If they were to do this, and set up a club that began in the lower leagues, they may, with their support, get a team moving pretty quickly up into the football league. With the support of ex-players and maybe ex-Utd board members and backers, promotion might come pretty quickly (AFC Wimbledon are making good progress from a tiny base). With promotion at the lower end of the leagues pretty straightforward for a biggish club with backing there comes better players and more investment, and with their "romantic" fairytale story about a ‘great club’ rising again from the ashes, they could progress pretty quickly up through the leagues.
All highly theoretical, but no one knows where football is going at the moment, and the Spanish model (where clubs are owned by boards of fans, who become shareholders and make the major executive decisions) is growing in English football. Some observers in the game see this as the future, and in The Observer today one commentator was saying that in 20 years time, as many as 50% of English league clubs could be owned by fans.
So, if this were to happen, and in 10 years time FC United were promoted to the Premiership, would you hate the club and their fans as much as we currently hate Utd, or would they start with a clean slate?
My point is, where does our hatred of Man Utd lie: is it in the club as it stands, the huge commerical plc with team attached and
fans, or does it transfer to those thousands of fans who might move to the breakaway club and claim to own the ‘spirit’ of the real Man Utd. Would we hate the shell that Man Utd might become under Glazer as much as FC Utd? Or could you see yourselves applauding a new FC Utd out onto the pitch at Anfield in 2015 for having principles to what they see as their club and going down the leagues with it, or would you still hate them, knowing that their supporters were, in a former life, the scum?
Up the 'pool!
