Don't be one of those who sat on the sidelines and sniped, be part
of the rescue deal for what's left of our football club. The beginning
of September saw Sky's move for United and the start of the battle for
the future of our Club. IMUSA spent weeks canvassing opinion amongst
Reds and gathering information about the deal from people in Business
and the City, with numerous trips to London visiting lawyers,
stockbrokers and politicians. There are those who would still
challenge whether we know what we are doing, or if we actually
understand the business side of the deal. In truth there is still much
we do not understand, but we know enough now to clearly state that Sky
need Manchester United more than we need Sky. Anyone who was
present at the AGM will tell you that the Board had no answers for the
shareholders questions about the deal, you may ask "well so
what?" But the Board of Directors were at the AGM to answer the
questions of the shareholders who are, in law, the Club's 'owners'.
Some have argued that the time to oppose the growing
commercialisation of United was in 1991, if more Reds had bought
shares then, the argument goes, we would not be in this situation now.
Well a number of Reds did buy shares and followed the advice of
Maurice Watkins "to have a greater say in the future running of
the Club". For these people to be ignored in the way that the
Board did at the AGM shows that their ignorance of the feelings of
supporters is only surpassed by their arrogance. But what can we do
about it? Simply by the fact that they are richer than most of us or
were born lucky they are in the position of power. The same is true of
life all over you might say but this is more than just about money
that is why so far we have managed to rock the foundations of the
ivory towers that these people live in. Without fans football is
nothing, if people do not go to the game there is no TV spectacle
to sell to the armchair fans. The fans directly generate over 80% of
football's revenue. Yet the fans have no say in the way that the game
is run.
The resignation of Peter Mandelson apart, the departure of Graham
Kelly from the FA was one of the more surprising developments of the
last few weeks. There is much talk of revamping the way football is
run yet, again, the fans are not consulted - why?
Later this month the Restrictive Practices Court is due to start
hearing the case brought by the Office of Fair Trading against the
current Premier League TV deal with Sky and the BBC. The OFT contend
that the deal runs counter to free competition, that the Premier
League is operating as a cartel and that individual clubs should be
allowed to negotiate their own TV deals. We could be forgiven for
jumping for joy that more money would be coming to United if the OFT
win, allowing us to strengthen our position in the English game and
take on Europe, yet at what price? Could we trust the current Board to
invest in the Club? What would happen to the rest of the league? Yet
we cannot throw our lot in with the Premier League as they too have
been shown to be untrustworthy, seemingly without a thought for the
welfare of the game.
The appointment of Kelly's replacement, the MMC decision on the Sky
deal and the OFT case make the next six months arguably the most
important in the history of football. So if for the last four months
you have sat on the sidelines and not got involved it is not too late
but it might be come the end of the season. Act now:
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Join IMUSA - send £5 to:
IMUSA
PO Box 69
Stretford
Manchester
M32 0UZ
-
Write to Stephen Byers:
DTI
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0ET
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Write to the MMC:
The Reference Secretary (BSB)
Monopolies and Mergers Commission
New Court
48 Carey Street
London
WC2A 2JT
