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RECLAIM THE GAME -- Posted by ColinH on Monday, October 16 2006
When the FA changed the practise of both teams sharing the match-day gate money and lifted the restrictions on owners of clubs siphoning money out of football they started a process that has had a devastating effect on the game in the modern era. True competition in our leagues has been killed off and doors have been opened that allow business targets to become the principle reason for a football clubs’ existence instead of the achievement of sporting excellence.
IMUSA believes that the problems caused by these changes are now so severe that they cannot be solved at a local level by the fans of any one club. They have become the concern of every fan in the Premiership, Championship and Football League. We therefore plan to roll out a national campaign aimed at reinstating the rules relating to the sharing of gate money and the restrictions on money being taken out of the game by owners. This “Reclaim the Game” campaign will include a requirement for these rules to be updated to include clauses relating to the equitable distribution of TV money throughout the FAPL and FL. It will also demand the adoption of a stringent fit and proper persons test for prospective football club owners and directors that take into account the sensitivities of the fans and the needs of the club and the game as a whole.
The Reclaim the Game campaign will start off by raising awareness in fans groups in the North West and then move onto a national level once regional momentum has been developed. We shall also be seeking the backing of the nationally representative Football Supporter’s Federation right from the off and IMUSA are urging everyone who reads this to join the FSF.
Where match-day gate monies were once shared equally, home teams now get to keep it all and because of this, money has accumulated around a very few big clubs, including us, in exactly the way the founders of the FA were trying to avoid. The result is that only 3 different teams have won the Premiership in the past 10 years and the competition has become meaningless for most of the clubs that make up this league. TV money, instead of being used for the benefit of the game as a whole, has made this situation even worse.
The rule restricting the siphoning off of money from football clubs by their owners was Rule 34. This used to state that directors of football clubs could not derive their main income from their ownership of a football club and that dividends paid on shares in football clubs could not be more than 5% of their face value (for reference, the last issue of United shares that were selling for £3.00 on the Stock Exchange had a face value of 10p). There was also a clause that prevented clubs from being bought, asset stripped and then closed down for profit. Rule 34 was taken off the books in the late 90’s because the FA stopped enforcing it. With Rule 34 big business would not be interested in taking over our game. Without Rule 34 our game has, almost uniquely in European football, been left vulnerable and exposed.
In the 70’s and 80’s football crowds were loud, vibrant and colourful, even when viewed on a black and white telly. The league was exciting because at the start of the new season, every team had a chance of winning it. The FA Cup gave further hopes of glory and even clubs outside the old First Division felt that they were in there with a chance. Match tickets were at pocket money prices. Sportsmanship and fair play were held in high esteem. When Matt Busby told us that “winning isn’t everything. There should be no conceit in victory and no despair in defeat.” he meant it and we listened to him.
Today, United supporters pay more for two lowest price tickets in Old Trafford than the Government gives an unemployed adult to live on for an entire week. Flags and banners not of the approved size, material or message are forcibly confiscated and overly aggressive stewards command everyone to sit down and shut up on pain of eviction. The police intimidate supporters on the way to and from the ground and anyone who steps even slightly out of line has a three-year banning order slapped on them. This scenario is the same all over the country and football, for the fans, has become an Orwellian nightmare.
The FA stood back and let this happen and because of this IMUSA believes that the FA no longer has the will or capability to protect our game in the way that it should be doing. Therefore, unless the FA implements the rule changes we are seeking at the earliest opportunity, “Reclaim the Game” will campaign to have these rule changes forced on them through Government action.
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IMUSA in the fanzines - September -- Posted by ColinH on Tuesday, September 12 2006
There’s an old film, El Cid, one of those Sunday afternoon epics like Ben Hur and Spartacus. In this film El Cid is a knight, a hero to the men he has led to many famous victories. On the eve of the final battle El Cid gets mortally wounded, so the next day they strap his body to a horse and then parade him at the head of the army, to make it look like he’s still in command. The ruse was convincing but only from a distance. It was obvious to anyone that got close to him that El Cid wasn’t in control of his own actions and that the words put in his mouth were no longer his. The copy of El Cid in Sir Alex’s house has apparently been hidden from public view.
