Stealing the core of our club

AS the Goldwynism has it: ‘it’s like deja vu all over again.’ The familiar beats play out: stadium protest banners, heated meetings in pub backrooms; threats of balaclava’d aggro, all to a backing track of lurid media frenzy. 1991, 1995, 1998, 2004 and now 2010. Such regularity.! It’s like the Activist Olympics.

There is one man who was involved, to some degree, in all those previous ‘Games’ – by which I mean the fan agitation surrounding the plc flotation, the launch of IMUSA, and the wars against Murdoch and Glazer.

He’s Johnny Flacks, who’s been at Old Trafford since 1955, and his is a name that should be known by any half-aware MUFC fan. He was also a leading light in the pioneering years of the Football Supporters’ Association and, I should say, happens to be friend of mine.