United fans claim Caborn snub By Simon Stone, PA Sport
A major Manchester United fans' group has accused Red Devils owner Malcolm Glazer of totally ignoring a letter from Richard Caborn requesting a meeting between the American and supporters opposed to his takeover. The Sports Minister issued the letter in March this year following dialogue with the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, who were expressing their concerns at Glazer's £790million buy-out. So far, public statements from the Glazer family extend to one interview given by son Joel to United's in-house TV station MUTV, while IMUSA and the Manchester United Supporters' Trust (MUST), the group formerly known as Shareholders United, have been booted off the Fans' Forum by chief executive David Gill. IMUSA are growing increasingly concerned at the direction of the club, especially now directors Nick Humby and Andy Anson have tendered their resignations, which will take effect from February. And now they have released details of a letter sent to the Glazers by Caborn, outlining the potential mutual benefit of a meeting between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner and the fans. "We are astonished that a written request, that was then followed up with a telephone reminder, made by the Minister for Sport in Tony Blair's government to the owners of a Premier League football club for them to meet with representatives of the fans of their team, has not even been given the courtesy of a reply," said an IMUSA statement. "Given the amount of time that now elapsed since this request was made, it now seems unlikely one ever will be." IMUSA accept that Glazer, who suffered two strokes earlier this year, may not be well enough to make the trans-Atlantic trip. However, they note business at Old Trafford appears to be continuing as normal, with a family spokesman last week suggesting United were in a robust financial shape, and cannot see why at least one member of the Glazer household could not make time in their schedule merely to answer the letter. "If the family spokesman is to be believed, the business is thriving," continued the statement. "We therefore do not understand, given the gravity of a written request from a Minister of State, why no other member of the Glazer family has assumed responsibility for responding to Mr Caborn's letter. "IMUSA does not believe the Glazer family has a serious interest in communicating with fans' organisations and we feel that this shows just how far removed football is from the 'People's Game' it was once intended to be." http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/06/10/24/SOCCER_Man_Utd_Fans.html Please use [email protected] for general discussion. To unsubscribe send a blank message (from the email account in question) to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Join as a full member of IMUSA today: http://www.imusa.org/join.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imusa/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imusa/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
