THE message from the Glazer family will remain the same as always — Manchester United is not for sale.
But when Michael Knighton is calling you ‘inept and frankly useless’, the owners must realise what a mess they have made of things.
It was 33 years ago — way back in 1989 — that the property magnate thought he had a deal to purchase the Red Devils.
He bizarrely announced himself by doing keepy–uppies in front of the Stretford End before a 4-1 win over Arsenal.
Martin Edwards — the chairman at the time — looked on from the stands and admitted he was ‘horrified’ while his fellow directors ‘cringed’.
Edwards said: “I kept saying to myself ‘what the hell have I done?’ I realised I’d made a big mistake.”
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Knighton hoped it would be a new dawn but it turned out to be premature.
The £20million deal fell through in the weeks that followed after key investors pulled out — and his face was as red as the United kit he wore on the pitch.
Now Knighton, 70, claims he can be their saviour once again.
Things have got so bad at Old Trafford, desperate fans will probably cling to the idea he really could be.
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He told Man Utd The Religion: “We are a club in crisis and we all know the reason why.
“We have an inept and frankly useless ownership who know little about this game of football.
“Everyone knows that we need new ownership of this football club and that is my aim and those are my objectives.
“Frankly the fans worldwide have had enough of this regime. The club will remain in crisis while we have the current ownership. That is the situation.”
Knighton says he and his consortium will make a ‘hostile bid’ — because they know United is not officially for sale.
Yet the word ‘hostile’ is an appropriate one. That sums up the mood around United in recent years.
Thousands of fans again protested against the Glazers before the bitterly-disappointing opening day loss to Brighton on Sunday.
In the stadium, the optimism a highly-rated new manager brings lasted no longer than half an hour.
I just want to see United in the hands of proper football people with proper vision. We need to rid our club of this ownership.
Michael Knighton
It seems unlikely fans’ spirits will be lifted in the coming months either.
Among their next five home matches are Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham — all supposedly rivals for the top four.
The others are against deadly rivals Leeds and an improving Newcastle.
Knighton’s emergence had a feel of the circus coming back to town — almost ten years to the day since the Glazer family first listed United on the New York Stock Exchange.
Since then the value of the club has slumped by over £260m to £1.47billion — while the owners have taken more than £100m in dividends out since then.
Knighton added: “I just want to see Manchester United in the hands of proper football people with proper vision.
“We need to rid our club of this ownership as they have had their day, time has run out. It is time for them to go.”
Not many fans will argue with him — although almost all will be sceptical about his chances of succeeding.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
