Last season ended with the climax of the green and gold protests, with MUST providing ‘GO – Glazer Out’ cards, whistles and flags.
MUST have launched their new anti-Glazer campaign ahead of our first game of the season tonight against Newcastle.
The support of MUST grew at an incredible rate last season, with many more United fans reaching breaking point as far as their tolerance of the Glazers went.
Then the Red Knights came about and opinion amongst United fans was split again, just as it had when discussions over former a break away team became a reality in 2005. Was it a case of out of the frying pan in to the fire? Better the devil you know? Or was this our chance to get rid of the Glazers with the hope of having owners who cared less about the support. It all petered out in to nothing anyway, when the Red Knights conceded they would not be putting a bid in this summer.
I have caught up with Duncan Drasdo, MUST’s chief executive, and he has agreed to answer your questions. Whether you are a supporter of MUST or not, this is a good opportunity for you to direct any concerns or criticisms to someone in the know, as well as have any information about MUST and their point of view clarified.
Simply post any questions you want Duncan to answer in the comments section below. Not all questions will be answered but we’ll try and get through as many as possible.
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Has the season tickets, jerseys, and United merchandise boycott helped MUST in anyway? What has been done so far with our donations towards MUST?
Why did you to tell us to back the Red Knights over the Glazers?
How much realistically is available and is the the max limit we have in the pot to oust the vermin glazers?, and if not now, then when do you think we can genuinely get them out of our club?
How does he feel about the protests affecting the squad, as Ben Foster says it does? Will the ‘red knights’ actually be any better than the glazers? After all they are business men with business interests. What’s the top priority there recouping any future investment or keeping the club on top?
Where/Are the Red Knights really prepared to invest heavily in the club – without any return for them? And would they hand over complete control of the club to the supporters? Do You completely trust them?
You’re really doing a great job! Thanks!!! A loyal MUST-member for the last 6 years. LUHG
Do you fully believe the Glazers will leave or do you think they’re in it for the long haul? They’ve had a chance to sell up and refused to so clearly they must think the debt is manageable and they’re not in as much trouble as we’re led to believe.
Question-Honestly whats the story??? how much are the g;lazers taking out of man united monies- without bullshit and making out the guy is a paedophile puppy killer , I know he’s bad so you dont need to shitecoat it- whats the truth
Mr. Drasdo, It seems as if a lot of your business is linked to Manchester United and berating the owners. How much have you made from your anti Manchester United stance and does it not feed your business to remain as anti the owners as possible?
Is there a better way to target the Glazers purse without effecting the revenue of the club ?
I want the club to be owned by the fans with a Barcelona board type scenario happening, so ulitmately the fans elect who they want on the board…. is this an option you would take on board if you got control of the club.
Also,
If an investor approached you with say £1.5bn which is what the Glazers apparently want to sell the club, so if i an investor approached for your “blessing” who had £1.5bn, and didnt need debt to raise that capital… would you support that investor and give that blessing?
Do u think green and gold can see glazier family out of man utd?only thng to do is to sack all officer behind the selling of manutd to those glz family and negotiate with owners on hw to sell back th team
Is any of the Glazers other business ventures on the stockmarket? If so, would it be a viable option to purchase majority shares in there other businesses, take control, and then try and negotiate a purchase of United that way?
Why did you back the Red Knights so fully without first researching their finances and whether they were or weren’t just blowing hot air? I believe this whole Red Knights fiasco has resulted in MUST’s credibility taking a hit.
2 questions
Q1, Do you think there is a conflict of interest with some of the Red Knights reported to being senior MUST members.
Q2, Instead of relying on the Red Knights why doesn’t MUST set up some sort of trust fund where each Utd fan can pay an X amount of money towards a potential share, when enough money is raised then MUST can make a direct bid to the Glazers without involving any other 3rd party.
1. What makes the Red Knights different from other investment groups (barring the unreliable evidence that they support United)?
2. Are the Red Knights prepared to share control of the club with a supporter-based investment group made up of regular people who put in their two-pence?
3. What is the percentage of the board that they would want under their own control?
4. If it is more than 75%, what is to stop them from selling the club at a huge profit as was done by the PLC board?
5. How are they planning to give fans power?
6. If I put in $20000, and my friend puts in $20, will we have different shares? Or will the system in place be for a uniform contribution?
