Steering Group Announcement

You might have thought that it had all gone quiet on the FC United front, but a great deal of work has been going on over the past couple of weeks and with certain basic elements in place it’s now time to bring fellow Reds up to speed.

What’s going on at the moment?

A steering group has been created to undertake the necessary steps to ensure that FC United will be a fully functional club by the beginning of the 2005/06 season. This steering group is a temporary measure and once the club is up and running there will be a full election to determine the committee that will run the club.

The steering group consists of:

Andy Walsh - Former chair of IMUSA, leading light in the anti-Murdoch campaign and current member of the NFS Coalition.

Russell Delaney - Long-standing United supporter who was heavily involved behind the scenes during both the Murdoch and Glazer campaigns.

Luc Zentar - IMUSA committee member and Red Issue staff member.

Tony Pritchard - Long-standing United supporter who brings a great deal of experience of high level commercial and company management.

Jules Spencer - Former chair of IMUSA.

Peter Munday - Long-standing Cockney Red with excellent financial and accounting experience.

Vasco Wackrill - Former Vice Chairman of IMUSA and former IMUSA representative on the fans’ forum.

Dr Adam Brown - ex-Football Supporters Association/IMUSA Officer. Research Fellow at the Manchester Institute for Popular Culture, Manchester Metropolitan University. Former prominent member of the Government’s Football Task Force.

Rob Brady - Longstanding United We Stand columnist.

Andrew Howse - Red News staff member.

Philip Bedford - IMUSA founder member.

Tony Jordan - Red Issue staff member.

Martin Morris - United We Stand columnist

What has actually been done?

We have secured two offers for ground-sharing agreements but are still pursuing other avenues before making a final decision. To that end, we will have a ground to play at and a decision as to where it will be will be made once all options have been considered.

We have been in meetings with league officials to determine which league we will be able to play in next season. An announcement on this is imminent.

What are you going to do next?

The steering group is creating a full business plan, which will allow us to put everything in place to have a fully functioning club by July. More details will be released over the next few weeks. You can join our mailing list to be kept fully up to date.

What can I do to help?

There are two ways in which you can help with the creation of FC United. The first is to sign up to our pledge scheme, letting us know that you are interested in the club and are willing to contribute financially to its start up.

Anyone who signs up now will be a founder member of FC United. Due to a very tight timescale, the deadline to register as a founder member is June 13th. Please note that no payment is required by the 13th, simply a commitment to pledge; you will be asked to fulfil your pledge once we have been accepted into the league. Founder members will then be able to nominate themselves for, and vote on, the elected committee and the constitution of the new club

As guidance, your eventual donation can be as big or small as you can manage. Many people have already pledged half the cost of their Season Ticket at Old Trafford. If you cannot afford that then don’t worry - all contributions help and are most welcome.

If you are also willing to give your time to help out then please fill in the appropriate form. We will need plenty of people to muck in over the coming months - whether you have specific skills or are simply willing to give time and effort.

Where can I do this?

The pledge forms can be filled in online at www.fc-utd.co.uk, here you can also join the mailing list and volunteer to help out at FC United.

Alternatively, if you wish to donate money now, you may send pledges by cheque only, along with your contact details, to:

FC United
Suite 80
792 Wilmslow Road
Manchester
M20 6UG

(please make cheques payable to "FC United")

We are finalising arrangement for donations online and details of this will be announced once ground and league details have been finalised.

What are your long term plans? What will you do when Glazer leaves Manchester United?

This is the question that most supporters have been asking. FC United is being built as a template, an example of how a football club should be run. It will be fully democratic and the sole motivation of those who run it, governed by a binding constitution, will be to do so for its members.

No-one knows what will happen in the future, and certainly developments at Glazer’s United will be monitored. Any major decision to be made will be democratic and the majority members’ vote will carry.

In the meantime, FC United will exist for disenfranchised Manchester United supporters as long as there are disenfranchised Manchester United supporters in existence.