Fans grumble, players rumble as United saga reaches fever pitch

Eye witness: Manchester - Simon O'Hagan listens to views from the stands on the battle for Old Trafford's soul

Julian Spencer stood in the drizzle selling fanzines outside Old Trafford yesterday and talked of how he had been coming to watch Manchester United since 1981. Meanwhile, the three men in whose hands the future of the club seems to rest - the Irish business partners John Magnier and JP McManus, and the American billionaire Malcolm Glazer - were nowhere to be seen.

That is just one of the things that sticks in the craw of people such as Mr Spencer, the chairman of the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, as they follow with growing disillusionment the protracted saga of possible takeover bids, predatory foreigners and feuds over racehorses that is threatening what is left of the soul of the most famous football club in the world.

In the short term, what counted for United fans yesterday was the 4-2 victory that their team enjoyed in a hectic FA Cup tie against its ancient rivals Manchester City. In the longer term, however, everything comes down to who owns the club, and what kind of owner they are going to be.

That was the main topic of conversation as fans gathered under the fatherly gaze of the statue of Sir Matt Busby at the entrance to the ground - a reminder of more financially innocent times.

"It's fine having shareholders, but it's different when those shareholders are only in it for profit and start to make decisions that affect the team and the supporters," Mr Spencer said.

Glazer - the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team owner who has just raised his stake in United to 16.31 per cent - was not the answer, said another fan, Dave Taylor. "Chelsea fans might be happy with Roman Abramovich, but I don't think this is any way to run a football club. Someone like Glazer doesn't care about the team or the supporters. He wants to make money, and where's the money going to come from? What's to stop him pushing up season ticket prices?''

Yesterday's Manchester Evening News caught the mood when it weighed in with a piece that began: "Mention Manchester United to Malcolm Glazer and he won't think of Denis Law and Eric Cantona ... dollar signs will be flashing instead.''

But for Dave Taylor, however, it was at least partly a case of United getting their comeuppance. "We were the first English club to think globally and make a big thing of marketing and merchandise, and now I guess it's come back to haunt us." But he did not like the sound of Glazer. "He's built up his millions by exploiting people."

Julian Spencer thought that the rot set in as soon as United were floated on the stock market. "That was when we lost our independence," he said.

United fans had woken up to reports that would have brought them some comfort - an apparent rapprochement between the manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, and the joint leading shareholder, Magnier, in the row over the racehorse Rock of Gibraltar that has been seriously destabilising the club. The settlement would leave Sir Alex with an annual payment of £80,000 for the rest of Rock of Gibraltar's breeding life - reckoned to be about 20 years. But that was far less than he had been fighting for, and within hours sources close to both Old Trafford and Magnier's Coolmore stud in Ireland were playing down the reports.

United's exhilarating performance on the pitch - marred only by the dismissal for violent conduct of their England fullback Gary Neville - was that of a team not easily distracted, and was testimony to Sir Alex's ability to fight battles on two fronts.

As one fan observed afterwards, Sir Alex's towering presence at United remained the club's most powerful weapon as they seek to see off the challenges of Arsenal and Chelsea, and anything that might lead to his departure would be a "disaster".

* More than 100 suspected football hooligans have been barred from attending matches in a police crackdown in the run-up to Euro 2004, writes Sophie Goodchild.

The Home Office confirmed yesterday that police forces have issued 134 banning orders since August last year, with hundreds more expected to be imposed before the tournament begins in June.

This is the result of 67 operations in 28 police forces, bringing the overall total of orders issued to 2,000. Police have already said they want the figure to reach 2,500 before the start of Euro 2004.

The big match: Glazer versus Magnier

Malcolm Glazer, 75

Born: Rochester, New York, United States

Childhood: Father died of cancer when Glazer was 15; left in charge of family watch-parts business

Worth: Billionaire, 244th richest person in the US

Owns: American football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Shares in Man Utd: 16.31 per cent, currently worth £113m

Community spirit: Glazer Family Foundation has donated more than $1.5m in grants and gifts to Florida charities

What they say: A judge branded Glazer a "snake in sheep's clothing" in 1991; the Tampa Tribune has accused him of treating the city like a "personal urinal"

What he says: "It is important for us to succeed on the field but I want us to be good citizens in the community as well. We are role models"

John Magnier, 55

Born: Grange, County Cork, Ireland

Childhood: Father died when he was 16; left school and returned to family stud farm

Worth: Multi-millionaire

Owns: Coolmore stud. Transformed it from 400-acre farm in Tipperary into multi-million-pound business spanning three continents

Shares in Man Utd: With business partner JP McManus, owns 28.89 per cent, currently worth £200m

Community spirit: Often sponsors races for charity; wife Sue is co-founder of a charity for children in Barbados

What they say: "Magnier and McManus are money-grabbing speculators who have no interest in Manchester United." (Independent Manchester United Supporters Association)

What he says: Very little. Rarely gives interviews

Steve Bloomfield