7. Are you planning to involve fans residing in/around Manchester or all over the world?
Is there any chance that Government will apply pressure to Clubs and the F.A to introduce Fan ownerhip? And in the event of a law change, would the Glazers stay?
How much money did MUST get from the Red Knights for delivering 100,000 supporters?
How much money do these guys really have? Are we talking Abramovich-style genuine top tier wealth, or Glazers-style League2 wealth?
Have MUST and imusa tried to get in contact with the Glazers? The only criticism i have of MUST is the way you got in to bed with the Red Knights far too quickly, wrong choice in my opinion.
Do you think there is any chance the Glazers business plan of hugely boosting their marketing range and signing various sponsorship deals, and providing continuing success on-field, competition income, could lead to debt levels being drastically decreased under the Glazers? What do you think about the debt both Barcelona and Madrid are carrying? Barcelona are arguably not much better off than United. Do you believe there is any single investor or v.small group(2-5) out there that would be willing to pay the 1.5 Bn should united be put up for sale? Do you agree that the red knights business model of leaving the Debt in place was pointless and rediculous, changing nothing except ownership? it was not in the interests of those who truly love United, and we would have been worse off than with the Glazer Model. Why did Must Support this?
If a dog walks four miles in eight minutes. What breed of dog is it???
As you will undoubtadly be selective with the questions you answer as you are with the information you put out about the Glazers how are we expected to believe anything you say as the only accounts you can access are your own organization and will we be likely privy to them?
I had the same question as IMY MCR. Since United is the best followed club in the world and if every single fan contributes whatever he/she can afford we can raise the money without a 3rd party so why not do that and open some way possible by which we all who live in any part of the world can contribute for the thing we all love the most in the world without involving someone who is looking to make a profit of us?
Bloodhound
I defaulted my ST. What guarentee do I have that I’ll ever get it back?
Simmo- Haha.
I agree with willie about the Red Knights. That’s what I would like to ask MUST. If there’s a realistic plan for the club should the Glazers get forced out.
“The fact is that the Glazer family own Manchester United and until they decide they want to sell, they will stay as owners regardless of the opposition.” – SAF
If the glazers debt increases a lot they will eventually sell the club to someone. We are MANCHESTER UNITED the biggest club ever, I am sure there are a lot of rich people who would want to buy the club if there was an opportunity. Dont you think all the protests affect the players?
1.please explain how swapping on debt for another will help
2.how much money has MUST made and where is it and what will you do with it
3.how do you plan in putting the club back into the hands of the fans without debt
4.where do you get your figures about the debt and how much in every £ goes towards paying that debt without seeing the books
5.how are you so sure the glazers will fail
6.what makes you so sure that you and the red knights won’t fail
7.why rely on others to buy the club with more debt why not start a fan fund where all fans can contribute as much or as little they can afford to buy the club and pay the debt
8.if they don’t sell what next, will you carry on splitting the fans, upsetting players and financially damaging the club. If so why and to what end?
Dont you think that the season ticket and merchandise boycotts,the protests might instead take the club down the gutters?
Isnt there a more discrete way of getting the Glazers out wiyhout necessarily having to hurt the club?? I feel like all these other methods are like a double edged sword that hurts both Glazers and us the fans and even worse,the club. It has to be UNITED to come as priority.
Since the Glazers have come in,they have brought in some innovative ideas about getting sponsorship deals,it seems we have more money coming in frfom more sources,dont you think we should be more patient ad observe how the situation develops before going into more confrontational methods??
Isn’t there a chance that the Glazers may not sell despite the opposition and the reduction in income? Wouldn’t that mean that they’d rather see us burn than sell us? Where would that scenario leave our team? Are we really willing to take the risk of doing a Leeds?
