CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Last updated : 14 October 2004 By editor

Mihir Bose, while not getting all the details right, comes pretty close with this in the Torygraph:

’In the next few days Keith Harris, chairman of investment bank Seymour Pearce, will meet a group of Manchester United supporters who are also shareholders and present a plan which they hope will block any attempt by the American tycoon Malcolm Glazer to buy the club.

‘If these supporters approve the plan, it will be put to United's major shareholders, John Magnier and J P McManus. Details of the plan are being kept secret but sources close to Harris insist that, contrary to media reports, he is not trying to launch a rival bid to the one Glazer has said he might make for the club.

‘One source described that Harris is seeking is to come to an "understanding" with the Irish which would make Manchester United "bid-proof", safeguarding the club from being taken over by Glazer or any other predator. The two Irish businessmen own 28.9 per cent and are the king-makers of Old Trafford. Without their agreement, no change of ownership is possible.

‘The emergence of Harris on the scene is interesting. He is a long-time supporter and close personal friend of the club's former chief executive, Martin Edwards, and was an adviser to the club when, five years ago, Rupert Murdoch's Sky made an unsuccessful attempt to buy the club.

‘It was following this development that Harris, viewed with suspicion by some fans because of his links with Edwards and the Sky offer, sought to improve his image with Manchester United fans and approached some of them. In the past year these contacts have developed.’

Red Issue take on this:

This is the story we referred to in the news last week. Suspicion will inevitably remain until we know EXACTLY what is on the table but the signs are promising. Harris has been in league with city-based united supporters extremely sympathetic to SU's cause (though not SU themselves) on all this.

It's only very early days but the hope is that this could well be the big breakthrough we've all been seeking. There's nothing wrong with reds being sceptical about this but our information is that Harris has come too far and put too much into it to be leading the fans up the garden path. Time will tell.