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Blatter supports United fans in fight against Glazer (go back to the homepage) Sat February 26, 2005 10:49 PM GMT+05:30 By Mike Collett LLANTRISANT, Wales (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed on Saturday he had written a letter of support to Manchester United fans fighting the takeover of their club by American billionaire Malcolm Glazer. Glazer is examining Manchester United's books and is considering making a third bid for the club of around 800 million pounds ($1.53 billion) after two earlier bids were rejected. But United fans are strongly opposed to any takeover and thousands demonstrated before their club's Champions League match against AC Milan at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Speaking after a meeting of the International Football Association Board in Wales on Saturday, Blatter said he supported the fans in their fight against the bid from the American. "I support their fight against Mr Glazer. This is only FIFA's philosophy because we cannot intervene, we are powerless in the commercial forces of the market," he said. "We can do nothing but we have to make sure that a club is not only an industry. We have to protect the club ethic because football is a game for everybody. A club is about its town, its city, its fans. "FIFA has been around for 100 years but many clubs have been around for longer than that, and in England the FA started in 1863." The Glazers have been undertaking due diligence on United's books for the last two weeks and are expected to decide on whether to make a takeover bid in the next few weeks. That process might be delayed because Joel Glazer, heading his family's bid, has been hospitalised with a ruptured appendix. Manchester United fans are considering boycotting matches -- United regularly have capacity sell-out crowds of 67,000 at Old Trafford -- while a number of other fans are exploring the possibility of setting up a breakaway club called FC United which could share a stadium with Salford rugby league club. |