8.just like the banks and the goverment your main tool to gain support seems to be fear and hate, typical propaganda, without a fair and honest balanced debate with real facts and truths. You jumped on board with the red knights so therefore your point of view is biased towards there agenda, not as you say to get the club back for the fans. The fear and hate you create and spread must be a front for them and any money you make is really for yours and there benefit, how do you respond to those observations and how can you prove that you are independant of these people and have your own agenda, without debt which is the one and only issue
9.how much in every £ you get from fans and merchandise goes towards the glazers out cause
10. Instead of buying the club outright and paying the debt, have you considered collecting fan donations to pay off just the debt and to loan that at low interest back to the glazers thereby securing the club out of the reach of banks and creditors, at the sametime securing a say in the club and ensuring the club gets run for the benefit of the club, not a minority of big businesses and banks
11. Tell us all the avenues you considered apart from getting in bed with red shites sorry knights
12.what steps have you made to speak to the glazer family with regards changes required and the view of the fans
13.what do you think the fans want
14.apart from rumour,speculation, newspapers and a BBC documentary and the red knights were has your info on the financial situation come from
15.if the red knights took over using debt, borrowed from different sources and different rates how would you service that debt, repay investors and also inject cash into the club for development and players and how would this differ to the glazer model
16.in your opinion have the glazers done no good at all for the club and do you think fergie lies when he says they have been good to him and his needs as well as the club
Doberman.
17.we sold ronaldo for 80mil, the fact that we haven’t spent big since has given your cause more ammunition stating that the glazers have spent the money on debt servicing. Do you therefore think we need to spend big, are you against fergies opinion on our current squad and youth development or again are you using speculation and rumour to gain new ‘recruits’ and help the red knight cause. Again do you think fergie lies when he says he has there financial support
18.who are you and why should we trust you
Shitzu
Hi duncan. I’m a MUST member and took an active part in the G&G campaign last season, it felt like a tide of change was soon to hit the shores of Manchester United and we had one goal, one sole aim as a collective, to oust the Glazers with people power. Now, the campaign was a success in that in generated publicity, and resulted in the freezing of ST prices, in an attempt to placate us. Our ultimate aim was not achieved, despite various displays of discontent we arent going to drive the Glazers out continuing in the same manner. Anyway, many have since given up their STs, and those wearing g&g in the ground have generally just purchased a scarf from a seedy street vendor and have it draped over an official jersey, or perhaps carrying it in a megastore bag. There are just no getting through to these ppl, i mean for all the effort and determination last year, and good ppl making the heartbreaking decision to give up their ST, the ground seemed full tonight. So is the plan that persistence is the key and the same course of action will be implemented or are there any totally new elements in the new campaign? What exactly is the means by which you intend to get rid of the Glazers? How do you assess the ultimate fruit of last seasons labours and how do you plan to kick on? What have you been planning during the summer? Any large scale stunts planned like the projection onto the face of the east stand last year on the eve of the spurs game? Did you genuinely expect last season to end in us seeing the back of the glazers and if so what is the plan b, massive uproar against the glazers last season was evident but it wasnt strong enough to exponge them from the club, what more can we do? We’re ready and willing as the MUST ground troops, what are the orders? LUHG
Why are you such an attention-seeking parasitical cunt, Mr Drasdo?
Let’s be honest Scott. Duncan Drasdo is a absolute cock sucker.
I was just reading their press release which tried to suggest that the fortunes on manchester united improved on the pitch when the green and gold protest got up and running. Horse shit from beginning to end.
The fact is that the glazers have a shit ton of debt, more than a billion pounds i think according to panorama. And the only business that makes profit is Manchester United. They are fucked if they sell the club for even 1.3 billion pounds. All they’re other business are in the red. And also people forget that Malcolm has 6 sons. Even if they end up getting rid of their debt by selling our club they would be left with a few millions for each of them. Imagine ur net worth going from a billion to just a few millions pounds without any income. I dont think they would ever sell the club unless someone offers more than 1.8 billion pounds. And i think some people are jus making use of us by getting are donations in the name of protests. So Mr. Duncan Drasdo please tell me why i would be wrong?
1. (As raised by several others) what practical steps has your organisation ever taken to sit down with the club and it’s owners to discuss your concerns?
2. Why do you never, ever provide balance by acknowledging the leadership team of the club for the excellent work they have done in raising new sponsorships and revenue streams, continued investment in the right calibre of players, unearthing stars of the future, backing the manager, listening to fans concerns by freezing prices, looking after the Manchester United family e.g. by taking all permanent staff to all expense paid Wembley finals, doubling the market value of the club in 5 years, continued/improved success on the pitch e.g. 3 further EPL and 1 CL triumph (with one near miss!) and other silverware, investment in the local community and work with charities
3. What are you views on some of the less savoury chanting and merchandising of sick items relating to the death and demise of the owners of Manchester United? Do you believe it enhances the image of the club and it’s supporters? Do you think it is fair to subject young supporters, in fact any other decent, impressionable supporters to this kind of material. Be honest, do you in fact encourage or condone it? And if you dont, will you be responsible enough to ask those who do to stop it?