English Premier League clubs don’t generate much profit as a rule and so it is to be wondered why more clubs are being bought up by foreign big business. Even Harvard business analysts don’t understand how the Glazers are going to find £62 million a year to pay interest charges when the club only ever made about £20 million in a good year.
IMUSA has long suspected that one plan has been for a sharp increase in TV money bought about by the formation of a European Super League. We contacted UEFA soon after the takeover to say as much. Their response was a strong one and whilst the UK Government toadied up to anyone with a fat looking wallet, UEFA went quietly about its work and took all the steps it could to prevent the formation of this sort of breakaway league. West Ham are the latest club to be stalked and this has raised the alarm bells once again. FIFA has had something to say against it, UEFA are concerned that this trend goes against their aspirations for “more clubs being owned by the community and the people who really care for them.”
Richard Caborn, the UK Minister for Sport has responded to UEFA’s concerns by bleating yet again that he is powerless in these circumstances and announcing that well worn Civil Service device for not answering questions they don’t want to be answered, the setting up of an independent review. This has been described as “an industrial sized abrogation of responsibility.”
The UK Government along with all other EU governments also has to consider the Review of European law. As far as football is concerned, this review recommends that our game retains its independence and the right to govern itself. The G14 clubs have come out against this as it would restrict their freedoms to siphon money out of the game and determine the financial set-up of any new league should it ever come into existence. IMUSA works closely with the nationally representative Football Supporter’s Federation and is backing their call for all football fans to write to their MEP’s and MP’s in support of the recommendations of this review. More information can be found on the FSF website (www.fsf.org.uk) and on www.imusa.org.
The Old Trafford PR machine was put into overdrive over the summer as the press associated United with 72 different players, including at least one that wasn’t actually for sale. This seemingly intense transfer activity, just at the time when the new season ticket sales were being pushed the hardest, translated into the purchase of one player. A further 19 were shipped out including Ruud, which, on top of the 23 moved off the salary bill the year before, left us with the smallest squad of recognised first teamers in living memory. David Gill, in a statement that must surely win him the “Never Mind the Width” award, asked us to concentrate on the squad’s quality.
It is of course true that we have some good players, there’s no doubt about that. The problem is that it’s a long season, where yellow cards add up, suspensions accumulate and players get injured. The squad system was developed to allow these problems to be smoothed over. We have just 18 outfield players plus a couple of goalkeepers. Adam Ekersley, Darren Gibson, Richie Jones and Floribert N'Galula are first reserves. Now, good luck to these lads and here’s hoping that they make the Alan Hansen’s of this world look just as foolish as the Class of 92 did. However, if they don’t come good and they go the way of Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson and Miller instead, then we could find ourselves in real trouble.
It is a matter of record that we spent less on bringing players in than we got for the players we sold. This gave us the lowest net transfer spend in the Premiership. David Gill has said that the money for transfers was available but that Sir Alex didn’t want to spend it. That doesn’t sound very much like the profligate Fergie that we know. It does however sound exactly like he is the one being set up to take the blame if things do go badly wrong.
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Independent European Sports Review -- Posted by ColinH on Thursday, September 7 2006
The Football Supporter's Federation to which IMUSA is affiliated is asking for all fans to contact their MP's and MEP's to support the Independent European Sports Review.
The FSF say "The British government (along with all other member governments of the European Union) is currently considering the recommendations of a Review of European law as it effects football. The review was commissioned by the European Council of Minsters under the last British presidency led by UK sports minister Richard Caborn MP. It has been undertaken by a panel of experts led by former Portuguese sports minister Jose Luis Arnaut.
The Review concentrates on the impact of EU competition and employment law on the game. The collective sale of broadcasting rights and rules governing the number of foreign players are heavily affected by European law.
The recommendations of the Review would recognise the right of football to govern itself and the vital role of redistribution of income in strengthening the game at all levels.
The FSF welcomes the findings of the Review. Whilst we believe the Review could have gone further in certain areas, it forms the basis for action by EU governments to strengthen the game and is hostile to the big club money and power grab.
Money talks. The big clubs aren’t happy about the Review. They’ll do what they can to stop it being implemented. It’s time for fans to speak up.
