Thread by @andersred

The proposed @manutd share scheme, a thread....

First of all, for full disclosur, I've had no involvement in the negotiations between @MU_ST and the club. I've advised the trust in the past but not on this occasion. What I know about the share scheme is what I heard on the members' call last night.

Worth taking a step back and remembering how hard it is going to be to get meaningful supporter ownership of United. It's valued on the stock market at c. £1.5bn, so a 10% stake would cost £150m and a majority stake over £750m.

Any meaningful supporter ownership is going to be hard and take time. Nobody is going to give the fans a stake worth 100s of £m. Some fans of course don't really care about supporter ownership, they just want better owners than the Glazers...

That's fair enough and a totally legitimate view. For me fans are the natural owners (or part owners) of football clubs and that's what I think we should aim for. The alternative, dodgy billionaires or oil states sportswashing their crimes doesn't appeal to me.

So with all that in mind, what about the proposed scheme? Well firstly this is a "pilot scheme" to see whether there is demand out there for fans to own shares. It's not the end game, it's the very beginning.

Given the cost (to the club) and complexity of a listed company issuing shares, I think that's fair enough. Why offer a (say) 10% stake just to find not enough people are interested?

Secondly, there seem to be some big wins here, notably; these are proper shares with 10 votes each (rather than 1 vote each for the shares you can buy on the NYSE), the shares have a form of collective ownership via @MU_ST giving fans the collective democratic voice as owners,

finally, the proceeds from the share issue stay in the club and the use of them has to be signed off by the Fans Advisory Board - this money doesn't go to the Glazers.

As a said above, this is a pilot scheme and on its own it won't massively move the dial. @MU_ST say that the issue will be below the EU/UK legal size that triggers the need for a full prospectus. That's €8m (£6.6m), with one issue of that size soon and one in a year's time.

That means each issue will be for around 0.4% of the total shares in issue and 1.1% of the total votes. This ISN'T immediate supporter ownership, it's first steps to a meaningful stake.

So to sum up I'm in favour and all credit to @Drasdo and @MUSTChair for getting this far. Is it perfect? No. Are there unanswered questions for the future? Yes (especially how big will the club go on future share issues).

Is it a real change of approach by the Glazers and a foot in the door for supporter ownership? I think so.

PS. Forgot to add, but this is also an opportunity to organise supporters across the world, with the club's support but outside their control. That could prove very valuable in the future.... #UTFR