Caoimhin O’Muraile ⚽ As the saga of ownership surrounding Manchester United Football Club lingers on and on, as yet another piece of capitalist corruption has emerged.
There were many questionable practices surrounding the legalised theft, takeover by the Glazer family back in 2005 and now with the club supposedly up for sale more questionable wrongdoings appear on the stage.
There were many questionable practices surrounding the legalised theft, takeover by the Glazer family back in 2005 and now with the club supposedly up for sale more questionable wrongdoings appear on the stage.
Back in 2004, a few months before the aggressive and unwanted takeover of United by Malcom Glazer and his family an AGM was held at Old Trafford on 12th November 2004. At this meeting many fans from the surrounding neighbourhood, chiefly Salford, turned up to voice their disapproval at what was going on. Many fans had shares in the club and were reluctant or even hostile to selling their shares to the Glazers or, for that matter, any other aggressive buyer. At the same AGM the consortium representing the Glazers, who were not present in person(s), cast their proxy votes prior to the meeting. This was against all protocol for such a meeting and questionable under the law of the land. At such meetings the debates are supposed to be heard then, and only then, can votes be cast in an open democratic way with representatives filling past the ballot box to cast their votes. Had this happened the Glazers' representatives could have been identified. What the fans did not know was that the Glazers were essentially blackmailing the Board into allowing them due diligence or they would vote against the resolution allowing the current Board to buy back Manchester United’s shares, leaving them available for the Glazers debt ridden plan to purchase them. This did not happen in 2004 as the club did not want the fans, some built like brick shithouses and tattooed with MUFC and the club crest on their arms, to know who the Glazers representatives were for fear of violence against them, therefore the Glazers people dropped their four voting cards, representing 17 million shares before the meeting began.
The club also had a souped-up Mercedes van with an SAS trained driver who was used to dangerous situations waiting to whisk the Glazers representatives away quickly. The club maintained there was nothing untoward going on. If this was the case why did they go to such lengths to hide the Glazers representatives and get them away safely. True, there was an angry crowd there that night but what added to the fans' fury was not being able to see who the criminals were - they were protected by Manchester United PLC.
Criminals is the right word because what happened was legalised theft. Once the Glazers had acquired 75+1% of the shares they could de-list and the club would be theirs, because all remaining shares could then be, under UK law, compulsory purchased irrespective of the debts incurred by the buyer. This included the fans' shares, which were held under the trust, Shareholders United, out of which was born Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) which many of us around, I believe,40,000, are still members of.
The events of 2004/5 caused a major shift and split in the support of Manchester United. Some of us went off and formed our own club, FC United of Manchester, though I was not there at the opening meeting in 2005 and joined three months later, while others stayed at Old Trafford with the anti-Glazer campaign. For me, FC United of Manchester, Manchester United FC almost in reverse, was an extension of the culture and soul of Man Utd as it was to most of my generation and prior to the arrival of the Glazers, all seater stadia resulting in inflated price hikes and all the other negative changes which have engulfed the modern game at the top.
The events of 2004/5 caused a major shift and split in the support of Manchester United. Some of us went off and formed our own club, FC United of Manchester, though I was not there at the opening meeting in 2005 and joined three months later, while others stayed at Old Trafford with the anti-Glazer campaign. For me, FC United of Manchester, Manchester United FC almost in reverse, was an extension of the culture and soul of Man Utd as it was to most of my generation and prior to the arrival of the Glazers, all seater stadia resulting in inflated price hikes and all the other negative changes which have engulfed the modern game at the top.
Arguably FCUM are the last credible ant-Glazer movement still standing, apart from MUST, as many smaller groups have melted away or simply joined MUST. I am a member of both FCUM and MUST.
The strength of feeling against the Glazers at Old Trafford is still high and when they tried to enter the ill-fated “European Super League” along with Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal, the so called “Big Six” United fans rampaged before the home game with Liverpool a couple of seasons ago, entering the ground and forcing the games postponement. Now the Glazers are showing signs of a willingness to sell Man United with a £6 billion price tag attached!
Once again, the smell of corruption is in the air surrounding this sale. Apparently, the President of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, has hinted he is prepared to give the green light for £5 billion bid by the Chairman of the Qatari Islamic Bank, Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani for Manchester United FC. He is the frontrunner to become the next owner of United. So much for the plastic concerns for human rights as Qatar’s record in this field is far from satisfactory. Manchester United will become like our “noisy neighbours” Man City and Newcastle United, playthings in these mega rich playboy’s toy set. Fucking sickening, but so is the entire capitalist economic system which is, ultimately, to blame.
Once again, the smell of corruption is in the air surrounding this sale. Apparently, the President of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, has hinted he is prepared to give the green light for £5 billion bid by the Chairman of the Qatari Islamic Bank, Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani for Manchester United FC. He is the frontrunner to become the next owner of United. So much for the plastic concerns for human rights as Qatar’s record in this field is far from satisfactory. Manchester United will become like our “noisy neighbours” Man City and Newcastle United, playthings in these mega rich playboy’s toy set. Fucking sickening, but so is the entire capitalist economic system which is, ultimately, to blame.
