It is August 1989 and Knighton, having unveiled a
radical blueprint aimed at realising United's global potential,
strides on to the Old Trafford pitch, in full
Manchester United training kit,
and juggles the ball before striking it into the net at the
Stretford End prior to the 4-1 victory against
Arsenal.
Knighton had the United supporters in the palm of his hand.
Martin Edwards, the hugely unpopular owner, had signalled his
readiness to accept Knighton's £20 million takeover bid and succumb
to the 'Edwards Out' chants that had echoed around Old Trafford for
months.
It was a dream scenario for the United supporters. Here was a
man with a plan, a charismatic tycoon ready to modernise Old
Trafford and allow the United brand to generate the huge income
streams it provides today.
Yet the dream quickly died. Knighton's partners, Robert
Thornton, the former Debenham's chief executive, and Stanley Cohen
of Parker Pens, withdrew their financial backing when the bid began
to attract adverse publicity and, within months, Edwards abandoned
plans to sell. Knighton was instead offered 30,000 shares and a
seat on the club's board.
As the Red Knights, the supporter-backed group of wealthy
individuals, attempt to go one better than Knighton by ousting
United's current owners, the Glazer family, history is beginning to
repeat itself at Old Trafford.
And Knighton, now a semi-retired resident of the Channel
Islands, warns that the "astonishingly naive" Red Knights will
ultimately suffer the same fate as himself if they continue to
stalk the Glazers.
Knighton said: "Even when you are talking in terms of £1 billion
or £2 billion, Manchester United is massively under-valued, and the
Glazers are no fools. They know that you do not sell an asset like
Manchester United unless needs must.
"United are the Disney of the sporting world because of the
sheer power and value of their brand. They are Coca-Cola,
Microsoft, IBM. When you have such a prized asset, you simply do
not sell it.
"The takeover of Cadbury by Kraft earlier this year was done at
a figure of around £11 billion and, although you would not compare
Cadbury and United like for like, the reality is that United's
brand name is equally powerful and the Glazers have no reason to
sell.
"The Red Knights appear to be astonishingly naive in this
regard. The whole approach smells typically of stirred-up egos over
good sense."
Knighton, who subsequently resigned as a United director in 1992
in order to buy Carlisle United, admits that the Glazers have
saddled United with excessive debt, an issue he believes must be
addressed. But he has warned the club's supporters to be wary of
pinning their hopes on the Red Knights.
Knighton said: "I 'did debt' at Carlisle and it is sometimes a
necessary evil in football, even at the ruinous interest rates that
come with it.
"There is no question that the Glazers have run up too much debt
at United. The club is very highly geared and they must deal with
that. One route could be to offload a percentage of their stake to
a wealthy investor, but at the same time retaining their majority
shareholding.
"But under their ownership, United have enjoyed tremendous
success on the pitch. Off it, their commercial revenues have
rocketed.
"They have left Sir Alex Ferguson to get on with the job and the
club is run as a very successful business.
"Unfortunately, many football fans do not live in the real
world. Football is a business and the romantic scenario of
supporter-owned clubs is simply not workable.
"The fact that the United fans are prepared to even consider a
group of City bankers running their club, no matter how unpopular
the current owners might be, highlights how muddled fans can
become."
Calls for United fans to boycott games and not renew season
tickets have been made by figures close to the Red Knights'
campaign, but Knighton fears such tactics are doomed. He said:
"What kind of subversive talk is that? And from supposedly
respected figures, too.
"If somebody attempting to buy any other business called for a
boycott of the product, then their reputation would be shot to
pieces.
"Those tactics might work at clubs in the lower divisions, but
they will never succeed at clubs like United that have such a huge,
global following. Such ideas only confirm my view that the Red
Knights do not have a snowball in Hell's chance of success.
"If they need to recruit 40-60 backers to raise the funds
required to mount a bid, it suggests they are relying on
small-scale figures.
"The reality is that, if and when the Glazers do come to sell –
and at a huge profit – they will find a buyer in the Middle East or
Far East who can do it all on his own."
