I’m reading reports suggesting that the Glazers are about to pay off a the £220m PIK loan on Monday 22nd November. Bloomberg earlier reported that Joel Glazer signed a document, entitled voluntary free-payment notice, that Red Football Joint Venture will “prepay 100 percent from the outstanding loan on Nov. 22″. The PIK loan to Manchester United would have matured in 2017 and if the Glazers had held the debt until then, they would have owed almost 600 million pounds at the current interest rate – which is based upon Bloomberg’s calculations.

Mark Baker, chief executive officer of ADM Capital Europe, claimed he was “delighted” for the fans but the Glazer’s are “eliminating arguably their best asset”:

“From a portfolio manager’s standpoint, it’s tantamount to ‘the Grinch who Stole Christmas. The Glazer’s are eliminating arguably the best asset in the European High Yield universe from a risk/return perspective. Delighted for the fans but our portfolio will miss the 16.25% coupon.”

The excellent Andersred blog, has put together three main possibilities as to where the money has come from:

1) Refinancing
2) Sale of an equity stake
3) Sale of other assets

You can read the full blog on the pay off othe £220 PIK loan here. The Glazer Out Blog looks at the possibility of a third party getting involved – ranging from another American Investor to the Red Knights.

The Glazer family paid £790m for United back in 2005, just before the FA Cup final in Cardiff against Arsenal. In January this year the Glazers converted a bank loan secured against the club into a £526m bond, which they could make a single withdrawal of £70m from club funds in order to pay off some of their £220 million PIK loan. Last month, Manchester United announced a record loss of £83.6m, much of which was attributed to interest payments and costs relating to replacing long-term debt with the bond.

Regardless of this pay off, the message must stay the same – We Want Glazer Out.

Before we play today, down the East Lancs one way and down the M62 in the other direction are two clubs all United fans should look at and take note. What’s happened over the last few weeks in Liverpool shows no one is immune to financial pressures. Back in 2005 when the anti-glazer protests began and back in January 2010 when it kicked up again, shows fans of all types inside and outside of Old Trafford want the Glazers to move on. Its not just United with problems, many lower league sides have been struggling.

Top Football is generally run by Corrupt Owners, a Lazy Football Association and Greedy Premier League. The Premier League is generally known as “the best league in the world” or “the most watched league in the world” but the way they treat it you’d think they want to lose those titles. They’ve allowed Portsmouth, Liverpool and United to be taken over in the last few years though this ‘fit and proper persons test’. This test allowed Shinawatra to take over City, a man in exile from his home country. If they allowed him to take over a club, after 2 other failed attempts of Fulham and Liverpool, just want does this test include? Am sure they’d allow Osama Bin Laden to take over Blackpool FC if given the chance. They’ve also allowed clubs to be taken over by unfit people and others who have never even been see to their new team play. Lets make this clear, Malcolm Glazer has never even been to see Manchester United play. This says an awful lot about the types of owners in football.

There are still some people who say ‘we won the European cup with them’ and the league ‘3 times’. Yes United did but was that down to them (the Glazers) or the players and management? I’d say the latter. There are also some people who say these people are good business men ‘without’ looking at their business history. Many businesses are built on debt but not football clubs. You put debt on a football club in the wrong manner and it will struggle. In the last 2 seasons clubs have been in trouble in all leagues of English Football. Administration has been the norm. Dundee United have gone into Administration just this week. As in the MPs debate a number of weeks ago, it was clear they believe there is a clear problem and something needs to be done. For the record it was the most attended debate ever and had MPs who are supporters of all types of clubs in the room. It wasn’t clear what the final solution would be and no one should expect it over night but its the first important move.

DEBT is the word and the question isn’t ‘How do we get the Glazers out.’ That’s like asking what is the meaning of life, you’ll hit a dead end. Its how do we as fans rise the profile of what they are currently doing to Manchester United. It should also be how we change football for the better in general. We protect football, we protect Manchester United. Many Liverpool fans will think ‘Yes we’ve been taken over. Problems over.’ They are back to square one. They are still owned by a single owner, an American and where has the money come from? If Glazer was to go and sell up, we don’t want to be sold to a Billionaire, an American or some other investment firm. When that day comes, we as fans need to have pressured our MPs and our Government to make sure reform in football has already happened. This won’t happen quickly but we need to make that ball roll and not let it stop. Malcolm Glazer was 82 at the time this article was written and there are 10,000s of reds in every age bracket who want the Glazers out. We have forever to fight, he has until his next stoke and that’s not meant to offend anyone. All Reds Must Unite, Put Any Factions Side And Fight Clever. Your MPs local Office is your first port of call.

This blog was written by guest writer Andrew Simpson. You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @WEWANTGLAZEROUT.

By now most of our readers have probably read about the Stretford-End.com Green and Gold campaign. If not, be sure to click on the link to read all you need to know about our cause. As we continue to seek exposure for the campaign, we have now taken our cause to Twitter. Show your support on Twitter by adding the SE.com Green and Gold twibbon.

If you haven’t signed our petition yet, please sign it here.

After writing a couple of articles about the Glazers before the season, Stretford-End.com made a conscious effort to steer away from that negativity. However, it has come to light that Manchester United are taking money from season ticket holders accounts way earlier than usual – so we ask the question, are supporters paying the real price of the protest?

