Red Knights meet to draw up Man Utd bid

The Red Knights, a group of wealthy Manchester United fans, were meeting on Wednesday to discuss plans for a possible takeover of the heavily-indebted club, according to British media reports.

The group, which includes senior City of London figures such as Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill, want to wrest control of the Premier League champions from the US-based Glazer family.

But no bid is expected before the end of the season, with the group keen to avoid doing anything that might distract Sir Alex Ferguson’s side from retaining their title during the final few weeks of the campaign.

It is understood Wednesday’s meeting was being held to determine exact sources of funding for any bid and the level of supporter involvement.

Investment bank Nomura have been advising both the Red Knights and the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST), who have voiced concerns about the Glazers and are broady supportive of a takeover proposal.

The Glazers took control in 2005 and the most recent accounts for United’s parent company, Red Football Joint Venture, showed it had debts of 719 million pounds.

Supporters fear the cost of servicing that debt will act as a brake on investment in Ferguson’s team, if it is not already doing so.

The scale of the debt also means that, for any takeover bid to succeed, the would-be purchasers would need in excess of one billion pounds to enable the Glazers to walk away with the kind of profit on their investment that would convince them to sell.

United fans have, this season, begun wearing green and gold scarfs to matches as a symbolic protest against the Glazers.

Those were the colours of Newton Heath, the club which changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 after going bankrupt.

United, who are away to local rivals Manchester City on Saturday, are currently second in the Premier League and four points behind leaders Chelsea with four games left to play.