the trip to Rotterdam and the need to renew season tickets, the number who could have afforded to buy stock in the midst of a deep recession would surely have been too small to guarantee the fans a say in the club’s future.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]By the time Shareholders United could offer a vehicle for fans to buy shares with ease, things had moved on apace. The value and share price of the club were on the rise, and it was always going to be a matter of playing catch-up. That particular race was, as we know, lost. The role of SU’s hierarchy in the takeover battle itself is another story. But again, to blame the fans in general for timing, circumstance and an inability to match the knowledge and spending power of wealthy or corporate investors is misguided. Plenty of United fans tried hard to stop the Glazers (or anyone like them) getting hold of the club. That they failed doesn’t in itself make it their fault that it happened.[/FONT]
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Geneva]“There was nothing Fergie could have done to prevent it.”[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Geneva]Always a touchy one, this, and the subject of so much argument that you could write a book on it. Here’s hoping somebody does, one day. But the nub of it is this: when you’re faced with the willing buyer/willing seller/willing lenders formula, and you can’t discourage the buyer, that leaves the seller and the lender. The seller on whose decision the takeover hinged was Coolmore, and for reasons well documented, Magnier and McManus were no friends of Fergie’s by that stage, however much “grown men move on”. [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Indeed, Fergie had happily availed himself of the fans’ support against them. So, with no reason to care about the club or its fans, no love for Fergie, and the prospect of a very tidy profit on their investment, they cannot be blamed for eventually choosing to sell. That leaves only the lenders, and Fergie was the only person in a position to scare them off.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]If you think that Fergie coming out against the takeover wouldn’t have rallied fans and spooked the lenders, then the Glazers themselves would disagree with you. It was, reportedly, their greatest fear at the time. And if you think Fergie was a helpless prisoner of circumstance, unable to involve himself in a tussle going on above his head, then ask yourself if that sounds like the tough, canny and ruthless political operator who has not just managed but ruled United for so long. It may not have been fair that he found himself in this position, holding such sway over United’s long-term future. But he did. He was the man on the spot. He had a decision to make, whether by action or by default; and he knew it. And here we are. Even if you blame others for getting us into this mess, that doesn’t alter the fact that Fergie - whatever his motives – made a choice not even to try to keep us out of it.[/FONT]
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Geneva]“United is still enormously profitable.”[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Geneva]Up to a point, Lord Copper. That point being where the interest payments kick in. So far, MUFC has trumpeted record profits under the Glazers, while discreetly failing to mention the overall (and debt-increasing) losses once interest is accounted for in the parent company’s accounts. The club’s own turnover relative to costs remains huge. But what good is that when the money flies straight out of Red Football’s window, along with a clutch of IOUs?[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]This January was different. Last year United made a genuine profit, after interest, thanks solely to the Ronaldo sale, and for the first time, the announcement has been of the profit figure *after* paying the interest on the debt. It’s almost as if The Glazers had a bond issue to flog, and know that prospective bondholders won’t be so easy to fool as naïve fans and tame pressmen… ah.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Anyway[/FONT][FONT=Geneva], at least we now know what United has to do to turn a real-world profit even in a trophy-laden season: sell a player for £80m each summer. Nothing to it. Should be easy to maintain the on-pitch success that way. Although some might differ: “That's what happens if you are financially strained and, if you sell your best players, you can bet your life that the results will change, too.” That would be Fergie, talking about Leeds United.[/FONT]
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Geneva]“The debt is being repaid.”[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Geneva]Well, this leads into a rat’s nest of bewildering numbers, false leads, dead-ends, conjuring tricks and misinformation. But the long and short is that far from being repaid, the debt has *increased* year-on-year as Red Football loses money despite United making it. Also, there are two kinds of debt; that secured on the club, and that contained in so-called Payment In Kind (PIK) notes, for which the Glazers themselves bear direct liability. The bond issue prospectus shows that the Glazers plan to hoover up United’s available cash – around £100m of it just for starters - to pay off the PIK notes, while the debt secured on the club itself remains at eye-watering levels, and will merely be shifted to the new investors rather than paid off. Still, as long as they’re in the clear, eh? We’d hate them to have to worry.[/FONT]