I made public my dislike of the “Red Knights” association with the Green and Gold campaign. The green and gold campaign was supposed to be a long term – and peaceful – protest against the current ownership of the club. It was mocked by some sections of the media and even rival supporters but when you consider our greatest rivals, Liverpool, were thinking of copying it or at least using it as inspiration for a similar protest of their own, then I think there is a begrudging appreciation and maybe even a nod of brotherhood that extends beyond any tribal rivalry.

Nonetheless, MUST saddled themselves alongside the Red Knights which meant the Green and Gold campaign was inevitably linked to them. The Red Knights made statements and implored supporters to boycott their season tickets and just not to go matches. It was hard to be judgemental of whatever stand people took. Those that earned most sympathy from me were those who had had seats for generations, those who may have even waited a generation to get those seats. I had less respect for those who had gotten their tickets over the last 10 years yet still claimed to “Love United, Hate Glazer”. For a while, I felt the Green and Gold scarves over the spanking new AON shirt were a bit of a hypocritical yet fundamentally sad message regarding the lack of knowledge about the Glazers ownership and the general passive attitude – when it really matters – about the future of our club.

On reflection, it’s not really about that. The green and gold campaign was only effective because it was so visible; and wasn’t LAUNCHED as a protest against giving the Glazers any cash. How would 70,000 seats of green and gold really convey that message effectively? They did, however, convey that the supporters were behind the club and not behind the owners. Message sent, until the Red Knights tried – successfully, unfortunately – to steer their own agenda through the G and G.

I had conflicting emotions when I took “temporary relief” from my own boycott to go to Old Trafford for the first time in more than two years when we took on West Ham recently. I did so on personal reasons; the missus is from a West Ham supporting family, and she’d never been to Old Trafford before. We’re getting married in November and it was one of the things on the “to do” list and was convenient. That convenience swayed me from a boycott I believe passionately about was enough to give me food for thought on whether or not I was justified at all to have a negative opinion on anyone who made any decision whatsoever. Of course, my anger at the sheer refusal to even acknowledge what the Glazers were doing remained, but faced with these difficult decisions game in game out, I couldn’t really justify directing anger at someone who’d made a choice to stick around.

And the worst thing of all of this is? There were those who were apathetic and passive yet judgmental, who didn’t make a stand, and didn’t understand. They have created disharmony among the supporters when we least need it. So, in a time we all need to be pulling together – and even, with so many different ways to make your point, it was still possible to do that without being hypocritical so long as you actually understood what was happening – instead, we all end up not knowing where we stand and knowing where we stand with each other. It’s enough to make me reach for the chequebook and buy both new shirts – and buy them from the megastore to ensure I was paying 50% more – just so I know I’m supporting the club…!

That uncertainty of who, exactly, we should point the finger at, reared its head again this morning when I talked to a number of season ticket holders who had already had money deducted from their account for the Bursaspor home game on the 20th October – some, even 6 weeks in advance! Phil, one of my Twitter followers & a United season ticket holder who actually lives on the Isle of Man so has more than his own share of difficulty to even get to the league games, shares his own frustrations.

Of course, it is the Glazers’ ownership and the changes that come with it that supporters initially blame. How much, though, is it the fault of those who DID boycott? Do supporters have a right to feel disdain for their former seat neighbours? Do those who have boycotted feel any sympathy for those being financially punished because of their actions? After all, the club’s official line will doubtless be that declining season ticket sales meant they had to source the money from somewhere.

That they were doing so just two or three weeks earlier than what they had done in previous seasons goes to show how little the club value the supporters under their current ownership, and also, the extent of the financial trouble they must be in if they have to resort to the corporate equivalent of a thieving mate, stealing money from your wallet even though if they’d had asked you would have given it, and it was their birthday coming up which meant they’d have got that and more! It damages the relationship just as it would with the mate; you don’t quite see them the same after that.

Unfortunately, that is the club under the current owners. And even more unfortunate, the longer they remain in charge, the harder it will be to differentiate or justify the behaviour of the club we love from the greedy owners we hate.

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Now’s as good a time as any to remind you of our own Green and Gold protest.

Instead of asking people to make a decision with their money, we’re inviting you all to join us in asking the club to ensure they don’t further damage the relationship with the supporters and also to have your own request that the club establishes a long term identity.

We have launched an online petition to ask the club not to release a green and gold shirt while the Glazers are in charge, and also to establish those colours as part of the clubs official colours after such time that they leave the club or otherwise lose control of it.

You can sign that petition here.

The participants for this season’s inaugural Stretford-End.com Fantasy Football PrizePlay have been finalised. The competition, which will see the winner awarded a Newton Heath green and gold jersey – to coincide with our green and gold campaign – has been popular on the site and on Twitter over the last month. We hope that with your continued support we can show the club that the worldwide supporter base – United – will never be divided.

Thank you to all that joined up and in doing so helped support our Green and Gold campaign (the official Stretford-End.com campaign to ensure the club don’t release a green and gold shirt under the Glazers ownership; while also signifying our desire for the colours to be part of the club after which time the Glazers relinquish control of the club).

