NOT FOR SALE - тема исключение

[Moscow 333]

последнее письмо SU. ессно, я буду продлевать членство

SHAREHOLDERS UNITED - WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Following the takeover there has been a degree of debate and uncertainty
about where Shareholders United should go from here. Some have even
suggested we should disband - no doubt a sentiment that the Glazers would
delight in. However, it was long recognised within SU that its strength lay
in its membership rather than their collective shareholding. With 32,000
members SU is the largest supporters' trust in the world. We are in the
process of converting into The Manchester United Supporters' Trust and have
ambitious plans to grow the membership further and, in conjunction with
other partners, our medium term aim is to create a supporter led offer for
Manchester United so that we can once and for all settle the issue of
ownership and prevent supporters' money being continually siphoned off by a
self-interested owner. Imagine if all the money supporters paid into
Manchester United was used for the club's benefit. How would the
relationship between club and supporters change for the better? Ownership
is changing in football with more and more clubs being taken into supporter
ownership and it is only a matter of time before that happens at Old
Trafford.

WHAT ABOUT THE PHOENIX FUND?
There has been much misunderstanding of The Phoenix Fund with extreme
misconceptions like "How are you going to raise ё800 million through
supporters chipping in a tenner each?" This is partly due to a lack of
communication on our part but unfortunately it is also because there have
been deliberate attempts to misrepresent and undermine both the Phoenix
Fund and Shareholders United. You can make your own judgements about the
origins and motivation behind them.

WHAT'S THE POINT?
Including all the bankers fees Glazer has paid a total of ё921 million to
buy United, way over the accepted value. Not only that, but he has taken
on ё650 million of debt to fund the acquisition, a big chunk of it at 20%
compound interest. His banks have set him aggressive profit targets, which
mean he has to more than double his operating profit within 3 years from
ё48m to ё107.7m. Judging by the size of the crowd at the recent Debrecen
game, allied to falls in all Premiership games this season and the drop in
media revenues, he has gambled on buying a club at the top of the cycle and
no-one knows how he can pay the debt back. Supporters will not swallow
hugely increased ticket prices over the next few years and an expanded Old
Trafford will find it hard to sustain the sold out notices from here on in.

So it is only a matter of time before he finds he cannot pay back the debt
and his banks force him to put the club up for sale. What happens then? A
sale to another rich gambler? Someone else who has no love for or
knowledge of the club's heritage and traditions? Supporters have to play a
part in the next ownership structure of United - we have no choice but to
be there with a war chest to make sure that our interests are represented
at the heart of any bid.

The Phoenix Fund will form just one small but crucial part of any supporter
led offer for Manchester United. To put together the financing for an offer
we have to demonstrate two things to any backers:

1. That we make up a sizeable proportion of Manchester United supporters
who contribute significantly to the income of the club.
2. That we will have personal stakes in the club so that they are confident
that it is not just in our emotional interest for the club to succeed.

Obviously the precise breakdown of such an offer is impossible to outline
in any detail at this stage but what we can do is comment on the part that
we have to play.

Member numbers:
35,000 - 60,000 members - currently SU has a membership of 32,000 but we
need to grow that membership over the next year or so to strengthen our
position in terms of influence and financing. That membership also needs to
have a significant proportion of the core customers with perhaps 50% of the
season ticket holders on board.

Members' Finance:
╥ ё3m - ё10m - direct contributions from members into various funds under
the Phoenix Fund umbrella. We are in negotiations with several financial
institutions to offer more attractive options than the current high
interest account, which is really a temporary solution to keep members'
funds together.
╥ ё5m - ё10m - fundraising through commercial partnerships such as telecoms
and general merchandising. With a large membership there is huge potential
to raise funds while at the same time saving our members money with special
offers for selected products and services which they already buy from other
suppliers.
╥ ё30m - ё60m - from former supporter-shareholders who have been forced to
sell by the Glazers and have collectively received in excess of ё140m.

The major component of any offer is then made up by a combination of funds
from ▒Red Knights', who have previously expressed an interest in investing
substantial sums into Manchester United when the opportunity arises, along
with financing from merchant banks. This financing then has to be repaid
through various mechanisms (such as issuing shares to supporters in
several stages over a period of time), which will deliver ownership to
supporters in the long term.

It is probably worth stating that in the period leading up to the takeover
numerous options were explored with potential backers in an attempt to head
off a bid by buying out one or both of the major shareholders. However
before plans could be put into action Glazer had increased his stake above
25%, which effectively put an end to the proposal. Nevertheless its worth
noting that one such proposal from a merchant bank of international repute
included financing to the tune of ё450m, so it really isn't unrealistic to
assume that a supporter led offer could get the necessary financial
backing. That decision comes down to the size of the offer versus the
valuation of the club at that time. We will only be a part of a realistic
offer relating to a realistic valuation of the club at the time otherwise
we simply put ourselves in the same situation as the Glazers.

Shareholders United is going through a transformation at this time so it is
difficult to give a clearer vision of the future at this moment, but we
believe that the majority of supporters will see it from our point of view,
just as they eventually (but belatedly) did over the takeover. This time
though we are confident that far more supporters will have learnt from the
Glazer takeover and display the foresight to get actively involved now,
during the early stages, rather than only join up when we were on the brink
of takeover.


We don't want to see the club damaged but we believe the course that the
Glazers have set for us is heading towards administration. It is our duty
to be prepared so that we can intervene and prevent long-term damage to our
club. We may have to wait until the Glazers realise what a huge
miscalculation they have made but at some point they or their bankers will
be looking for a buyer. At that point we must be ready to make them an
offer they can't refuse - otherwise we really will have failed.