Fans' Fury over New Man Utd Takeover Bid By Louisa Nesbitt, Hugo Duncan and Nick Allen, PA February 6th 2005 American tycoon Malcolm Glazer has launched a formal attempt to buy Manchester United, it emerged today.
The billionaire has approached the football club with �detailed proposals� he hopes will lead to a formal bid being accepted. It is believed Mr Glazer�s new offer will contain substantially less debt than his last one, making it more attractive to investors. The latest move is expected to value United at around �800 million. United fans reacted with fury at the announcement. Sean Bones, of Shareholders United, the fans� group opposing a Glazer takeover, said he was sickened that Mr Glazer�s move came on the 47th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster, in which eight Manchester United players were killed on the way back from a game in Europe. Mr Bones said: �I think it is totally disrespectful for this bid to come out on the Munich anniversary weekend. It is disgusting and it goes to show that Glazer knows nothing about this club, what it means to the fans, and it confirms our belief that we don�t want him to have anything to do with United. �Every Manchester United supporter will be against this. He will not be putting anything into the club, but actually taking things away. He is interested because he wants to make money out of United.� Mark Longden, of the Independent Manchester United Supporters� Association, said: �We will fight tooth and nail to stop him whatever his offer says.� Glazer, who owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football team, previously approached United for takeover talks last October but was knocked back because of the amount of borrowing he wanted to incur. The club said then that it would not consider further talks until he approached it with �definitive proposals�. In a statement today United said: �The board can confirm it has now received a detailed proposal subject to various preconditions which may form the basis of an offer for Manchester United from Glazer.� Mr Glazer, who currently holds 28% of the club�s shares, is now believed to have significantly reduced the amount of borrowing required for his offer, which is said to be worth 300p a share. The new bid would contain only �300 million of debt and may include a guarantee to invest in new players. But Jules Spencer, chairman of the Independent Manchester United Supporters� Association, said: �If the stories about new investment in the team are meant to allay our fears I am afraid he is sadly mistaken. Will this man not take no for an answer?� ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/6iY7fA/5WnJAA/Y3ZIAA/GtUolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Please use [email protected] for general discussion. To unsubscribe send a blank message (from the email account in question) to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Join as a full member of IMUSA today: http://www.imusa.org/join.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imusa/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