You can still join the Fantasy Football competition but by entering you will NOT be considered for our Prize Play competition. To find out if you made the cut,  and how you can participate in the non-prize league, continue to read.

The following are teams/players eligible for the Newton Heath prize that we will be offering as part of our Fantasy Football competition. Highest place wins (those who write for the site have chosen not to participate in the Prize Play to be impartial). In terms of awarding prize, we will attempt to contact the winner via the forum/twitter/blog, if no response is gotten within 7 days of close of competition we will award the next best placed the price and so on.
Eric’s CanOfTuna FC
Man Utd24

Ji Sung Park’s Hair
Colin Sebastian

Paddy’s Pub
Luke Sebastian

SC Aliens
David Brown

Northern Monsters
Sarah Jones

Little Pea Diddy
Nick P

Strugglers
Nicola Brain

Ballinode Bombers FC
David Mc Gettigan

Canadian Stretty
Sam Gregory

LUHG 11
Alex Urquhart

Neglan FC
Bjorn Bjornsson

AK
Adrian Kristoforus

BMer’s Crew
Brian Mercer

LUHG.com
Rory Tompkins

Porrigs Galacticos
M C

Woblers united
Michael Woods

Dong Fangzhuos Mojo
Howard Asprey

PaddyPower
Michael Coulthard

OneLoveOneUnited
raushan singh

Diller Domination
Lucas Diller

FC Boniface
Stephen Jacob

Bad Company
carl robinson

what what what!!
Trevor Hamilton

Nani Gatt FC
Philip Gatt

Krish Utd
Krishnan Ganesh

Norfolk N’ Chance
Paul Hughes

The Jizz
Denis Doci

Allen’s XI
Allen Brown

Via Napoli
Stacey Marrable

Mancville FC
Kris Morris

sarah
sarah lowe

pepsi max allstars
michael duncan

Sleepy’s Stars
Nik Storey

You can still join the competition by going to the Premier League Fantasy Football website, registering your team and joining our league with the registration code. Once again, however, you will NOT be considered for our prize by entering from now. The code to join is 6046-148282.

Good luck with your selections, and happy playing!

Keith Harris, the high profile member of the “Red Knights” who is currently apparently involved in the Liverpool Takeover, says there is “no point” in making a similar bid for Manchester United. Harris’ latest comments reveal him to be either painfully naïve, at best, or an untrustworthy publicity leech at worst.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Harris said “I don’t think there’s any point (in a bid). If you had such a clear message that the current owners don’t want to meet with a prospective buyer then I think you’ve got to say ‘there’s no purpose in tabling a bid’.

“I’ve been around long enough in the trading business to know that for a trade to happen it requires a seller and a buyer who will meet. If the owner is not a seller and owns all of it and isn’t under pressure to sell it then there isn’t going to be a deal.”

I’m not quite sure how this comes as news to Harris – before they even took over, there were huge protests by supporters who understood what it meant at Old Trafford, and this didn’t stop the Glazers seizing control of the club.

As Reds studied the financial figures and realised how much money was being pumped out of the club, more and more grew uneasy, leading to gradual plans among some supporters to stop going to matches and stop buying official merchandise. The publicity that surrounded the “vanishing” of the £80m Ronaldo money and at the same time information of how much the Glazers’ had been taking out of the club highlighted to many supporters just how bad the situation was.

MUST launched the Green and Gold campaign as something we supporters could do, a visual protest, in response to the worsening news and the fact that many were being ejected from games for having “Glazer Out” banners, signs and paraphernalia. It’s fair to say that it has been a huge hit, so much so that the “Red Knights” came out of the woodwork in March and attached themselves to the campaign. Not in so many words, but with the campaign in full swing, Harris knew what he was doing when mentioning the Green and Gold movement when encouraging people to abandon their season tickets and stop going to matches. MUST consequently backed the Red Knights bid – I have no ill will towards MUST for backing the wrong horse in this race (in my opinion), as I initially got excited by the prospect.

On the subject of asking supporters to boycott games, he said “.. if enough people – and I am talking about thousands – stop turning up to matches and do not renew their tickets, then that does it. The supporters have to hurt the Glazers in their pockets. They have to be prepared to take the pain of not watching their club in order to achieve a long-term gain. Supporters have to be galvanised to say, ‘We will not come. We will not buy programmes and merchandise’.

“It’s a big ask, it’s a risk, but that is what must happen. The Glazers are thick-skinned and seem impervious to protest. They will not be impervious to enormous drops in their revenue. 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.’

The supporters played their part. It was always unfair of Harris to make the demand on supporters who had had the seats for generations, through family history, to give up their seats. Those who had gotten their seats due to recent expansion in capacity at Old Trafford seemed to respond in their thousands as even beyond the waiting list, more than 4,000 season tickets were placed on general sale – a huge result, even taking into account those who had been on the waiting list gobbling some up and those more recent season ticket holders not feeling strongly enough or not understanding the significance of it all to give up. Regardless, the message was sent anyway. At the time of writing, hundreds of tickets still remain unsold for the Newcastle home game (albeit with the help of fixture rescheduling, this time helpful to the cause).

