For some time now Manchester United supporters have yearned to end the financial hijacking and subsequent exploitation of there club. The Green and Gold campaigning has brought this issue into public view and was on full show on Sundays Carling cup final.

Tomorrow a group of city financiers, the so call "Red Knights" will take this campaign a step further and announce plans to submit a take over bid, however this will depend on whether the present owners want to sell Manchester United to a mixture of emotionally wealthy Man U fans.

Red Football Joint Venture is wholly owned by the Florida based Glazer family who have leveraged the football club with over ?700m worth of debt after their own successful takeover bid.

Paul Marshall a hedge fund manager, Mark Rawlinson commercial lawyer and city financier Keith Harris are allegedly leading the ?Red Knights? attempt to wrestle control of Manchester United away from the Glazers and are in close contact with the Manchester United supports trust, it is interesting to note that the ?Red Knights? are only seeking to change the ownership of the club not?s it CEO, Paul Marshall has repeated called for a supporter owned subsidiary along the lines of Barcelona, however this is looking increasing unlikely, one of the stumbling blocks will be the fact that the Glazers did not buy Manchester United to sell at a later date because they have become unpopular with the fans, the revelations that the Glazers paid themselves some ?22m in fees and personal loans gives some indication as to how much it is possible to take out.

The Glazers are used to dealing with personal attacks and have developed skin thicker than a rhino rear end to deflect criticism no matter how personal.

Can the ?Red Knights? raise the sort of capital to persuade the Glazers to sell is another matter entirely, sentiment alone will not force a deal, taking January?s ?500m Bond prospectus, reveling 8.75% interest payable annually, a huge sum to find. And not forgetting that the Bond itself is a mechanism for the Glazers to realize further finance to meet payments on money borrowed from hedge funds, over ?200m, the interest alone will shoot up to over 16% later on this summer.

The ?Red Knight?s? will have to secure a sum of over ?1 Billion to have any chance of tempting the glazer?s to sell, in this economic climate that is a colossal sum raise, best of luck to them but I have a feeling this is pie In the sky wishful thinking..

One thing for sure if they are successful Swallowtail and Dral will be partying ?Val with his favorite Ice cream soda on the rocks?.not sure what Dral?s tipple is ? by the way welcome back Dral hope to hear your opinion?


The best solution to the soap opera that is surrounding and could well engulf John Terry this coming weekend in England?s friendly with Egypt is for Fabio Capello to have dropped him from the national side from the beginning, for the sake of the team, the spectacle of England fans booing his presence on the field is frankly horrendous, and his failure to secure the full support of the England squad is further evidence that Terry could become a further liability. At the weekend Craig Bellamy lunched a scathing attack at John Terry?s behavior off the field ?I know what JT is like, everybody in football knows what he is like. That's off the field,"?

All this jibing is affecting John Terry?s performance on the field and the refusal of Bridge to shake his hand publicly fuels the argument that Terry should have been given more time away from first team football to adjust and shore up his battered reputation, the ignominy of some of his Chelsea team mate?s texting Bridge with their support is frankly an appalling prospect for team cohesion and morale.

Bridge ruling himself out of the World Cup in South Africa because he felt his position had become untenable after Terry?s affair with Vanessa Perroncelsum, his ex-girlfriend, and best friend of Terry?s wife Toni Poole.

Kayoko ?what about that x rated eye watering challenge on Arsenals Aaron Ramsey in the match against Stoke last Saturday, Shawcross was reckless and late, it was a horror tackle??.

Always miss your contributions Mr K ....no need to ask... hope you are ok ...Pips x