4. Banners and billboards aside. What are you views on some of the other acts your supporters have engaged in (i.e. smoke bombs, abusing promising young centre halfs) to highlight the plight of the club?
5. Are you in any way embarrassed by the whole Red Knights debacle? Did you consider resigning when the inevitable disagreements between prominent members started, followed by the whole thing coming off the rails? Do you accept that this might have damaged your credibility somewhat?
6. If and when, over the next few years, the on field successes continue, the finances of the club continue to improve and the debt levels head further south, will you and your organisation be big enough to acknowledge this, apologise and possibly even resign / disband? Or are you far too deeply entrenched now for this to ever happen?
7. Following the first home game of the season, do you accept that the protests seem less enthusiastic, more muted and that you have an almighty challenge on your hands this season to stop the campaign from petering out altogether?
8. When our manager, presumably someone you respect for his achievement and persona, continually praises the owners for being “great” and “backing him”, how to do you interpret this?
9. From the funds raised from United supporters, do you pay yourself a salary or expenses? If so, how much?
10. Do you ever envisage a time or scenario, no matter how hypothetical, whereby the current ownership and leadership team will be ever be acceptable to MUST?
What is the next step in the campaign? The green and gold was a genious idea last year but it has now lost credability as a fashion statement with all the day trippers walking out of the megastore with bags of goods and green and gold scarf wrapped round their neck?
The Red Knights offered a lot of hope but faded very quickly stating the Glazers do not want to sell? Did we not know that already? Surely in the secret meetings that potential outcome was discussed?
Duncan, when are you going to stop embarrassing united dans, with your silly posts, stupid shirts and constant shipping in the press? Isn’t it about time that you used the word from your groups title “supporters” and started supporting the club.
Not once have we ever heard any words of support from Must.
It’s time to shut up and leave United to those that want to offer support.
@BRETT1985
SPOT ON BROTHER! they are absolute cunts and should leave our club alone.
i have been a united fan since i was wise enough to watch tv,i love the club and if there is anything
i always wish for,it is that i would spend eternity watching united.SIR ALEX says the owners are fantastastic
and have not hampered him in anyway,so i don’t see what on earth is wrong as far as we we are having on the pitch success.i don’t care about the finances,i don’t earn a penny when united make profit
neither do i lose a pound when the club loses money.The only thing is care about is my beloved club,
the matches we win and those we don’t,the trophies we win and those we don’t win.Since sir ALEX
says the presence of the glazers doesn’t affect him adversely i don’t see why anybody should give
a fuck!Like u said,Duncan Drasco is an absolute cocksucker!KUDOS MAN,GREAT POST.
1) I would ask him if the Glazers are as bad as MUST would like the fans to believe why do MUST feel the requirement to make wild claims, misrepresent figures and not provide context/the whole story? You shouldn’t be or need to play on Fans emotions to get support.
2)
I would also ask why a group like the Red Knights which anyone with any kind of clue could see from the off (and which became more and more clear as the days went by) was even less viable than any takeovers MUST have approved? Are you really that power hungry that helping you gain more members or give you some kind of stake is enough to get your support without question?
3) While I don’t have a problem with the actions prior to the takeover why did you remain on the offensive AFTER the takeover thus alienating them further and removing any chance, no matter how small that they would have consulted fan groups?
4) Isn’t MUST’s (and a of fans) whole argument conflicted? On one hand you complain about less spending (Which isn’t really true) but then you complain about the season tickets being brought in line with the market rate.
5) Why are you taking the season ticket freeze as a win for MUST and the G&G campaign? I say this for two reasons
a) The business plan from day 1 mentioned that this is the figure they identified as the going rate as set by the market for ticket prices and this is where they intended them to rise to. Ticket sales last season showed that their predicted price point was fairly accurate and the price was in the region of what the market allows. Where is the counter evidence that more price rises were ever intented
b) Ticket prices aren’t decided on a whim the week before they are announced. They were almost certainly in the works long before G&G reared its head and would have been based on one thing, the figures and would have been just waiting for the final sign off when the G&G campaign started. Any G&G impact will ONLY show itself NEXT season when the impact of the Season Tickets going on general sale will be accounted for.
ofc i’m not expecting any of these to get asked or atleast given an answer. He will answer his ‘supporters’ questions which he can turn into a another propaganda piece rather than being fair and honest for once.
