Red Knights rule out mega bid for Man Utd

The Red Knights, the group of wealthy investors seeking to wrest control of Manchester United from the Glazer family, insisted Monday they would not be pressured into paying more than the club is worth.

In a statement, the Knights said it “would be wrong to offer more than fair value” in light of the onerous level of debt the club has taken on under the Glazers’ ownership.

The statement will be seen as a response to reports in the British media last week that the Glazers had turned down an offer of 1.5 billion pounds from an unidentified Middle Eastern consortium.

Analysts believe the Red Knights will need to raise at least one billion pounds to be able to offer the club’s current owners sufficient profit on their investment to tempt them to sell.

The Glazers have repeatedly insisted that they do not want to sell, despite a burgeoning protest movement among United supporters who believe the club’s debt is directly linked to recent rises in ticket prices and a perceived lack of investment in Sir Alex Ferguson’s first-team squad.

United’s failure to retain the Premier League title or advance beyond the quarter-finals of this season’s Champions League has fuelled supporters’ discontent and there were angry demonstrations at the club’s final home game of the season, against Stoke on Sunday.

The group cooring the protests, the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), now claims more than 150,000 members and has asked holders of season tickets at Old Trafford to delay renewing them until the last possible moment in an attempt to exert financial pressure on the Glazers.

MUST dismissed last week’s reports of a rejected bid for United as a “cyncial PR stunt” designed to drive up the price the Glazers can demand.

The Red Knights include Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neil, a former United director, and a number of other prominent financiers in the City of London.

In their statement, they said they were still working towards putting together an offer for the club which would enable supporters to have a significant role in running it.

“The Red Knights are continuing to seek to assemble a consortium to acquire Manchester United,” the statement read.

“Our primary goals remain to facilitate a return of ownership of the club to its supporters and the community; and to restore the financial health of the club.

“The response continues to be encouraging but the process to achieve it is understandably complex and is taking time.

“We have had productive conversations with potential investors in recent weeks which have reinforced our belief that it is wrong to offer above fair value, particularly given the urgent need for the club to reduce debt; and that fair value is likely to be reducing over time given the headwinds facing the game of football.

“Accordingly we will continue to build support in a measured way and will give a further update in due course.”

The most recent accounts for United’s parent company, Red Football Joint Venture, showed that it had debts of 719 million pounds.

Supporters fear the cost of servicing that debt has restricted Ferguson’s activity in the transfer market. The manager has denied that but most observers believe financial constraints were behind United’s decision not to sign Carlos Tevez permanently at the start of this season.

The Argentina striker instead joined rivals Manchester City and has scored 29 goals for them this season.