Let’s be honest, it’s not been the best of weeks to be a red. Whether you navigated the PCR tests and the travel restrictions and made it to Gdansk, or you watched at home, Wednesday night was a huge disappointment. As Ole said after the game, it showed that whilst we’ve made clear progress this year, to get to the next level there needs to be significant further investment in the squad and that means the Glazers authorising our club to reinvest its own money this summer. We shall see…
Off the pitch, despite half of us being in Gdansk this week, the progress on our campaign has continued as it will all summer. Whilst the players get a bit of a rest, we see the next few months as absolutely key and have made clear to the club that we expect to see real progress on our goals before the next home game.
MEMBER CONSULTATION
We launched a brief consultation with you, our Members, on our approach to discussions with the club over the summer. If you haven’t already received this you can complete it through this link www.surveymonkey.co.uk – it will only take you two minutes. Joel Glazer has offered a dialogue, but we want to confirm whether members support our proposed approach, and we want to be clear on your priorities if it does happen. To be honest the signs are not looking good based on the initial proposals we’ve been made aware of but it makes sense to explore further. The next big step comes this Friday, when Joel Glazer attends the Fans Forum for the first time in their sixteen year ownership of the club.
Given it is the first time he has been willing to speak to fans directly in all that time, we really don’t know what to expect from the meeting. But the MUST representative and the other fans who attend that meeting will be making our asks and expectations very very clear, and see what he has to say for himself. We don’t want vague promises, we want clear commitments, and we’ve told the club that in no uncertain terms.
MEETING WITH SPORTS MINISTER & FAN-LED REVIEW
On the political side, along with other clubs we had a productive face-to-face meeting with the Sports Minister, Nigel Huddleston MP at the National Football Museum in Manchester. We were very clear that reform coming out of the Fan-Led Review must include ownership as well as regulation to give fans a much stronger say in how their clubs are run.
The Fan-Led Review has also had its first meeting, and we’ve had confirmation that MUST will have our own session with the Review Panel to make the case for radical change which needs to be supported, in law, by the Government. This political side is hugely important, because it is this which is pressuring the Glazers into making change themselves before the Government forces them to do so.
JIMMY MURPHY TO BE RECOGNISED WITH NEW STATUE AT OLD TRAFFORD
Finally, on a positive note, we were pleased to hear the club confirm plans for a statue of the legendary Jimmy Murphy at Old Trafford. We’ve worked with other fans groups to push for this for some time, led by the Manchester Munich Memorial Foundation, and you gave it strong support in our last major survey. Jimmy is one of the most important figures in the history of our club and his contribution to rebuilding Manchester United after Munich means this recognition is only right and proper.
That’s all for this week’s update. A bad week on the pitch but we’ll never die, and the trophies will return. We’ll be back in touch after the Fans Forum on Friday, to let you know what Joel Glazer had to say for himself.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
We’ve never had a better chance to bring change to the club we love. Thanks for your ongoing support, and please encourage your friends and family to join us too. They can do so here: www.imust.org.uk/join
If you’d like to support the campaign or our foodbank appeal please see below.
Many thanks for your support.
MUST
www.imust.org.uk
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