Organisation: Manchester United

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Analysis and commentary by Echo Research.

Why, when the FT sagely headlined Manchester United "Shareholders delighted as tycoon puts club in a league of its own", (J Cumbo, FT, 14/5), would fans and Shareholders United recoil in horror, encourage Malcolm Glazer effigy burning, sponsor-boycotts and produce alternative merchandise sales, promising "a rolling and growing campaign"(Sean Bone, Shareholder's United, Independent, 15/5) to "really hit Glazer where it hurts"(u.tv, 14/5).

Even Joel Glazer's attempt to pour oil on Old Trafford's troubled waters, " We are long-term sports investors and avid Manchester United fans"(M Garrahan, FT, 14/5), generated a furious response. "The ignorance of the Glazers about ordinary Manchester United fans is truly astonishing"(Mark Longden, IMUSA, bbc.co.uk, 14/5).

While the Glazer family may indeed have sporting interests, the acquisition was clearly about maximising "the yield from the global brand that is Manchester United"(Will Hutton, Observer, 15/5), for the United loyal, the deal necessitated "A fight for the soul of football?"(Scotland on Sunday, 15/5). However distraught the fans at the turn of events, the Sunday Times noted, this was no "sudden eruption of capitalist extremism in the national game but … a logical consequence of football's progressive submission to the naked power of money"(Hugh McIlvanney, 15/5)