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Geneva]“The Glazers have invested in the squad, and the results speak for themselves. Plus Fergie has said he has money to spend if he wants it.”[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Geneva]Even going on headline figures, which tend to be misleading and to exaggerate expenditure, net transfer outlay since the Glazer takeover stands at just over £6m. Or a little more than £1m a year. Yes, there’s no point spending money for its own sake. But in football today, you get what you pay for; or rather, you don’t get what you don’t pay for. Yes, thrift and “value” are good things, but only when they are adopted by choice, rather than forced upon you by mind-boggling debts, and only when they don’t mean sacrificing quality. Yes, that figure includes the £80m for Ronaldo, but we are yet to determine just what the on-pitch effects of the Ronaldo sale will be. Let’s say it again: momentum and fumes. You can only run a successful club on those for so long. On that count, Fergie has done an astonishing job since 2006 – fighting with one hand tied behind his back.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Presumably, the first two fingers on that hand are crossed, as he keeps repeating his “money to spend” mantra. It might technically be true, but it isn’t freely available cash generated by the club – that’s being gobbled up by the PIKs. What’s now being spoken of is a “revolving credit facility” for player purchases. If any money is still to be spent this January, that’s where it will come from. Translation: more debt. If “revolving credit facility” sounds rather like a euphemism for “sit and spin”, then you might reasonably wonder what else Fergie’s fingers are doing behind his back.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]The Glazers have put no money into the club or the squad. They are a conduit for huge sums to stream out of the club, mostly in debt and interest, plus umpty million for themselves. All that hard work doesn’t come cheap. [/FONT]
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Geneva]“The Glazers are successful businessmen – it’s in their interest to make sure the club succeeds.”[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Geneva]Malcolm Glazer has made a lot of money in his time. His offspring do not seem blessed with quite the same knack. Unfortunately, just because it is in somebody’s interest to bring about success, that does not necessarily mean they are capable of it. And even if they did happen to be business wizards, they’d need the combined magical powers of Merlin, Gandalf and half of Hogwarts to prevent United’s debts from dragging the club downwards. On the evidence thus far, they appear instead to possess the magical powers of Gob from Arrested Development. (Watch it. It might cheer you up.)[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Also, while sporting success might indeed be profitable for them, the Glazers are even now demonstrating that they have other ways of squeezing money out of the club. Their success does not depend upon our success, and until supporters detach the two things in their minds, we won’t see the true picture of what the Glazers are doing to the club.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]The small print in their own bond prospectus shows that, far from placing United on a surer financial footing, it amounts to a licence to legally loot the club. It is liable to cost over £500m by 2017. That's: Five. Hundred. Million. Quid. Not spent on players. Not spent on facilities. Not spent on anything. Just stripped out of the club for the privilege of having the Glazers in charge of it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Still wondering how they can make a killing without the club itself maintaining its success? There's your answer. By bleeding and cannibalising everything that's been built over the last hundred-plus years, and leaving behind an empty shell. If, against the odds, the club remains successful, they cash in. If not, they cash out. Either way, they win, and the fans pay.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]If the events of the last three years in the global economy don’t hammer home this lesson – that often what the supposed experts are really good at is filling their own pockets and fleeing to safety as everything collapses on top of everyone else – then it’s hard to know what will.[/FONT]
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Geneva]“The interest payments are no different to the dividends the PLC used to pay out.”[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Geneva]In the 14 years of the PLC’s existence, it paid out a combined total of approximately £66m in dividends. In the first year of the Glazers’ tenure, the club paid out £85m in interest and fees. As Americans like to say, do the math. Adjust it for inflation, if you like. It won’t make it any less horrifying.[/FONT]
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Geneva]“When United can sell its own broadcasting rights, the debt will be sorted out.”[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Geneva]Less a myth than an assumption. Maybe a correct one. If you take Real Madrid as an indicator, then it probably would do the trick; but there’s no guarantee United’s revenue would be at that level. Especially if breaking up the Premier League’s collective broadcast deal led to a closed-shop Euro Super League wherein United would be just one of many big fish in a big pond, while the Premier League itself withered into an insignificant League Cup-type contest in which to play the kids.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]It’s also worth asking whether United would still be recognisable as a football club under such circumstances, rather than merely a franchise - a brand and nothing more. A football club needs context. It needs other teams to play. Without a top-flight English football league worthy of the name (and to lose that would be a disaster in its own right), would United finally cease to be the club we know? This time, it might truly be a Faustian bargain: damned if you do, and doomed if you don’t.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]10. “Even if it does all go wrong, United is too big to fail – somebody will snap up the club.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Once more, quite an assumption. The United “brand” (that wretched word again) will always have a value, but there may not be much left attached to it. If the bond issue and the shovelling of cash into the PIKs is any guide, the Glazers would sooner ride this horse to death and walk away, than dismount and give it half a chance. If you want a demonstration of vindictive bloody-mindedness, look up Malcolm Glazer pursuing drawn-out legal proceedings against his sisters over their mother’s will, saying, “We have got to keep going until there is no money in this estate.