Write, email or phone your Member of Parliament and Members of the European Parliament NOW. Tell them you support the Review and want it implemented."
To download a copy of the Review go to:
http://www.independentfootballreview.com/doc/A3619.pdf
To download a copy of the FSF’s evidence to the Independent European Football Review go to:
http://www.fsf.org.uk/media/pdfs/fsf_evidence_IFR_europe.pdf
To find out who your MP is and how to contact them go to:
http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/
To find out who your MEPs are and how to contact them go to:
http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm
Don’t delay! Get in touch TODAY. Send copies of all responses you get to:
steven.powell@fsf.org.uk
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Transfer window closed -- Posted by ColinH on Friday, September 1 2006
This summer's transfer activity ended at midnight on August 31st.
David Gill made promises about world class midfielders, Manchester United were associated with 72 players in the newspapers and were involved in a long wrangle to buy a player who wasn't actually for sale. Transfer dealings were kept high on the agenda and the club sold a record number of season tickets.
It is to be hoped that the remaining 19 recognised first teamers now left in the squad are able to do the job previously entrusted to twice that number. Otherwise, fans might start to think that all this talk of transfers, that led to the purchase of just one player, might have been put about just to promote ticket sales.
Just at a time when the playing staff was in reality once again being drastically reduced and we actually spent less money on transers than any other club in the Premiership.
Chelsea £42.0M
Liverpool £21.9M
Everton £13.6M
Tottenham Hotspur £13.4M
Charlton Athletic £11.0M
Newcastle United £9.7M
Bolton Wanderers £7.8M
Aston Villa £5.8M
West Ham £5.2M
Sheffield United £5.1M
Watford £4.6M
Fulham £2.6M
Arsenal £2.0M
Reading £1.9M
Blackburn Rovers £1.4M
Portsmouth £0.9M
Wigan Athletic £0.8M
Manchester City £0.2M
Middlesbrough -£0.3M
Manchester United -£8.7M
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IMUSA in the Fanzines -- Posted by ColinH on Monday, August 21 2006
Another season about to start. And once again there is a Glazer-sized hole that sits in the middle of every conversation about United. We’ve got more seats than ever before. Ticket prices have gone up on average 25% in two years. TV money has increased. We’re told that the current shirt sponsorship deal is more lucrative than the previous one. Last season saw a major clearout of reserves and fringe players. The playing squad is now small by premiership standards and a small squad means less money spent on salaries. We should be rolling in cash.
In spite of this, high earners have been shipped out through a revolving door to make room for lesser players on lower salaries and the investment in improving a squad that clearly needs improving is as near to nil that makes no difference.
If anyone still needs to ask why, the answer is the billion dollars of debt the Glazers took on to buy us and that they’ve now shifted onto the Club. This needs £62 million a year just to pay the interest charges, about three times the profit the old plc used to make in a good year. Question now is how long is it before this lack of investment starts to really show on the pitch?
There are those that argue that the Glazers’ ownership is no different to when the Edwards family owned the club. They are wrong. For most of the time the Edwards’s owned us the FA had a rule, Rule 34, that governed how much money owners could siphon out of their clubs (no more than 5% of the face value of the shares). Rule 34 was the reason why owners of football clubs used to be people like James Gibson, who put far more of their own money into the club than they ever took out and they did this just for the love of it.
The Glazers are different creatures. They aren’t doing what they’re doing for the love of the Club. They’re doing it for the love of the money they are hoping to make out of it. That wouldn’t have been allowed under Rule 34. IMUSA wrote to the FA to find out why it was being allowed now. Answer was that Rule 34 had been removed because it was apparently “unworkable and outdated”. They abandoned it before they removed it by simply stopping to enforce it. That meant that Martin Edwards could set up the plc and cash in his chips. That meant that football clubs are now run for the benefit of the owners instead of the fans. If there’s no Rule 34, the only way clubs will be run for the benefit of the fans is if the fans get to own the football clubs themselves. The FA got rid of Rule 34 to pander to greedy owners. It will be the lack of Rule 34 that sees them all removed. And good riddance.