@redseven
The 200mill the Red Knights wanted was equal to about £1300 for each MUST members. Most United fans don’t have £1300 which they can give with no return let alone the £10,000 each needed to get 1.5bn (or £13,000 to 15,000 if we want the bonds wiped out).
So if he is asked this one and answers it positivly it will show how deluded he and MUST are. Barca raise around 20mill from around the same number of fans as MUST have which is a more realstic.
@wakey
cheers for that info mate, gives me a better insight into there deluded thinking
still as a whole discounting MUST we have millions of fans around the world, which could surley raise alot more money without the agenda which supports mainly the red knights.
they have made there bed so they could never contemplate doing that as divisons have already been made and trust badly damaged.
how many members do MUST have anyway, compared to the total fan base of united?
Why do Must quote the number of people they have signed up on their website as members? its nothing more than a list of email addresses. Nobody has paid up and people can sign up with numerous email addresses.
How much money does Drunken make himself off the back of must through tv and media work, plus taking the profits from reds in business events. Is this more about Drunken’s own interests than that of Utd?
Why not promote a full-on boycott of season tickets?
@redseven
MUST have 162k members in total. Paid up members is only in the thousands though.
On the worldwide fans, the problem is turning these people into financial contributors. People can be included in the fan count but would they be willing to or able to give anything. Again as I said only a few thousand actually pay the MUST membership fee, the rest are non-fee paying members.
Mind you I’ve never thought Fan Ownership is all its cracked upto. When fans are owning a club there is too much pressure on the board to please them which sees ticket prices reduced but money spent like its going out of fashion. Just look at what happens at Barca and Real (infact for their board to get and keep their jobs they have to promise and deliver ott signings). Fans may care about the club but their priorities sadly rarely fall in line with ensuring its financially sound until ots too late
@wakey
again cheers for the info, and your right on your insight of the fans, and true madrid and barca have fan ownership and there both still in debt, spending money like its going out of fashion just to keep up with jones’s so to speak. and to qoute another adage to many cooks spoil the broth
That is a really good point wakey. I must say that fan ownership would be a worse option than the glazers by a long way. If our apparently most vocal fans leave the club on a whim to start a rebel team and the others are in MUST I would rather trust Peter Ridsdale with the whole operation.
Sadly the impression I get from this site is that a lot of our fans are idiots. I’ll bet if I started a rival organisation to MUST which promoted shutting up whinging fans and telling them to just get on with supporting the club it would get an almost universal following in the end. People are sheep.
I’d much rather people just acted like the Glazers aren’t there, got on with supporting the team and forget about the doomsday scenarios which lets face it- aren’t going to happen.
@brett1985
I’m not sure you can call them all idiots (There are a few who are) I just think they let their hearts rule their heads and as such the emotions get in the way. Couple this with a complex situation like international business finance which most have no clue about and media, supporters trusts and the likes playing on the emotional side then its easy to see why so many seem like sheep.
My biggest disappointment with the fans is how many do take the emotional stance and won’t question it or consider alternate view points. We saw on here with the Red Knights that the only people who questioned them were the same people who get labelled ‘Glazer apologists’. Even now despite their stance changing on a daily basis and them using the fans and then not coming up with a bid that so many still think they are the answer and those who have shifted position have only done so since the bid failed to come
Duncan is Must a business rather than an supporters organization,and do you issue an annual balance sheet?Does an actual chartered accountant sign of the balance sheet or is it the inventive Andersred?
I hope I am not too late having quickly read the article last night to post my question to Mr Drasdo.
I thought I would let the heat die down.
All respect firstly to the people who have posted such great and serious questions.
My question is quite simple in a way.
What do the Glazer have to do to get the support of MUST and still remain in charge of Manchester United.
How well connected are you with people inside the club? Would you ever be able to have a friendly chat with someone in power (maybe Sir Alex or Mr. Gill) regarding MUST:s and many fans concerns?