The worst part is that Harris blatantly lied to the supporters and coaxed them into doing something in the belief that their actions would immediately have an effect. In his more recent comments, he made reference to public exchanges between himself and David Gill. I’m far from Gill’s biggest fan but when Harris said “I wasn’t involved in the Red Knights going public”, “I don’t believe in these things going public until the right moment,” and worse still, “This is why I stayed silent on the issue“, he is trying to play we supporters for fools.

If the “money” wasn’t an issue, “the easy bit”, then why did the bid fall down? If he truly believed that the news was leaked – as he seems to intimate – from Gill’s camp, what purpose would that serve if the club was truly “not for sale”?

It fell down because the Glazers didn’t want to sell for the price that the Red Knights had imagined would be good enough to sell. I’m no Rupert Murdoch, hell even Del Boy’s business nous puts me to shame, but I am educated enough to know that if I go into a shop to buy a Mars Bar I can’t just present them with 20p and expect that to get me working, resting and playing. When we’re talking about the most valuable sports club on the planet – Forbes recently valuing United at £1.2bn despite the crippling debt attached to it – why do Harris and his motley crew think that they can just slink back under the rock they crawled from after propelling such responsibility on the shoulders of supporters?  Why did they think that a bid – even if they did make it – of £1bn (based on media reports, though I struggle to see that they had anywhere near that kind of money), some £200m short of the VALUE, would be enough to convince them? It’s simple; it’s the same reason I would go into the shop. I knew I wouldn’t get the Mars Bar but I’d get a cheap laugh out of it and if I was with my mates they would probably pass the story on. At this much more elevated level, Harris attempted to look like a hero to the majority of fans who only just realised the Glazers were a cancer on United. Because the majority of supporters probably still don’t understand what a contradictory parasite Harris has been, and because people just choose to blame the Glazers, his reputation, by and large, has remained unscathed (I know I am singling out Harris when the other members of the RK are just as culpable but he put himself forward as spokesperson and it is through his mouth that the lies came out).

The Glazers have shown they have no emotional attachment to the club. Or any of their other businesses, for that matter. They are just in it for the money and unless the Red Knights or anyone else dangles enough money in front of them to make selling United worthwhile – ie, more profitable – then of course they will not sell. It’s one of the most fundamental rules of business and it’s this reason alone that exposes Harris as the publicity hound he is.

The Red Knights (or should that be cowboys) statement in June said “we will only attempt to purchase the club at a sensible price, consistent with the long term interests of the club”, blaming media speculation for “inflated valuation aspirations” making a takeover “less attainable”, and instantly makes a liar of Harris’ “easy bit” comments. Things change, of course, but the valuation of the club is pretty much there for all to see – if there had been a bid at all (which I doubt) there’s a definite chasm between “not for sale” and releasing a statement to the effect of saying they were being held to ransom. Which is it, boys?

As supporters we are increasingly stuck between a rock and a hard place. The Glazers are destroying the club and the most high profile “rescue act” are simply hot air merchants looking at getting their faces in the paper. We’re now forced to cast an envious glance up the M62 as Liverpool’s financial re-structuring looks like being set to force Gillett and Hicks to sell. Good grief, they’ll even have transfer funds! It sticks in my throat to even type the words but at least with the Glazers we knew what we were getting. They’re staying true to their word (despite the downturn in the economy meaning we wave goodbye to that £20m transfer kitty every summer, no matter how you try and pin Smalling and Hernandez as the majority of it with all that Ronaldo “cash”) and they won’t sell unless they get a financially worthwhile offer. Harris and the Red Knights arrived like heroes, making pacts with supporters, then bottomed out with half-arsed and easily transparent excuses. Which party emerges with less honour?

It is important that the great work of MUST isn’t undermined or derailed by Harris and the Red Knights even if they continue to support the group. The Green and Gold campaign was just used as a bandwagon for them to use for publicity but it’s existence and the continued support of it is crucial to the voice of the supporters. It is important that we continue with the campaign as passionately as ever to not only dissociate ourselves with the Red Knights but also stay true to why it was started – so supporters, particularly those at games, can make a visible protest against the current ownership.

The Stretford-End.com Green and Gold campaign is designed to complement this and is there for the convenience of any United fan worldwide; giving everyone their chance to make their voice heard against the Glazers and helping to preserve a relationship between the club and its supporters. You can learn more about our campaign here and you can support it here.

—–

These views are purely my own and might not necessarily be held by the other members of the Stretford-End.com team – though we all support the Green and Gold campaign.

Still don’t know how badly the Glazers are destroying United? Pop over to the andersred blog which is an excellent resource for all the facts and figures.

You can follow me on Twitter.

Stretford-End.com is proud to announce our inaugural Fantasy Football competition. As usual, we wanted to be unlike other fan-run blogs who are running similar competitions – that’s why, in accordance with our Green and Gold campaign, we have decided to offer the green and gold Newton Heath replica shirt as a prize. For details on how to enter, keep reading.

The website has enjoyed a surge in popularity over the last year and we want to put that ever expanding fan base to good use. Last week we made launched our official campaign to keep Manchester United Green and Gold after the club is sold (and also, the petition to ask United to consider the fans opinion and not release a strip with those colours during the Glazers’ tenure) in recognition of our hope that someday we as fans will be able to have a major say in the future of our club.