If I were to put my true feelings down and what I’d like to do about it, they may be unprintable and could cost me time in the nick, so “fucking sickening” will have to do. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad’s bid will open up the debate over multi-club ownership, with Paris Saint Germain already in the possession of a subsidiary of the states sovereign wealth fund, Qatar International Investment Authority (QIA). Sheikh Bin Hamad claims his bid has nothing to do with the authority despite his families historic links with QIA. Another lie?
In the US during a podcast interview Cerefin admitted UEFA “pretend” that at least one club playing in UEFA does not share the same owners with another. “At least one club” suggests many do which is in breach of UEFA rules. “There are clubs – or at least one – where we still pretend it’s not the same owner as another club, but in reality, it is the same owner.” In other words this corrupt organisation, UEFA, turn a blind eye when it comes to money, and they call this off the pitch activity “part of the modern game” of football. I think not, it is more like an updated game of Monopoly which involves football clubs. Perhaps when Waddington’s upgrade their capitalist propaganda game they could include on their board, Old Trafford or Anfield, even Goodison! Without mentioning Sheikh Bin Hamad personally, Cerefin said; one or two of those potential bidders for another club said to me; “look we have 250 companies that can do it (the takeover) from another company but we do not want to do that. Because it’s us we can circumvent the rules.” Corruption from top to bottom. The key words are “pretend” and “circumvent” with “because it’s us” as if special rules apply to them. Obviously, they do!
The other major bidder for Man Utd is Jim Ratcliffe the founder of Ineos Petrochemicals. His bid sounded the best (of a bad bunch) but now it emerges he could table an offer which would allow the Glazers to stay as minority shareholders, say 20%. This would infuriate United fans even further but how much more they can do, short of shooting every bidder and burning Old Trafford to the ground is difficult to see – I am not advocating that course of action, just imagining it. Ratcliffe, as capitalists go, sounded once over the best bet but now, if reports are correct, that is questionable. We either have a bunch of human rights abusers owning the club, who have fuck all interest in the game or a consortium headed by Ratcliffe and includes the hated Glazers!! A rock and a hard place to say the least.
Everybody who loves what was once over football should be concerned at what is going on at Man Utd, including Liverpool fans who have recently issued joint statements with MUST. Their concerned supporter’s group, the Spirit of Shankly (SOS), are equally concerned about what is happening at Anfield. The British Government obviously couldn’t care a fuck for human rights otherwise they would legislate against these abusers, including those who own City and Newcastle, preventing them from owning a football club. They did not have any qualms about forcing Roman Abramovich out of Chelsea and, to my knowledge, despite his faults, he has not committed any human rights crimes.
The problems football will face in the future, when my generation have gone, and already we are a minority is nobody will remember the great game football once was. This is all they will know, they will be too young to remember before this rot started with the formation of the Premier League chiefly by the bigger clubs, Man United included, when football really was a family game, a working-class family game without these, imitation coffee drinking cardboard cut-outs from the middle classes who attend, now and then, games today. They called us hooligans back in the sixties, seventies, eighties and into the early nineties but I’ll tell you one thing and it’s this: despite our faults, and we did have some, we never damaged the game, apart from media hype, in any way shape or form compared with the corporate thugs in suits of today!!
In the US during a podcast interview Cerefin admitted UEFA “pretend” that at least one club playing in UEFA does not share the same owners with another. “At least one club” suggests many do which is in breach of UEFA rules. “There are clubs – or at least one – where we still pretend it’s not the same owner as another club, but in reality, it is the same owner.” In other words this corrupt organisation, UEFA, turn a blind eye when it comes to money, and they call this off the pitch activity “part of the modern game” of football. I think not, it is more like an updated game of Monopoly which involves football clubs. Perhaps when Waddington’s upgrade their capitalist propaganda game they could include on their board, Old Trafford or Anfield, even Goodison! Without mentioning Sheikh Bin Hamad personally, Cerefin said; one or two of those potential bidders for another club said to me; “look we have 250 companies that can do it (the takeover) from another company but we do not want to do that. Because it’s us we can circumvent the rules.” Corruption from top to bottom. The key words are “pretend” and “circumvent” with “because it’s us” as if special rules apply to them. Obviously, they do!
The other major bidder for Man Utd is Jim Ratcliffe the founder of Ineos Petrochemicals. His bid sounded the best (of a bad bunch) but now it emerges he could table an offer which would allow the Glazers to stay as minority shareholders, say 20%. This would infuriate United fans even further but how much more they can do, short of shooting every bidder and burning Old Trafford to the ground is difficult to see – I am not advocating that course of action, just imagining it. Ratcliffe, as capitalists go, sounded once over the best bet but now, if reports are correct, that is questionable. We either have a bunch of human rights abusers owning the club, who have fuck all interest in the game or a consortium headed by Ratcliffe and includes the hated Glazers!! A rock and a hard place to say the least.