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]But even if there is something substantial to buy, who’s going to want United with the debts attached? A profit-minded investor might well look at the risk and the possible returns relative to the sums required, and decide the money could be better used elsewhere; or that he’d prefer to wait for a cheaper, asset-stripped United to hit the market like yesterday’s fish. [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]A sugar-daddy may not be so easy to come by as is generally supposed; but even if someone does fancy splurging that kind of cash purely for the kudos of owning Manchester United, you only have to look at the conduct of such characters elsewhere to wonder if this wouldn’t be a case of out of the fire, and into the frying pan. An improvement, but hardly a solution.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]This is not to say that United would not find a buyer, if required. Only that the rosy scenario so often described is anything but certain. Indeed, uncertainty is United’s malaise. If the following sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the sort of thing that might have appeared in RI any time in the last five years, to groans, eye-rolling and sighs of “bo-ring!”:[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]Our significant indebtedness could have important consequences for you. For example, it could: [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva][…] [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]•increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions; [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]•require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to make payments on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund the hiring and retention of talented players and coaching staff, working capital, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes; [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]•limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the football industry; [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]•affect our ability to compete for talented players and coaching staff; and [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]•limit our ability to borrow additional funds.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]In other words, the Glazers have taken the most stable, profitable and unassailable football club in the world, and turned it into a hostage to fortune, susceptible to any slight change in the football or financial wind. It’s a free bet for them. An almighty gamble in which we bear the losses, they take any winnings, and the club slowly and painfully slumps into mediocrity as they bleed it dry.[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva]In case you’re wondering, that passage above is an excerpt from the Glazers’ own prospectus, sent out to entice potential bondholders. Desperation can force people into actions that are hateful to them; actions that are entirely out of character. In the Glazers’ case, that action would appear to be telling the truth.[/FONT]
For those who haven't got it already you can order the current copy online here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It is also available in the following shops:
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Cross St, Manchester (corner of John Dalton Street)
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
Graves Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
If you wish to subscribe do it here:
Subscribe U.K.
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Off to Wembley? A bit of reading on the way perhaps?...>>Show...>>Hide
The new mag hit the streets tomorrow on Tuesday. If you missed it its available still.
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3194/ri231.jpg
To have it delivered to your door, subscribe now for 10 issues via the links on the left or you can order the new copy only here:
UK Orders
Europe/Republic Of Ireland
Worldwide
It is also available in the following shops (note though that the price in the shops has recently gone up to £2.50):
Aleef Newsagents, Gateway House, Piccadilly Approach, Manchester
Aleef Newsagents, Cross St, Manchester (corner of John Dalton Street)
Aleef Newsagents, Peter House, Oxford Rd, Manchester (opposite Dutch Pancake House)
Aleef Newsagents, High St, Manchester (opposite Debenhams)
Graves Newsagents, Princess Rd, Urmston, (next to Curzon Cinema, 2 mins from Trafford General Hospital)
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FC United Host Supporters Rally...>>Show...>>Hide
The current problems experienced within the higher / highest echelons of the football pyramid have long been predicted but are nonetheless a very real worry for those directly connected with these clubs and ultimately for all with even a passing interest in the beautiful game.
Many football fans are now seeing that the attempts of their club guardians to join the costly race for success regardless of what league you are in can have drastic consequences and put established clubs long entrenched within their local communities at the very real risk of extinction.
As a football fan one is constantly faced with a real juxtaposition when one considers balancing the want of success against the realties of the modern game. Agents, players, managers, fans, the tax man even all have different goals. Some more noble than others. But now more than ever a balance must be found or we will see the horror stories of the last months return on a regular basis.
Supporter Ownership, and thus by defintion FC United, attempts to offer the basis of a different model. At it’s core is the ‘club’ and it’s relationship within and as an important community asset offering all who wish to be involved the opportunity to get involved.
On Saturday 27th Feb before their home game against North Ferriby United, FC United will host a supporters rally aimed at putting supporter ownership at the very centre of the debate on the future of the game.
Alongside FC United speakers, guests will include Guardian journalist David Conn, representatives from Schalke FC, Supporters Direct and IMUSA.
Two other high profile European sides have also been invited and we await their confirmation. It is also hoped that groups from English clubs affected by the escalating debt in the game, will be in attendance.
Football is at a critical juncture, with the need for clear leadership and regulation never more evident. An alternative model of how the game is structured has never been more needed with supporter ownership absolutely fundamental to that model.
12 noon at Gigg Lane Social Club - Free Entry |
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