PEOPLE LIKE HIM HAVE MADE OUR CLUB WHAT IT IS
UWS have an interview this month with United’s commercial director Andy Anson. He makes great play of his United “heritage” and the fact that he went to a comprehensive school. He also played football. Unfortunately for him, the fact he’s a cunt still comes shining through.
“After Oxford [university] I came to Manchester and worked for Anderson consultants, plugging into business in a serious way. I was head of strategy at Channel 4 during an exciting time – I was involved in the first two Big Brothers intimately. I later go made redundant from there by a new boss I didn’t click with. I did some media consulting for a couple of years before I got headhunted by United.”
Anson is clearly a deluded fool:
UWS: This fugure of having 75m fans…United don’t have 75m fans.
“It’s a figure that comes from our own survey and we weren’t going to publicise it but it got out. It’s misleading because it includes some rather passive people who, when they say that they like football, say that they like Manchester United. It would be easier for us to say 5m.
“I honestly think there are 10 million people in the UK who would describe themselves as United fans and we can have a relationship with them. I’m not saying that they will come to games, but we can have a relationship with them.”
So Anson “honestly thinks” United have 10m fans in the UK. Now, bearing in mind there are less than 60m people in the Uk, that would make it 1 in every 6 (shyeah right!).
Then bear in mind that the highest ever audience for a football match was the circa 25m who watched the England-West Germany World Cup semi in 1990 (no match has attracted more viewers before or since). It’s fair to assume that anyone with even the slightest interest in football, and a few more besides, would’ve watched that game.
So basically Anson “honestly thinks” 2 in every 5 UK football fans support United. And this man is a professional! On a wage! Fear not however...
UWS: Some people are being hit really hard by the price rises…
“We will try and accommodate people in other areas of the stadium if they don’t want to stay in the main stand or north stand. My parents sit in the main stand and have done for years. They’ve taken the price rise on the chin.
“We don’t want to turn people away. The club will help people relocate. The concept of putting ticket prices down is an interesting one and one which will be difficult to stomach, but we’ll have to look at it. If this stretch model looks like it is working then maybe we can look at lowering prices next season.
“At the other end we’ll have some 16 seater boxes which will cost six figures a season. We’ll have to see if we can sell them first because otherwise the pressure on the other seats will be even greater.”
This is undoubtedly an empty pledge to relocate ST holders. If any Reds request relocation and are not accommodated please let us know via redissue@btinternet.com
And for anyone wondering why we’ve placed Anson in the Nick Humby bracket as a complete arsehole, well aside from his corporate bollocks speak, for all his “I’m a United fan me” comments he was firmly in the pro-Glazer camp last October. And no amount of wailing emails from his mates to RI claiming he’s a proper fan will change our opinion of him as a complete arsehole.