The red knights are to continue the campaign to replace the Glazer's as owners of Manchester United.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/7795386/Red-Knights-continue-quest-to-oust-Manchester-Uniteds-American-owners.html

The official statement from the red knights in the Independent. Funny how most of the press seem to think that this is the ned of the bid. When it seems obvious to me, it's anything but. Manchester United football club is not worth £1.5 billion and they are right not o pay it. When the takeover happens we want something worth taking over and to give those fucking wankers the least amount of profit possible.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/red-knights-end-manchester-united-bid-plans-1989310.html

The Guardian now has a different slant on the statement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/02/red-knights-manchester-united

MUST have now issued a statement
MUST welcomes the statement from the Red Knights group that they remain
determined and committed to achieving the ultimate aim of a supporter-owned
club.

MUST also supports the Red Knights reinforcement of their position that
they will not pay above fair value for Manchester United. This is in the
best long term interests of Manchester United FC and its supporters.

Rather than lining the Glazers pockets with yet more of our money, we want
to invest instead in squad strengthening, stadium improvement, rewarding
loyalty with fairer ticket prices and paying down the debt - not to mention
the fact that if supporters are going to be able to afford a decent chunk
of the shares in the second phase of the Red Knights takeover, then an
inflated valuation will significantly impact on that. Haven't the Glazers
taken enough money off supporters already?

Our understanding is the collective net worth of the Red Knights far
exceeds that of the Glazers. It isn't about a lack of resources. It is
about fair value and doing what is right the Football Club.

We understand the intention of the statement from the Red Knights is to
remove the time deadline pressure and set more realistic expectations with
regard to a bid. There is no rush – the pressure is building on the Glazers
with matchday revenues declining and the need for huge investment in the
playing squad over the next few seasons, especially when Sir Alex retires.
There is increasingly fierce competition both domestically and in Europe
especially from Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona, along with new
challenges even for Champions League qualification coming from Spurs and
Manchester City. This will increase competition for the best players and
consequently the costs associated with maintaining the club's current
position and revenues.

In the meantime MUST and the Red Knights will continue to go about our
preparations and be ready when the Glazers are prepared to take a realistic
view on the valuation of the club.

A MUST spokesperson said:

“We completely support the stance of the Red Knights group not to pay a
ridiculous premium price to the Glazers. We want to see investment in the
club – not more money going into the Glazers pockets. After the damage that
they have already inflicted on our club many supporters would feel sickened
to see them walk away with a huge profit.”

“In addition to the huge debt they’ve dumped on a previously profitable
club they also wasted £443m in interest and fees – far more than the total
(£398m) received from supporters in payment for tickets during their
reign.”

“So they’ve wasted every single penny we’ve paid for tickets over the
entire 5 year period. No wonder so many supporters are considering
switching from a season ticket to match by match attendance or delaying
season ticket renewal until the Glazers agree to sell.”

“Under a future structure where ownership is shared with supporters,
compared to the current regime, there is the opportunity to tap into huge
potential growth in revenue resulting from the enhanced affinity between
the supporters and the club. We want to see that revenue reinvested into
the club. There is no reason why Manchester United should not be able to
compete for the very best players in the world and play in the best stadium
as well as work towards the things that many supporters care about -
rewarding the loyalty of its supporters with fair ticket distribution and
pricing while working for the best matchday atmosphere, safe standing and
fair treatment of our away support”


Two articles on the difficulties the lib dems face in being a part of this coalition.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/02/liberal-democrat-coalition-nick-clegg
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-cleggs-promises-that-will-be-hard-to-keep-1988678.html

Two British firms not delivering the goods? BP's woes continue as it fails to half the flow of oil in the gulf of Mexico. Apparently this isn't very good news for British pension funds.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/how-much-worse-can-it-get-for-bp-1988968.html

Meanwhile EMI has never really recovered from being taken over by private equity man Guy Hands. Rock n' roll yeh!
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7141990.ece

Terry Eagleton reviews Christopher Hitchens new memoir, unfavourably you won't be surprised to know. I still read his stuff occasionally, but he has turned into a bit of a 19th hole bore it can't be denied. He was totally wrong over the war on terror but i thought was pretty spot on about Clinton.
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/05/christopher-hitchens-iraq-self

Candie Payne