IMUSA, MUST and the editors of UWS, RI and RN met with Richard Caborn, the UK Minister for Sport in November 2005. He promised to write to the Glazers to broker a meeting with the fans. Several reminders and four months later he was as good as his word. However, by the time the Glazers got his letter, Malcolm Glazer was in hospital and the Glazer boys were too “preoccupied” to meet with the fans because of this. Nice to see a politician so committed to helping out his constituents and a family that is so close.
Two years ago people who wrote in applying for season tickets were usually told “no” because numbers were strictly limited by the size of ticket allocations for cup games at neutral venues. That number was held at around 36,000. This year season ticket numbers have rocketed to around 64,000. Because of this, season tickets no longer give guaranteed access to cup semi-finals or finals.
At the same time there has been a big increase in premium rate “executive” seats. The selling point for these is that they give preferred access to cup final tickets AND they give preferred access to away tickets. The loyalty pot is in danger of being dispensed with because of “persistent standing” (never minding all the evidence that says people stand at aways whether loyalty potters are there or not) and that will mean that it is only execs who get to go to away games. When this happens, “Standard” season tickets will give a seat for home matches but no access to cup finals or away tickets. That is, they will have become we used to call League Match Ticket Books.
Finally, thanks to the Football Supporter’s Federation for awarding "Manchester United supporters" a special award at their last conference. This was for the fight against the Glazers takeover.
Bryan Glazer gets a special IMUSA prize for announcing that his family had been “accepted” by the fans, just after the biggest antiGlazer demonstration seen since this time last year.
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IMUSA AGM -- Posted by ColinH on Thursday, August 17 2006
The Annual General Meeting will be held from 8pm on Thursday, September 14th 2006, at the Trafford Hall Hotel, 23 Talbot Road, Old Trafford, Manchester M16 0PE.
See map for location
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&search_result=&db=pc&lang=&keepicon=true&pc=M160PE
The meeting is open to all current members of the Association. Lapsed members and new members can (re)join on the night.
Nominations are sought for positions on the Committee for 2006/07. Any adult member is eligible to stand for election and you may nominate yourself.
Current committee members are invited to submit their nominations for the following Officer positions:
Chair
Vice-Chair (x2)
Secretary
Treasurer
Press Officer
Membership Officer
Communications Officer
Please note that under the rules of our constitution only current committee members are eligible for stand for election as an Officer.
If you wish to seek election to onto the Committee or to Officer position, please submit your nomination at least 14 days before the AGM.
You may do this via email (comms@imusa.org) or by writing to
IMUSA,
PO Box 69,
Stretford,
Manchester,
M32 OUZ
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Manchester United Fans Against the Glazer Takeover -- Posted by ColinH on Thursday, June 15 2006
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Manchester United fans were honoured at the 4th Annual Conference and AGM of the Football Supporters' Federation held on 4th June for their fight against the Glazers takeover of their club in June last year.
The FSF Services to Supporters Award 2005/2006 was accepted on behalf of all the fans organisations involved in this fight and the citation read out by Malcolm Clarke, Chair of the FSF, held up the way in which these groups co-operated between themselves as an example to the fans of all other clubs faced with this sort of hostile takeover.
IMUSA warmly congratulates Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News on being named as the FSF Sports Journalist of the Year.
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GEORGE BEST FOUNDATION -- Posted by ColinH on Sunday, May 28 2006
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A number of auctions are currently running on Ebay to raise money for the George Best Foundation
These include tickets from the George Best "Sixty of the Best" event signed by Dickie Best, George's sister Barbara McNarry, Pat Crerand and Don Fardon.
There's also the chance to place an entry in the Commemorative programme being produced.
Money for the George Best Foundation can also be raised by downloading "Belfast Boy" by Don Fardon and "Goodbye to the Belfast Boy" by Cracked Flag.
Click on the photos below to link through to their websites.
Belfast Boy
Goodbye to the Belfast Boy
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George Best Mosiac Auction now live onEbay -- Posted by ColinH on Friday, April 21 2006
A unique ceramic mosiac made especially for the forthcoming event to mark what would have been George Best's 60th birthday is now up for auction on Ebay.
Tickets for the fundraising do are £25 from Red Star Sports, Sam Platt's or on-line from the MUST website.
