Won’t Pay Glazer, Or Work for Sky
April 26, 2021 6:29 AM Subscribe
At the time, O’Neill writes, it was ‘impossible to imagine’ just how unrealisable the idea of a dissident, fan-owned club sounded. Brady, a bricklayer and editor of the socialist United fanzine A Fine Lung, had no illusions about the graft required, writing that ‘the work ahead was going to break up marriages… Form a football club? Form a fucking football club? How? By going to the magic wand shop and wishing one?’Even if you can't stand Manchester United, you have to love FC United of Manchester, as Marcus Barnett explains for The Tribune.
I found this post and RTFA'd just a couple of hours after spotting this lamppost sticker while out for my morning walk in North London. No direct link with FC United that I know of, but they seem to be very much on the same page.
posted by Paul Slade at 8:05 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Paul Slade at 8:05 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Even if you can't stand Manchester United, you have to love FC United of Manchester,
And if you think you can't, remind yourself that they fucked off Alex Ferguson, so they can't be all bad.
posted by biffa at 8:20 AM on April 26, 2021
And if you think you can't, remind yourself that they fucked off Alex Ferguson, so they can't be all bad.
posted by biffa at 8:20 AM on April 26, 2021
If nothing else, you have to admire their acronym game.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:36 AM on April 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:36 AM on April 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
One thing that has always perplexed me about European football is how all of the “clubs” have owners instead of members. How can that be? Aren’t clubs literally defined by their membership? If I can’t join, why would I want to be associated with your “club”?
Good luck to FC United - maybe they can rise to the top of the English system and show others how to organize genuine football clubs for the people.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:50 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Good luck to FC United - maybe they can rise to the top of the English system and show others how to organize genuine football clubs for the people.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:50 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
I think the usual story is that the club accumulates debts which the members aren't willing or able to repay themselves and some group or individual comes in and pays off the debts in exchange for becoming the owner of the club. This all happened a long time ago when the clubs weren't worth all that much anyway so it was more of a person "saving" the club than anything else.
Barcelona and Real Madrid are both still actual clubs and they both have huge debts which need to be paid, and there likely aren't anymore sweetheart deals from the government forthcoming, so it isn't inconceivable that someone may come in to pay off the debts and become their new owners that way. This is probably the reason that they're both still trying to make the European Super League happen.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:22 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Barcelona and Real Madrid are both still actual clubs and they both have huge debts which need to be paid, and there likely aren't anymore sweetheart deals from the government forthcoming, so it isn't inconceivable that someone may come in to pay off the debts and become their new owners that way. This is probably the reason that they're both still trying to make the European Super League happen.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:22 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
On a happier note, see also FC Pauli of Hamburg, another unabashedly leftist and populist club.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 11:51 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 11:51 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Even if you can't stand Manchester United, you have to love FC United of Manchester
Especially if you can't stand Manchester United, you have to love FC United of Manchester.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 12:49 PM on April 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
Especially if you can't stand Manchester United, you have to love FC United of Manchester.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 12:49 PM on April 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
I think the usual story is that the club accumulates debts which the members aren't willing or able to repay themselves and some group or individual comes in and pays off the debts in exchange for becoming the owner of the club.
... at which point you're no longer supporting a club but a corporation, right?
posted by Paul Slade at 12:52 AM on April 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
... at which point you're no longer supporting a club but a corporation, right?
posted by Paul Slade at 12:52 AM on April 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Fans saw the Glazers’ money tricks 16 years ago but no one listened.
posted by adamvasco at 5:42 PM on May 3, 2021
posted by adamvasco at 5:42 PM on May 3, 2021
My daughter asked me yesterday why I wasn't watching the Liverpool match and was just reading the Guardian MBM of the protests. I explained to her that the match was being delayed because of protesters. She asked why they were protesting and I just told her that the owners were like leeches or vampires and these fans had finally had enough. She asked if I liked the owners and I said "well I did just compare them to leeches and vampires" and we had a small laugh at that.
£1 billion taken out of the club since the Glazer takeover. Think of what the club could have done with that money both on and off the pitch. I guess it's good for competition in general that United's been hobbled but start with the 2005 squad and add an extra top quality player every year and it's hard not to think of just how good of a team could have been assembled.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:46 PM on May 3, 2021
£1 billion taken out of the club since the Glazer takeover. Think of what the club could have done with that money both on and off the pitch. I guess it's good for competition in general that United's been hobbled but start with the 2005 squad and add an extra top quality player every year and it's hard not to think of just how good of a team could have been assembled.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:46 PM on May 3, 2021
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posted by Ampersand692 at 7:08 AM on April 26, 2021 [1 favorite]