PIZZA CHEFS

Manchester United fans will take the fight against the club's second-largest
shareholder, Malcolm Glazer, to the streets of Baltimore in the run-up to
Christmas in a move to further isolate the American multi-millionaire and
discourage him from launching another takeover bid.

Less than a month since Glazer was spectacularly ditched by his bankers, J P
Morgan, and his public relations company, Brunswick, after he had voted three United directors off the club's board, militant fans' groups have targeted his new Baltimore-based adviser.

Glazer, who owns 28.14 per cent of the club, has enlisted the services of
American sports PR expert Bob Leffler, who gave a controversial interview to the Baltimore Sun newspaper in which he described United fans as "xenophobic".

The comments have infuriated United fans' groups, who have pointed to the 14 different nationalities in the first-team squad alone, as well as the club's
unprecedented global following. Fans have already discovered the date and
location of Leffler's company Christmas party in Baltimore's Inner Harbour district and have used internet sites to encourage supporters to sabotage the event. Action groups plan to target him in the same way they pursued Brunswick. The City financial PR company found their mobile phones and e-mail accounts deluged and had pizzas and even refuse skips ordered in employees' names.

One United fans' forum invited supporters to keep making false bookings at
Baltimore restaurants represented by Leffler's PR agency.

United fans' organisations like Shareholders United are still committed to
opposing Glazer's plans to borrow against the value of the club in order to raise about £500 million towards an £815 million takeover. As well as saddling the club with that debt, he also planned to sell Old Trafford and lease it back as well as selling the stadium's naming rights to sponsors.

Glazer used his shareholding to secretly vote directors Andy Anson, Philip Yea and Maurice Watkins off the board at the AGM last month. United's board will try to get Anson reinstated early next year before they prepare to do battle with Glazer at the next AGM when, crucially, chief executive David Gill will be up for re-election.

Sources close to the Glazers have indicated that the family have spent the month after their split from J P Morgan assessing whether they want to carry on with the gruelling task of launching a hostile bid for United. They are said to be "50-50", a climbdown from earlier in the year when they were confidently increasing their stake.