I haven’t spoken much about the ownership situation at Manchester United for a couple of weeks but I have been reading the various stories during that time with some interest.

However, one article I read in the Daily Mail this morning has spurred me into writing something because it’s starting to get a bit dirty, to my mind.

You can read the article for yourself here.

It is an interview with Keith Harris, the financier behind the alleged buy-out plan that is being put together by the so-called “Red Knights”.

He has apparently got together a group of wealthy business people who are ready to buy the club as soon as they are given any signs of encouragement from the Glazers that they may be willing to sell.

And this is where it gets a bit dirty.

Instead of just approaching the Glazers with an offer and opening some form of dialogue (which, I would have thought is the proper thing to do) he is now asking the fans to stop buying their season tickets and stop buying the merchandise.

Without these income streams, the hope is that the Glazers will be forced into selling the club.

Hmm… is it just me or is this everso slightly naughty?

Now let me just say that I am not a supporter of the Glazers but I am not exactly anti-Glazer either. I just want what is best for Manchester United and until proven otherwise, there is nothing to suggest that these Red Knights will be any better.

I simply refuse to believe that these Red Knights are simply concerned Manchester United fans and that their intentions are purely altruistic, that they are going to commit millions of their personal fortunes (I haven’t seen any details of just how many are in this group – 10, 20, 1000? ) and expect nothing in return other than a warm, cosy glow that comes from the knowledge that they have done something good for their favourite football team.

They haven’t become wealthy businessmen by being frivolous with their time and money.

Incidentally, where were these people when the Glazers were aggressively buying up all the shares in Manchester United PLC five years ago that prevented them from buying them themselves and preventing all this before it had even happened (it would have cost them a lot less that way too)? I’d hate for it to emerge that some of these people actually sold their own shares to the Glazers to make a quick buck at the time…

Whatever. I think the time is fast approaching for these people to put up or shut up and I think they should do so without asking the fans to do their dirty work for them and without resorting to these dirty, undermining tactics.

The most telling section of the whole interview is this bit:-

‘I would not talk about this if I didn’t have full confidence in our ability to raise the money to do this. I never talk publicly unless I have confidence. Getting the money together is the easy bit.

‘But we can’t make an offer until the Glazers are placed in a position where they are forced to consider it.’

That sounds like complete tosh to me.

If the Glazers are the money-grubbers that they are being portrayed as being then they will take their hand off if the offer is enough. If the offer is not enough then that’s the way it is. Everything has it’s price and you can either afford it or you can’t.

The Red Knights seem to be of the opinion that the best thing to do is to bring the United brand down to its knees so that the buying price is lower as opposed to simply raising the bid to what the club is currently worth.

This is gambling with the club just as much as the Glazers have done with their own purchase method in my eyes.

Besides, if this is the way they do business, what can we expect when/if they do run the club?

The player Fergie wants costs £50 Million? Naa, send round some boys and break his legs, we’ll get him for £10 million…

The Red Knights and their supporters have been doing everything they can to create this image of the Glazers as monsters who are screwing the Manchester United fans for every penny they can get out of them. Abusing the fans’ goodwill, I suppose you could call it.

The way the Red Knights are using the fans as political pawns in their own underhand attempts to wrest power from the Glazers doesn’t exactly shower them with glory either, as far as I’m concerned.