We chose the Newton Heath shirt as a prize as it is fitting / in keeping with our campaign and also fitting with the times. The green and gold campaign that is currently underway with supporters that we wish to intensify has been superb so far. We are behind the peaceful protest and chose the shirt as a prize so our readers can either continue to protest or – hopefully – be able to celebrate the Glazers’ departure by May with a lovely shirt as recognition for the part they played.

Our competition will primarily be open to those who are supporting the cause and Stretford-End.com readers and forum members. The league will be run on the official Premier League fantasy football competition but the code will remain private and only given to forum members in a special section of our forum. This way, we feel we can give the fairest opportunity to our loyal readers who have helped and continue to help Stretford-End.com develop into THE place to visit to read about all things to do with the club.

Alternatively, if you tweet the message –

We’re in the Stretford-End.com #mufcGanG – keep #mufc Green and Gold after the club is sold – sign the petition @ http://bit.ly/dBWHE8

..then a member of the team will DM you with the invitation code (providing you sign the petition of course!). You will also be given the password to the locked section of the forum. Anyone who joins but was not been given the code in DM by one of the Stretford-End.com team will be disqualified from the prize. Additionally, if we learn the identity of the individual/s that shared the information they too will be disqualified from the prize.

These conditions are not in place to trick anyone but to be fair to our current readers and fans.

The Stretford-End.com team will be participating in the competition but in the interests of fairness we are rendering ourselves ineligible from the prize. So, if Kyle finishes first, Stretford-End second, Doron third and Yolkie fourth (unlikely, given my track record, I think I’m hot favourite for rock bottom!) then the prize will be awarded to the team who finishes in 5th position.

Entry is free other than the obligation, initially, to join in via the forum or help spread the good word.

The terms, conditions, rules and points scoring (other than those outlined above) are all on the Fantasy Premier League website so please familiarise yourself with them; we’re not going to get into any nasty debate about the fairness of those rules, only to say that we’re abiding by them for the competition.

In order to be eligible for the prize you must have registered your team before 12pm on Thursday 12th August; we will take a screenprint of our league at that time and also list all of the users in our forum, so be sure to join by then. If you join after (and we will make the code public after that time) then you will still be able to take part in the Fantasy Football League but you will be ineligible for the prize.

If you write a United blog and want to get involved; feel free, all we ask is that you show your support for the “Keep United Green and Gold” campaign either in a blog post or a tweet of the above. We’ll be more than happy to add your name and website – if you want – to the front page of the petition. While we are proud to have started the campaign it’s not about our recognition, it’s about what is right for the club and its relationship with the fans in the long term and therefore want this to be a sign of unity amongst supporters in a time when so many seem determined to cause in-fighting.

We also think it’s an excellent opportunity for fans worldwide to show their support; supporters of the club who might not know how they can make a difference in this troubled times can put their name to something that we can guarantee will be sent to the club and, with your help, widely publicised, in the knowledge that they have played a full part.

Thank you for your continued support and GOOD LUCK with your Fantasy Football selections.

To sign the petition click here

To register a team at the official Fantasy Premier League website click here

You can get follow the Stretford-End.com team on Twitter too – Stretford-End, Yolkie, Kyle and Doron.

If you are unclear on anything above, please leave a comment and we’ll get back to you.

With Kyle otherwise engaged, Yolkie leads you through the morning United stories – a friendly loss in Kansas, a nice change for Fergie, a former legend giving a current player advice, Nani playing with a broken toe, how to deal with your legends and also a reminder of our Green and Gold campaign and how our international readers can make a real difference to the future of our club.

United lose to Kansas City

Disappointing, yes, but only on the proviso we want United to win every time they take to the pitch. This was – for some Kansas players, without wanting to be patronising – the biggest game of their careers and a chance to put themselves in that proverbial shop window. The quality on show by our opponents demonstrated a tangible leap in quality from the last time our club visited the stateside and, for the MLS, we can see clearly that improvements have been made.

While we shouldn’t be too downhearted by the result, the performance is of some concern. Sir Alex – by choice or by force – has publicly declared his faith in largely the same players as last season and this means the likes of Gibson and Berbatov have to raise their games considerably. Untied fans will be forgiving of failure if they can see the players have given their all. There was none of that urgency on display yesterday and it’s just fortunate that Sir Alex has a chance to dust off the hairdryer before there are league points at stake.

As a side point; the players have a responsibility to themselves to ensure that last season’s League Cup success is a springboard to greater success as in 1992 and 2006 rather than the end of an era. That will require far more application and focus from certain members of our squad. 

Sir Alex draws comfort from America’s positive spin on United

What with sell out crowds and the general excitement over Manchester United during their tour of the USA it is easy to see why it has been a welcome change in atmosphere for Fergie. The Telegraph takes an interesting look on it.

A man who knows on Owen Hargreaves

..and that man is Bryan Robson. He has urged the Canadian-born midfielder to fight to save his Manchester United career after his latest injury setback prompted rumours of an impending retirement.

