Glazer camp contacts United big-hitters Magnier and JP

A REPRESENTATIVE of prospective Manchester United owner Malcolm Glazer last night made official contact with the club’s major shareholders, just as Red Devils fans were stepping up their fight to block any takeover plan.

Representatives of John Magnier and JP McManus, who through their Cubic Expression holding company own 29.3% of the club, have spent the week rejecting suggestions there had been any contact between themselves and Glazer, who is widely believed to be behind the ‘preliminary approach’ the Old Trafford club.

However, it is understood the situation changed last night when an official from the Glazer camp made an ‘unsolicited call’ to representatives of Cubic Expression, to bring to them up to date with their present position.

It is not thought any share purchase was discussed and there is no suggestion a deal between the parties is imminent.

But the news though is bound to alarm United fans who staged a noisy protest at Altrincham’s ground on Wednesday night, briefly halting United’s reserves game with Birmingham.

The Glazer camp are believed to be considering their position but they would certainly require the agreement of Magnier and McManus to proceed with any plan to buy the club.

News of last night’s contact between the two parties comes against a backdrop of increasing frustration among United fans.

United’s official television station MUTV was targeted by fans who disrupted live coverage of the Altrincham reserve team match. The group, calling themselves the Manchester Education Committee, claimed MUTV coverage favoured Glazer.

And they vowed to launch a “civil war” against the club and all its interests unless they began to take supporters’ views into account.

United themselves refused to be drawn on the controversy other than to issue a terse statement in response to the three-minute protest, during which around 30 fans invaded the pitch brandishing a ‘Not For Sale’ banner.

It read: “Encroaching on the field of play is against the law. The club does not condone what happened. It would be unacceptable at a first team game and it is unacceptable for the reserves.”

The peaceful protest came two days after United director Maurice Watkins had red paint splashed over his car in response to a million of his shares making up Glazer’s 19% current shareholding.

Immediately after last night’s events the MEC issued a statement insisting that if the club continued to turn a deaf ear to fans’ concerns they would “render the club ungovernable”.

They said they would consider all the club’s sponsors and commercial partners as “legitimate targets” for future attacks.