Whilst hardly anything like as treachorous as the behaviour of the loathed Bobby Charlton, such comments from the ever popular Denis Law, speaking in Aberdeen, are hardly helpful. But then his daughter is at OT taking the Glazer pound, so what else can you expect? (Q: Has anyone come out and backed Glazer who DOESN'T have a vested interest?)
"There have been a lot of questions asked regarding Glazer but it's very difficult to comment until you actually see what he is going to do. Therefore, my opinion is that we just have to wait and see."
Meanwhile the disgraceful David Gill covers himself in more shame, "I was part of the board which viewed the Glazers' [takeover] plans as being aggressive. But we have got to know a bit more about their plans. There are opportunities and I would urge the fans to give the Glazers a chance. I will make my views clear and hopefully the new owners will take those opinions on board.
"I do not think I am there just to implement their plans, that is not something which would interest me. I will not be a 'yes' man. That is not my style and I do not think it would be appropriate for Manchester United."
This from the Independent:
‘Having been 3-0 down in the public relations game, the Glazer family are fighting back, without quite having managed an equaliser. Freed from restrictions imposed on them by the City (the square mile, not the Manchester variety), the new owners of England's most famous football club last week belatedly let their voice be heard, and made a largely favourable impression on those whose ears were prepared to hear.
‘Just as Rupert Murdoch would not expect too hot a grilling on Sky News, so the interview shown on Friday evening by the channel the Glazers now own was more Parky than Paxman, but most of the right questions were asked, even if the answers were not followed up as tenaciously as they might have been.
‘Steve Bower, the quiz inquisitor, is not a man to demand 14 times: "Are you putting the club into debt and gambling with its assets?" He asked once and received a response as calm and smooth as all of Glazer Jnr's others, the core of which was: "Our family personally has invested over £270 million. A lot of businesses have debt. Debt can mean different things to different people, but I can assure everybody that the structure that was put in place is a structure we're extremely comfortable with.”
‘Understandably, this was not specific enough to satisfy the more strident critics, whose PR over the past few months has often outshone that of the Glazers and their professional London advisers. A consortium of groups claiming to represent more than 50,000 United fans all over the world immediately hit back with allegations that the family had made similar assurances when taking over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then allegedly reneged on a promise to pay half the cost of a new stadium in Tampa, leaving taxpayers to fund the whole thing.
‘So, merchandise boycotts or not, Old Trafford will be full on whichever day those television rights holders at Sky Sports decide United must play their opening home game against Aston Villa in seven weeks' time. There will be some new faces in the crowd, however, especially if it happens to be at 3pm on the Saturday afternoon, for FC United, the breakaway club founded by refuseniks on the AFC Wimbledon model, will be up and running by then with pledges from more than 3,000 fans to watch them.
‘The club have been accepted into Division Two of something officially known as the Moore & Co Construction Solicitors (North West Counties) League and will announce an approved ground-share next week. On Saturday week they play a first friendly, at Leigh RMI, and the following Saturday visit AFC Wimbledon for a meeting of kindred spirits in the Supporters Direct Trust Cup.
‘Symbolically, on the same day Manchester United will be playing thousands of miles away in Hong Kong on what a rock band might call the Sell More Shirts Tour.’