United chairman set to quit after Glazer blast

14 April 2012

Manchester United's chairman Sir Roy Gardner today announced his impending resignation and warned that new owner Malcolm Glazer has failed to provide any assurances over future debt, ticket prices, player transfers and non-interference with team selection.

In a letter to shareholders, Gardner recommends accepting the offer for their shares from Glazer - but only on financial grounds.

The chairman also confirms he and fellow non-executive directors Ian Much and Jim O'Neill are "expected to resign from the board shortly".

But it is the lack of legallybinding assurances that will concern United fans - control of the club had already passed to the Glazer family whether or not the remaining shareholders accept the 300p-per-share offer from the American tycoon's Red Football Group.

Gardner's letter says: "During its discussions, the board sought a range of legally-binding protections. No such protections or assurances have been forthcoming."

Gardner confirmed almost two million shares owned by board members, 0.72 per cent of the total, would be sold to Glazer.

Shareholders have until 3pm on 13 June to accept the offer but United fans' groups have continued to mobilise against the Glazer family.

Shareholders United are urging fans to terminate their mobile phone contracts with shirt sponsors Vodafone.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in