Everybody who loves what was once over football should be concerned at what is going on at Man Utd, including Liverpool fans who have recently issued joint statements with MUST. Their concerned supporter’s group, the Spirit of Shankly (SOS), are equally concerned about what is happening at Anfield. The British Government obviously couldn’t care a fuck for human rights otherwise they would legislate against these abusers, including those who own City and Newcastle, preventing them from owning a football club. They did not have any qualms about forcing Roman Abramovich out of Chelsea and, to my knowledge, despite his faults, he has not committed any human rights crimes.
The problems football will face in the future, when my generation have gone, and already we are a minority is nobody will remember the great game football once was. This is all they will know, they will be too young to remember before this rot started with the formation of the Premier League chiefly by the bigger clubs, Man United included, when football really was a family game, a working-class family game without these, imitation coffee drinking cardboard cut-outs from the middle classes who attend, now and then, games today. They called us hooligans back in the sixties, seventies, eighties and into the early nineties but I’ll tell you one thing and it’s this: despite our faults, and we did have some, we never damaged the game, apart from media hype, in any way shape or form compared with the corporate thugs in suits of today!!
🖼 Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.
Good article, Caoimhin. But one correction. Abramovich was forced out of Chelsea due to his connections with the serial human rights abuses, the serial aggressors and serial thieves in the Kremlin.
ReplyDeleteI thought they were "alleged" connections, Barry by a government whose own human rights record has been questioned in the European Court for Human Rights, that being the British Government. Eager to keep well in with the White House, they booted Abromovich out of Chelsea, who, believe me, I'm no lover of.
ReplyDeleteEither way, my club, as it were, and those in the upper echolons of it are up to their necks in corruption. So are, I dare say, many others in the bent PL.
Caoimhin O'Muraile
Abramovich was funding Chelsea with dirty Kremlin money, the Kremlin are proven war criminals and violators of human rights. That is why he is rightly sanctioned.
DeleteBarry,
DeleteSays who?
Cant agree Barry, by that criteria British businessmen who have money in football clubs should also be fucked out as the British Government are also proven war criminals. They've being before the courts for their illegal activities in the North of Ireland, a war, and a dirty one, no different to any other war crimes, including Russia.
ReplyDeleteThe Qatari gang are different to either. They are committing human rights abuses, killing workers, and are not in a war situation. Oh, don't go to Stamford Bridge saying nasties, no matter whether or not they are founded, about Abromavich, he is still an Icon there.
Caoimhin O'Muraile
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Caoimhin, you aren't entitled to your opinions but they are not supported by international law. Russia has committed the supreme crime of waving aggressive war against Ukraine with associated war crimes and crimes against humanity. Abramovich has been rightfully sanctioned by the UK due to his links to Putin.
DeleteAll of the American owners would have to be kicked out as well # Vietnam # Afghanistan # Iraq # Etc
ReplyDeleteBarry why wont Israel sign up to the ICC? Why don't you stick up for the Palestinians? Why is Israel allowed to be courted on a world stage when everyone knows they have committed war crimes and ignored UN calls to stop?
ReplyDeleteI could go one but you get the picture.
I do not speak for t pphe Israeli govt,(they should sign up to ICC imo). I support two state solution. I could ask you why you do not stick up RRfor Ukraine, the Uighurs , Royingha etc. But I have learned that your human rights concerns are very selective, basically only those that you can attribute to "Rothschild Zionists"
DeleteOne sided, it has to be Brit Government policy to condem. The Brits are anti Russian, and pro-Ukraine as a vehicle to being anti-Russian, as are their
ReplyDeleteBosses in Washington. They are not anti Isreali, double standards or what? The Saudis are murdering civillians in Yemen, and more to the point, why have they not been fucked out of NUFC?
My concern here is for MUFC, and, to be fair other clubs and their fans. The Qatari bid, on the back of human rights abuses, is clearly corrupt, bent as a dogs hind leg. It fucking stinks, you have to been a United fan over the decades to understand, and one who once attended, home away and abroad as many of us did.
Caoimhin O'Muraile
Let there be misunderstanding, Caoimhin I am opposed to clubs being financed by dirty money from serial human rights abusers be they the Saudis at Newcastle, the Kremlin at Chelsea, the Qataris at PSG maybe at Man Utd, There has to be proper due diligence regulation for all club ownership including human rights audit. This is what this thread is really about not rounds of whataboutery.
ReplyDeleteThats true Barry and is the basis for the joint document published by MUST and SoS. Strange bedfellows and in my day unimaginable. But the game and management of the sport in general his digressed so much that unity among the fans bases is emerging, without taking any non violent rivalry away. Man United and Liverpool fans singing from the same hym sheet was once unthinkable, but now its happening.
ReplyDeleteCaoimhin O'Muraile
Apologies for a typo earlier, Caoimhin. I meant to say "you are entitled to your opinions".
ReplyDelete