A key point made by Robson is regarding Hargreaves’ own faith in his progress; but even the most cynical of United fans wouldn’t begrudge Owen deciding to call time on his career if it meant preserving just his everyday ability to walk. 

Nani is playing with a permanent injury

Not really news as it hasn’t really affected his career but Nani reckons he broke a toe at the age of 14 playing barefoot in the street and it hasn’t ever recovered. You’d never have noticed when you consider how hard he can strike the ball.

Raul to leave Real

In the absence of transfer activity at United we can look around at the policy of other clubs. I’ve been a huge fan of Raul during his career at Real Madrid and his love affair with the club finally ended this weekend when it was announced he would hold a farewell ceremony on Monday.

Raul has undoutbedly become a victim of the clubs extravagant spending over recent years and the politics behind the scenes as the presidents insisted some of their big signings played. It does make me think about our own legends, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, and how glad I am that it is likely they will see out their entire career at Manchester United.

As an observer it will be interesting to see if Cristiano Ronaldo inherits the Spanish legends number 7 shirt or if he continues with the CR9 brand that he started last season.

Back the Stretford-End.com Green and Gold campaign

Finally, I make no apologies for raising the issue again – please take a few moments of your time to familiarise yourself with our Stretford-End.com campaign to stop the club releasing a green and gold shirt during the Glazers ownership; the campaign also acknowledges that we would like the green and gold colours to become part of the club after such time that the Glazers leave.

We feel it’s particularly relevant for supporters of the club who live overseas; an opportunity to you to lend your support to a campaign that is merely about preserving the relationship between the club and its supporters and to also have a huge say about keeping the clubs future faithful to its past.

If you support our campaign please join other likeminded reds who have already signed the petition and help spread the word.

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/keep-united-green-and-gold.html

Manchester United are heading back to the USA hoping to take advantage of some of the country’s recent heightened interest in the sport; just as Stretford-End.com works on introducing a new correspondent from that side of the pond. As United hope for a strengthened stranglehold on the commercial market in America, Yolkie took time to welcome our new features writer, Kyle, before he gets to see the club he loves in his own country (Kyle, that is, not Yolkie).

The beautiful game of football (or soccer, if you like) has never really taken off in the USA. That would be the general consensus from it’s “birthplace”, anyway. Even the late 70’s boom with Pele and George Best providing top billing never really inspired a full time serious competitive nationwide league and it wasn’t until the USA were to be given the honour of hosting the World Cup in 1994 that they considered re-structuring their domestic competitions to appeal to a wider audience. With the World Cup Final this year watched by an estimated 700m people worldwide and with sponsorship deals in sports so lucrative in the US you can see why there is a great effort to try and get the game more popular.

Manchester United, though, have never had the problem of gaining worldwide popularity. The Munich disaster drew lots of interested followers and the way Sir Matt Busby led his Babes to European glory 10 years after gained the club many admirers. The triumph over adversity that really is the best story in any sport is best displayed in football at Old Trafford. More recent generations of supporters around the globe obviously didn’t learn about United through Munich, it may have been the unlikely sight of Steve Bruce scoring a double to propel the Red Devils back into the 1993 title race. It might have been Solskjaer’s right boot in Barcelona, Roy Keane’s header in Turin, it might even be watching a player like Coppell, Whiteside, Robson, McGrath, Beckham, Cantona or Giggs.

Kyle’s own experience of discovering the club is a perfect example of the unique tale that each of us lead – visiting England during the 2002 World Cup. “You might say I found it through family in the most indirect way. My aunt lives and works in London, and my family went to visit her in the summer of 2002 (I think I was about 12 years old). We arrived just in time for the World Cup. I had never seen anything like in America; everyone was so caught up in the World Cup. I got carried away in all the excitement. I watched England’s first match, and that was that. I was officially in love with soccer.”

“My favorite player during the World Cup was David Beckham, so when it came to get interested in clubs, Manchester United was the obvious choice. Unfortunately, Beckham left at the end of that season, but by then United had already taken over my heart. I’ve been a fan ever since. Also, while my aunt knows little about soccer, she loves people who have a winning mentality. When she saw how I fell in love with soccer, she would speak highly of what a winner Sir Alex was. That had an influence as well, as I’m very close to my aunt and respect her opinions.”

Having grown up in the generation that gets accusing of “glory hunting” more often than any other, I feel a little sympathy for those younger than me who can’t explain the situation, those who were simply born in that era. It’s worse still, I suppose, when you get that attachment to the club and live overseas. Kyle explains, “A lot of Manchester United fans in America are accused of “jumping on the bandwagon” just because they win a lot of trophies, but that was honestly never a factor for me. I didn’t know much about the club when I first decided to follow them, just that it was the club Beckham played for. Of course, I’ve since learned of their rich and fantastic history. To me, their success is just an added bonus to being a Manchester United fan, not the reason I am a fan. I’ve even started to get my family involved. My parents don’t necessarily watch matches unless they sit down to watch one with me, but they still follow how the team is doing. In fact, my dad and I are taking a road trip to see United play in Kansas City for some father-son bonding.”

