WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
IF MALCOLM GLAZER HAD done his homework, he would have expected the vitriol that poured out of Old Trafford last week after it emerged he was lining up an £800 million takeover of Manchester United.
United fans have been here before. In 1998, the largely unwanted attention was from Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB and the response was a systematic campaign that culminated in the referral of the £623 million deal to the competition authorities.
United supporters now have another fight on their hands. In the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, a City solicitor is leading the opposition. Not as a legal eagle employed by a board under siege, but as a volunteer and a United fan.
Nick Towle, a 50-year-old corporate lawyer at Crowell and Moring, is chairman of Shareholders United (SU). He is the figurehead for the 13,000-strong group dedicated to keeping United financially independent. These people have also bought shares in their beloved club and represent about 1.4 per cent of the equity. They come from all walks of life. Some know nothing about the stock market while others are seasoned financiers. Unlike ordinary investors, they do not take dividends but reinvest them to buy more shares. Theirs is purely an emotional investment.
A week ago, when United announced that they had received a “preliminary” approach, SU’s sharescheme numbered only 10,000 members. The reaction to Glazer’s interest has been vehement not just on the terraces. In the coming weeks and months, SU hopes to have 100,000 people allied to the cause. Many of those may already be among the individual shareholders that represent about 17 per cent of the equity.
With United in an “offer period”, SU has the floor to itself. The board is gagged by Stock Exchange rules while Glazer can speak only through a bid document. “We are filling the agenda,” Towle said. “Even David Mellor is on our side and he absolutely hates United with a passion. There is a consensus that this guy (Glazer) is not good for football.”
The objection to a Glazer takeover is straightforward. “We will oppose any single person or company who wants to take over for financial reasons,” Towle said. “The fans are the real stakeholders in the club. They provide most of the revenue through the turnstiles, merchandising and TV subscriptions.”
“ Michael Crick, the journalist and co-founder of the original SU movement, said. “If Glazer does a deal with the Irishmen there is not much that can be done. What we can do is contribute to a climate of opposition; to make it clear how unpopular this man would be. That might make people more reluctant to lend him the money.”
“I could go out and borrow £800 million if anyone was daft enough to lend it me. But then I’ve got to service that debt,” Pete Hargreaves, a lifelong United fan, said.
“If one million people like me say no, we’re not going to buy your merchandise Mr Glazer, his business is finished. One ant cannot kill the elephant but a million ants together can. I don’t think this bloke understands his audience. We are utter fanatics. He’s playing with fire.”
But how can SU stop him? If Cubic sells out, Glazer would have 48 per cent and effective control. Other leading shareholders, such as Dermot Desmond, would follow the Irishmen as would the institutions, easily giving him the 75 per cent he needed to delist the club.
At that point, SU hopes to represent 5 per cent and would go to court to stop Glazer taking the club private. “It’s not just a question of having 5 per cent but 100,000 people who would be disenfranchised. That is an army,” Towle said. “What judge is going to agree to disenfranchise 100,000 people?”