In an attempt to ensure that Manchester United fans do not suffer the same fate as they did 17 years ago, Gary Neville believes that the “fans should see a manifesto from the new owners” [Sky Sports] so that they can determine whether they can be accepted at United.
Neville was giving his reaction to the opinions about the Glazer family’s decision to possibly sell Man United, and the story was covered by Vital United, which can be viewed here.
The former United player said that it was paramount that the potential new owners have a manifesto that allows the supporters to see the commitment that they are willing to show to the club as it aims to get back to where it feels it belongs.
The Sky Sports pundit believes that the new owners should understand the importance of the fans and that they should be given a voice so that they can be consulted on important matters around the club. This is vital because it will ensure that incidents like the European Super League will not happen again.
“There are manifesto pledges that are important, like a fan voice, like the fan experience, even a position for the fans on the board”.
By having a manifesto in place, it will allow supporters to understand what the new owners want to do with the club from a football point of view as well because both the United men’s and women’s teams should be regularly competing for the major honours, and Neville wants a manifesto in place that allows many questions to be answered about how the new owners aim to make Manchester United successful both on and off the pitch.
“What is the sporting project going to be, are they not going to take dividends, are they going to make sure that it is a debt free football club and that they are reinvesting [in all areas of the club]”.
The bidding process to secure the next ownership of the club will be aided by the Raine Group, who helped Chelsea’s takeover and have been appointed by the Glazer’s as the club’s external financial advisor [manutd.com].
The Raine Group helped narrow down the shortlist that eventually saw Todd Boehly get the keys to take over from Roman Abramovich, however, during the shortlist process, there was one group that Chelsea fans were not happy about, which was the Ricketts Family.
The Chelsea fans held a large protest against the Ricketts family outside Stamford Bridge before their clash against Brentford in April [Sky Sports] because the father of the Ricketts’ family used Islamophic languages in emails sent between 2003 to 2009, and were leaked to the public in 2019.
This goes to show how important it is that due diligence is undertaken thoroughly to ensure that the next owners of Manchester United will respect and continue with the values and traditions that have served United throughout its entire history.