It certainly makes up for the last time United were in the US, in 2004, when Kyle was unable to catch his team. “I live in Illinois and none of the stops in 2004 were near me. I think the closest match was in Philadelphia, which is a 14 hour drive away. I was only 14 and couldn’t drive, and unfortunately my parents didn’t want to drive 14 hours for a soccer match. I was pretty upset to have United in country and not be able to see them, but what can you do? I’ll be making up for it this summer, watching their open practice in Chicago and the match in Kansas City. To say I’m getting excited would be an understatement.”

It’s all well and good sharing the story of how we fell in love with the club – that comes in everyone’s tale and it’s all universal. What isn’t quite as universal and probably isn’t as accepted is the lengths some people go to in other countries just to watch United in the Premier League. Those people who doubt the connection “foreigners” have with the club would have their eyes opened when watching their team in a far away country where watching a 12.45pm kick off means getting up early in the morning or staying up way past any kind of reasonable bedtime. Imagine the disruption that has on your working life, your study. Then people who do that for seasons on end who spend their life savings going to Old Trafford and get casually dismissed as “daytrippers”.

Kyle’s story isn’t new to me; having visited the US several times over the last few years mid-season I’m no stranger to having my own day re-structured around United. Still, that’s my holiday. Not my every day life. His experience and fitting that in with his daily existence really shows his desire to watch the team. “The time zones certainly don’t do me any favours, but you can bet I’m up for every match. Typical Premier League match times can be as early as six in the morning here in Illinois. This is especially brutal for me being a university student who typically goes out to the pubs on Friday and Saturday nights. I typically just watch in the comfort of my home because none of the pubs want to open at 6am for matches. I used to have to search the internet for live streams of every match, but TV coverage has gotten increasingly better here in the states. Fox Soccer Channel broadcasts a few Premier League matches every week… My best match day story has to be when United played in the Club World Cup. It just so happened to fall during the week of my final exams at university. They were playing in Japan and I know at least one match was on at 4am here. Final exams or not, I was going to watch that match. I stayed up all night studying, then at 4am watched the match, and took a final exam at 7am. One word: dedication.”

That dedication to United doesn’t end at waking up at an ungodly hour to watch his team. Kyle went to see the Red Devils during the run in to the 2007/2008 season when we battered Liverpool on Easter Weekend. It’s a memory that immediately provides a warm flashback for me; I was on a family holiday myself, on the East Coast, when we got stranded in a freak snowstorm. Like many visitors, Kyle combined his matchday experience with a trip to the museum to take in in person the feel, the history of the club.

“It was like a dream come true. Seeing the history in the museum was fantastic; seeing the history and exhibits for players like Best and Charlton were really special to me. I had only read about them and seen highlights online, but yet I had so much respect for them. I’ve always really appreciated the history of the club. And of course, I had to get a picture of me walking out of the tunnel and in the dugout. The next day; we went to see United against Liverpool. It was toward the end of the 07/08 season and United demolished Liverpool 3-0. Obviously it was a great match to see! I’m dying to get back over there; I’m hoping I may make it sometime this season.”

Compounded with the feeling of having to contend with the generalisation of “glory supporting” from hundreds, thousands of miles away, Kyle also ‘suffers’ from being American. Where casting an opinion on soccer to another nationality is mentally downgraded because American’s “don’t take it seriously” so obviously “don’t know their stuff”. An American, in Manchester, supporting United. Any problems?

“I’ve never had any problems with the locals while I’ve been there; well, the locals that are Manchester United fans at least. When we first got to Manchester, my aunt wanted to stop for a bite to eat at a pub near our hotel. I immediately realized the pub must’ve been for Manchester City supporters by looking at the decorations on the wall. I was wearing my 07/08 home shirt with Ronaldo 7 on the back and a coat over the top of it. Actually, I wasn’t going to take my coat off, but my aunt noticed I was sweating and insisted. Almost immediately a small child pointed out I had a United jersey on. I got more than a few glares for that, not to mention one man who gave me a one finger salute.”

Less of a problem, more of a nice initiation. The salute is always a nice moment; it welcomes you into the family. The connection with United and the USA intensified when the Glazer family took over in 2005. Kyle recalled the impact this had on him. “I hate the Glazers. Compatriot or not, when you jeopardize the future of the club I hold so dear to my heart, you become my enemy. As far as supporting the protest, I’m a member of MUST and the proud owner of a Green and Gold scarf. You can order the scarves online from MUST, so that’s one easy (and fairly cheap) way to support the protest from the states. Also, I’ve donated to MUST to help with the Green and Gold campaign.”

The protest is something dear to most fans’ heart. It brings out the best – and worst – of fans, though there is no real wrong or right. Just what we feel we can do. With a supporter fanbase reportedly over 300 million worldwide, you would figure the vast majority of them can’t actively get to Old Trafford to voice their displeasure. Kyle doesn’t necessarily buy into the idea of a fan ownership model; more that it would be an added benefit rather than a pre-requisite.