All proceeds from the night and the auction go to the George Best Foundation
Click here to the see the auction
CONGRATULATIONS TO FC UNITED -- Posted by ColinH on Tuesday, April 18 2006
IMUSA offers its warmest congratulations to FC United of Manchester for being declared champions of the Moore & Co North West Counties League Division 2 in their inaugural year.
FCUM was set up following the Glazer's takeover at Old Trafford and is a focal point for those boycotting the ground because of this.
http://www.fc-utd.co.uk/story.php?story_id=279
New Website Under Contruction -- Posted by ColinH on Tuesday, March 14 2006
Please bear with us whilst the new website is being built - It will hopefully be ready by the end of March
George Best's 60th Birthday -- Posted by ColinH on Tuesday, March 14 2006
IMUSA and MUST are holding a joint event to celebrate the life of George Best and raise funds for the George Best Foundation with a special George Best Evening to be held on 20th May - two days before what would have been George's 60th birthday.
We have been contacted by George's family (Barbara and Norman McNarry - his sister and brother-in-law) and not only will they be attending this event but they have also expressed their wish that we coordinate other similar activities involving supporters around the world. They feel it is really important to involve supporters directly rather than just through the club itself and they hope it will be possible for representatives from all over the world to attend "Bestie's Big Bash" which will be held on 22nd May in Belfast.
More info will be released shortly.
Next Meeting -- Posted by ColinH on Friday, March 3 2006
Thursday 9th March, meeting starts at 8 O'Clock
Upstairs in the
The Town Hall Tavern
Tib Lane (off Cross Street)
Manchester
Tel: 0161 834 7576
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=53.4805&lon=-2.2448&scale=5000&icon=x
Non-members can join on the night (£5)
Items up for discussion will include
Loyalty Pot being scrapped for the Bolton game
Missing tickets for the League Cup Final
Lack of elected representation on the Fans Forum
Please contact comms@imusa.org if you are unable to make the meeting but have points you would like to raise
George Best Memorial Service in Manchester -- Posted by ColinH on Wednesday, February 8 2006
From the official site: www.manutd.com
The family and friends of George Best have organised a service of remembrance which will celebrate, and give thanks for, his life at Manchester Cathedral on Thursday 16 March at 11:00 GMT.
Entrance to the Cathedral will be limited to ticket holders only and these will be issued free of charge and limited to a maximum of two per person.
It will be a strict condition of entry that only those registered as having been allocated tickets will be admitted.
It is anticipated that tickets will be heavily over-subscribed and in that event, a ballot will be held to determine the successful applicants.
Those wishing to apply should send a stamped addressed envelope to:
George Best Memorial Service
Ticketing & Membership Services
Manchester United Football Club
Old Trafford
Manchester
M16 0RA
The deadline for applications is Saturday 4 March.
It should be noted that all applications will be welcomed and not be restricted to supporters of Manchester United.
Hiding in the Shadow of Hillsborough -- Posted by ColmL on Wednesday, February 8 2006
Since it’s inception in July 2004, Stand Up Sit Down have always concentrated on current arguments in their case for a return to safe standing; we’ve sought not to invoke terrible memories of the Hillsborough Disaster for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, this is not a stance that those so against the return of standing seek to adopt; within 5 minutes of sitting down in the offices of the Football Licensing Authority we were told “well, we can’t have another Hillsborough, can we?” More recently, Richard Caborn, using crass and emotive language used the disaster, during a debate in the Guardian newspaper with Peter Caton, as virtually a carte blanche reason not to even have a debate on the issue. It seems that by using the words safety and Hillsborough the authorities think that the case for the return to standing is an open and shut one.
We wish to dispel the all too convenient myth that Hillsborough was caused because of terracing per se; we want the authorities to stop insulting our intelligence and using the tragic deaths of those Liverpool supporters as a debate stopper by bringing some little known or publicised facts into the wider domain. We do not seek to cause offence or upset but feel that it is timely to try and persuade the authorities to sensibly and comprehensively address the fact that a large minority of supporters wish to stand at football matches and that rather hiding behind the skirt that is Hillsborough, their needs should be addressed and honestly debated.
