Former Manchester United director Michael Knighton, who famously came close to buying the club in the 1980s, has confirmed that he is planning to submit a formal bid to buy the club from the Glazer family.
The American owners are under increasing pressure to sell the club following a disappointing summer in the transfer market and a whole catalogue of errors that have been made in recent years. Hundreds of supporters staged a protest against the Glazers ahead of Sunday's season opener against Brighton & Hove Albion, marching from Media City to Old Trafford ahead of kick-off.
The protest grew in size as it approached the stadium, resulting in the club megastore being forced to pull its shutters down twice. Once inside the stadium, anti-Glazer chants filled the Old Trafford air with just ten minutes of the game played, as Avram Glazer made his first visit to Old Trafford for a Premier League fixture in almost 12 months.
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United supporters are desperate for a change in ownership following several seasons of mediocrity, with the club's dealings in the transfer market this summer proving to be the final straw for many, considering this season was supposed to mark the beginning of a new dawn under Erik ten Hag. And with their fortunes showing no signs of changing, Knighton, who came close to buying United in 1989, has confirmed that he and a consortium are working on a bid to try and purchase United.
"We are a club in crisis and we all know the reason why," Knighton told Man Utd The Religion. "We have an inept and frankly useless ownership who know little about this game of football.
"Everyone knows that we need new ownership of this football club and that is my aim and those are my objectives. I am making good progress, continuing to talk to the people, I have got some good pledges and good finance.
"We are now working on the offer document. Remember, it is a hostile bid - that simply means that the club isn't officially for sale. But my intention is to present these owners with a legitimate, potent and commercial offer to say: 'You have run out of road, it's time go, because your time is up'.
"And frankly, the fans worldwide have had enough of this regime. The exciting feeling of a new season, which we all have, and that balloon of excitement that is there, it was all burst when we quickly saw the performance against Brighton. The club is in crisis and it will remain in crisis while we have this current ownership."
Knighton added: "We need to rid our football club of this ownership as they have had their day, time has run out and we have had 17 years of disappointment, really. It is time for them to go.
"They have to stop drawing these huge dividends out of the club. We have to stop paying these huge debt servicing costs. It is time for them to sell.
"Putting this bid together, I don't need to be the front person, I don't need to be the spokesperson. I just want to see our Manchester United Football Club in the hands of proper football people with proper vision.
"We need to repair our stadium and put our club back where it belongs. We are in crisis and it won't alter until they go."
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