And though there is no wrong or right, his view does bear similiarities to mine. After the Red Knights smokescreen eventually faded and that fake optimism instilled in supporters was replaced by a defeatist pessimism, it has lead to some fans questioning their own position in any boycott. “Some have taken action by boycotting the Glazers financially, but that’s not for me. I bought into the merchandise and ticket boycott when the Red Knights were preparing a bid, but once the Knights’ bid seemingly fell apart, my boycott ended. I have a real problem with spreading propaganda and asking for donations, then not making a bid before the World Cup like they said they would. They say the bid is still alive, but I find it difficult to trust them now. Whether we like it or not, the club and the Glazers are linked financially for the time being. By starving the Glazers financially, we’re starving our own club during a time of great financial need. That’s how I see it anyways. Of course, everyone is welcome to their own opinions and methods; I still see all fans as my Manchester United family.”

More recently, Kyle has been writing on his own blog and contributing to a town publication – I was impressed with his style and the way he put his opinion across, and knew instantly it would serve as a brilliant step forward for both he and the site. Stretford-End.com is taking exciting new steps in the near future and are excited that Kyle will be a part of it with us. Like us, our new feature writer is excited by next season.

“For me, the biggest hope is winning that 19th Premier League title! For some of our legends – Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Edwin van der Sar – this may be their last season at the club. Should any or all of them retire, I’d love nothing more than to send them off with that record-breaking accomplishment.

Realistically, I think we could be looking forward to a pretty successful season. I know a lot of people are looking for a marquee signing. Hell, even I would get excited by a big signing. It certainly wouldn’t hurt. However, I agree with Sir Alex. Last year we finished one point behind first place and got knocked out of the Champions League in the quarterfinals on away goals, and that was during one of the worst injury-plagued seasons I have ever witnessed. We have the same squad with an extra year of experience, and if the players stay fit, I expect us to be competitive on all fronts. Our rivals, with the exception of City, haven’t added any big signings, so I expect we’ll be in a very strong position.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself.

You can follow Kyle on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/KDill_MUFC

You can also follow Yolkie on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/yolkie_

Incidentally, we also wish to welcome Doron to the site. Doron is an extremely knowledgable United fan with a keen interest in reporting the reserve and youth sides.

When it was finally “revealed” via statement yesterday that the Red Knights were effectively announcing their intention to NOT make a takeover bid for Manchester United in the near future, I wasn’t surprised. In fact, the more news that has come out in the last few weeks, the less confident I was about a bid at all and the more suspicious I got about the motives of supposed saviours.

Make no mistake; the intention and plan is the right one. One that all United fans should champion – returning football clubs to their roots with fan ownership is probably the only way that, in the modern game, supporters can retain a true emotional affinity from the ground up. Clearly that isn’t true of the elder generation. Those that were around in the 70s and even older, pre-Munich for example, have a lifelong relationship with the club that the corporate whirlwind cannot diffuse even if it does serve as a source of disillusion.

Furthermore, the Barcelona model shows that a club with such a proud heritage can not only remain competitive but also stay ahead.

So, why was I so undecided about the motives? Well, there was always the risk with the club being worth so much that getting the money together would be unlikely. So a cynical mind would think it was all an elaborate PR stunt. Some financial moguls referenced it as such when Keith Harris got publicly involved but nonetheless, early on, the noises were positive.

Positive enough to encourage tens of thousands to register to the MUST campaign in support of the Red Knights – MUST can’t be blamed for backing the wrong horse because the Supporters Trust is a tremendous resource and community for fans on its own merits. Back the wrong horse they have though and the cost to those who have supported the club for generations is yet to be counted.

As the campaign gained momentum and more and more dodgy financial results were published, more and more diehard fans started to pay more attention and get behind the cause. Visibly in the green and gold campaign and notably with the refusal to buy merchandise and low turnout in the renewal of season tickets. A forum thread mid-season on this site demonstrated both sides of the coin; extremist passionate pleas to boycott all money into the club and that nervousness that doing so would quickly accelerate the demise of the club. That reticence to fully stand behind the Red Knights is being justified now but it seems that this group of pirates have already made their mark.

Imagine if you will a family of season ticket holders for generations. They give up their tickets in protest; someone on the waiting list gladly snaps them up and the Red Knights just fizzle out. Might take another generation for that family to get their tickets again.

Worse is the apparent reason that the bid won’t come; because the Glazers are being “unrealistic” in their expectations. Hello. Loathe them as I do, they own a business, the most successful sports franchise in the world. Valued as such despite the debt. The naivety on show is appalling; is it acceptable, is it forgivable for a bunch of publicity hungry lowlifes to encourage some huge decisions from lifelong fans to support a bid that was never likely to materialise? They have encouraged a wide scale boycott of putting money into the club that is only likely to prompt the Glazers into bleeding more money out of the assets of the club.

At least with the yearly publishing of our nightmare accounts and all the figures that surface inbetween, the despicable behaviour of our American owners is transparent and there for all to see.

In my opinion; it’s even worse to masquerade as self proclaimed saviours of the club when in reality they have only served to worsen a situation already at the point of despair. The only likely scenario which will see the Red Knights successful in any takeover bid from this point will be to see United half in value in a very short space of time – short enough to keep the interest of the fly by night heroes.

Considering the dire straits the club are likely to be in to get to such a point and the level of contribution we will be able to attribute to the Red Knights; if they do finally seize control of the club, they shouldn’t be treated as our saviours. Especially by those who won’t be at Old Trafford to “witness the revival”.

Source: (Yolkie)