Manchester United plc shareholders have been assured by chief executive David Gill that the club does not need, nor would welcome, a takeover. Shareholders United, the Manchester United Supporters' Trust, had wanted a commitment from the board of directors at the annual general meeting that the club would not be taken private by a single buyer, as happened at Chelsea with Roman Abramovich in the summer. SU spokesman Oliver Houston was encouraged by the meeting and said: "The mood of the thousand or so shareholders in the room was that they value their shares, they want to keep hold of their shares and they don't want the club to be taken over and taken private. "The headline for us is David Gill stating explicitly that United does not need a sugar daddy. "We are also delighted that plc chairman Roy Gardner has taken up our suggestion to build up a strong, powerful independent supporters' trust to protect the club's independence and has invited us to come up with ways that the board could help us. "We look forward to working with them to build a significant shareholding locked down in a trust that therefore would prevent the club being taken over and preserve its independence." Houston admitted it was still a little disturbing for small-scale shareholders that the Cubic Expression Company and second-largest shareholder Malcolm Glazer had not publicly ruled out a takeover. However, he added: "We are glad that the club are waking up to this threat and realising it's not just shareholders' shares that are on the line but also directors' jobs that would be threatened if the club was taken private, so we moved a long way in that regard."
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