When responding to supporters and supporters organisation who are campaigning for a return to standing, we would like to know why the following are never mentioned by the Government and their authorities in answering their perfectly reasonable requests.
That:
· Sheffield Wednesday had no current safety certificate for the ground
· The one they did hold had not, despite various changes to the ground, been updated since it was issued in December 1979!
· For the police officer in charge that day, it was his first football match
· In 1981 the police had advised that the overall figure of 10,100 for the Leppings Lane terrace was too high and yet the capacity was not reduced.
· The police had no way of counting the supporters in the “pens” but merely guessed
· The police did not divert supporters from the packed pens into ones either side of the central one where supporters were congregating
· A front barrier was corroded and under the pressure of an excessive number of fans allowed in, it collapsed directly causing a number of deaths.
· A crush barrier had been removed from pen 3 in 1986 leaving a clear fall through to the front
· A second barrier had had a gap inserted in it in 1985
· Lord Taylor rejected the idea drunk fans caused the disaster but instead was certain that the chief reason was police failure to handle the mass of supporters.
· That seats should replace terracing was one of 76 recommendations that Taylor made and was not included in his interim report.
· This recommendation was amended by the then Home Office Minister, David Mellor, in July 1992 when he agree that some standing accommodation could be retained by clubs in the lowest two divisions of the Football League
Could it be all too convenient for the above not to be used in the blinkered and narrow minded arguments against standing as it detracts from their convenient “argument”?
It is clear that a disaster was waiting to happen at Hillsborough, but not simply or just because the club had terraces as those in authority would prefer we believed without question. Indeed, in a disaster in a modern, all seater stadium in South Africa in April 2001 that took the lives of 43 and injured over 100 football supporters, bore frightening similarities to the Hillsborough disaster in that the Inquiry found that “how a litany of mistakes and errors of judgement could have contributed to the deaths of 43”.
Stand Up Sit Down need to be very clear indeed that we fully support that vast number of improvements made to football stadia in this country post Hillsborough. It is apparent that they were long over due but question why it took the deaths of many and the 9th report (that was Taylor) into spectator safety to produce the benefits of modern stadia that we all enjoy today.
Notwithstanding the above we need to be equally clear that we find these benefits yet another all too easy get out clause not to bring back managed standing. Richard Caborn recently “spun” a Premier League fan survey by stating that “fans see their safety as a hugely important part of going to a game – and that they are happy with the current all seater arrangements” . Supporters who took part on this survey were not asked about whether or not they wished to sit or stand!! They were asked about how important they rated safety and of course the overwhelming majority of responders said that they rated safety as “extremely important” as any right minded individual would! It was telling that a West Ham message board was recently flooded with supporters registering their shock at the antiquated state of Fratton Park.
In our experience surveys on the subject of standing (mostly found on unofficial club websites) indicate that a high proportion of respondents wish to see safe standing areas reintroduced – even if they don’t want to use them personally!
While the feedback from our members and often read on websites when the subject of standing frequently arise also leans heavily in favour of standing areas but very, very few people would like to go back to the “old fashioned” days of terracing. Looking at our European cousins, especially those in Germany (where incidentally all stadiums bar one hosting preliminary rounds of the forthcoming World Cup, have designated safe standing areas) English supporters recognise and understand that standing and/or terraces do not have to be unsafe and for them to be reintroduced would not necessarily make attending football matches any more or less safe than currently.
While the main aim of this article was to dispel the myth that terracing automatically means danger or disaster we must also touch on the view that is held by many, that a introduction to modern, safe standing areas would automatically herald a return of hooliganism. Do the people who so disparagingly seem to think that those who wish to stand are would be criminals not take into account that tens of thousands of supporters have persistently stood in front of their seats without such behaviour occurring since the inception of all seater stadiums? We struggle to think of any other group in society who would be so easily and conveniently stereotyped and are saddened that law abiding, genuine football supporters of both sexes and all ages and backgrounds who want to stand are thus thought of and portrayed as would be hooligans merely because they wish to stand and vocally and passionately support their teams.
Indeed, in a paper by the Norman Chester Centre for Football Research entitled “Football and Football Hooliganism” no mention was made that being allowed to stand encourages deviant behaviour. It is a pity that those in authority choose to rely on patronising assumptions and ill informed opinions rather than proper academic research.
The Local Authorities, FLA and Government have so manipulated Hillsborough to suit their own agenda, that they appear to have convinced themselves that terracing alone was the cause of the disaster. At best we can only say we find this in the poorest of taste.
We are not sure what is worse: this manipulation of the truth or the shameful hiding behind the deaths of ordinary, decent football supporters - just like those supporters who support freedom of choice today.
Macclesfield Town - Fans United day & All-Stars match -- Posted by ColmL on Tuesday, January 24 2006
Macclesfield Town are holding a Fans United day this Sunday when they play Carlisle United at the Moss Rose.
All fans from around the country are invited and to wear your colours to the game.
Kick off is at 3pm and it's pay on the gate. Admission is £13 for standing on the terrace or £17 for a seat in the McAlpine Stand.
Also….
On the evening of Tuesday February 7th the Moss Rose is hosting an All Star XI v Macclesfield Town XI match in aid of the Save Our Silkmen fund.
Players that have agreed to play for the All Stars so far are….
Christian Karembeu, Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Festa, Mark Hughes, Gary Gillespie, Stan Collymore, Carlton Palmer, David Speedie, Dennis Wise, Gus Poyet, Viv Anderson and Tony Woodcock. The All Star team will be managed by Ron Atkinson.
Tickets for the game are priced at £10 adult and Concessions £5. Kick off is at 7.45pm
If you want tickets for this game please contact the Macclesfield Town FC ticket office on (01625) 264686.
Meeting - Thursday 12th Jan 2006 -- Posted by ColinH on Monday, January 9 2006
Meeting cancelled due to double booking of the venue
Next meeting - Second Thursday in February (9th)
George Best Commemorative Bowl -- Posted by ColmL on Wednesday, December 21 2005
Following the death of International football star George Best, Northern Ireland glass specialists Joseph Long & Sons felt they should do something to both celebrate and commemorate the life and times of this local hero.
They have asked the world renowned company Tyrone Crystal to produce their 6” Clonmel Rose Bowl with an engraving of George on it. After contacting members of the Best family it was decided that from the sale of these bowls all profits plus a donation will be given to the George Best Foundation, as set up by the family of George, and which is to have Professor Roger Williams as it’s patron.
The bowl itself, exclusive to Joseph Long & Sons, is made to the very high standards set by Tyrone Crystal and is one which will appeal to all, the football fans of whom many set George as the supreme standard to which all the rest would be gauged, the many fans of George himself, and also to the connoisseur of cut glass crystal.
The bowl is on display in the Frances Street Gift Shop of Joseph Long & Sons, and with each bowl purchased the buyer will be given a leaflet on Organ Donation. This idea of giving the leaflet with the bowl is aimed towards making people more aware of the importance of organ donation, ‘The Gift Of Life’.
A pdf of the bowl can be dowloaded from:
http://www.imusa.org/George%20Best%20Clonmel.pdf
For more information, contact Joseph Long & Sons, 118a Frances Street, Newtownards, Co.Down BT23 7DY, or call (028) 9181 7362.
Meeting with the Sports Minister, Richard Caborn -- Posted by ColinH on Monday, December 12 2005
Representatives of IMUSA, SU and the editors of Red Issue, Red News and United We Stand met with the sports minister Richard Caborn on November 28th 2005.
A letter was drafted following this meeting and the Minister today released a statement in response to this.
The text of this statement is given below
[From the Department of Culture, Media and Sport]
"Richard Caborn, Minister for Sport, met with Nick Towle, Chair of Shareholders United, and representatives from a number of other Manchester United fans groups on 28 November.
The meeting was both constructive and cordial and provided an opportunity for the Minister to hear their concerns about the recent takeover of Manchester United FC by Malcolm Glazer.
The Minister listened carefully to the concerns raised by Mr Towle and his colleagues and understood their wish to meet with the new owners of Manchester United to be able to put these concerns across in a constructive manner, and he hoped that they would have the opportunity in the near future."
RIP Georgie -- Posted by ColinH on Friday, November 25 2005
George Best
1946-2005
Legends never die
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