Richard Arnold secretly filmed whilst speaking to supporters

Adam-Utd

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Yes - and...well, we all need that: self worth. I don't want to judge them like some high-horse twat.

But it's just...misguided. If you really want to confirm yourself by fighting for a bigger cause, there are so many things you could do that would be better and more productive than this.

I think it's their comfort zone, to be brutally honest. They've been doing this (getting confirmation from their peers, being part of a tribe, nothing truly important on the line apart from the objectively trivial shite they've dedicated themselves to because that's what the older boys did) since they started drinking at the age of 13...oh, I'm rambling, and I'm probably being overly harsh, but there you go: I do know the type (I could have very easily been one of them myself).
As you say it's all they know, probably not smart enough or brave enough to push themselves to do something 'more'.

I'm sure they have good intentions at heart and genuinely want the club to change for the better, and i'm with them on that part.

but as you say getting pissed and turning up at the bosses house to shout at him isn't really a smart way of doing it.
 

giggs-beckham

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Based off this and the fact it's clear as day we need cash injection it's time to sell naming rights to Old Trafford.

Who really cares if it's The Adidas Old Trafford Stadium or something if it helps the Club in the long term
The Mister Potato Old Trafford
 

sphagnum

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"Arnold laid out 4 key points"

*Reading again, trying to find fourth*
1: On field achievements is top priority.

2: Board unhappy with last seasons performance.

3: Reminded staff of the board’s continued investment and their plan to keep spending - but in a more effective way thanks to a new structure.
4. PROFIT!!!!
 
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ChaddyP

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So of the 6-8 people that seemed to be at that “meeting” one thinks it went really well, one’s been ranting about how it was all PR spiel, one of them leaked the plan which caused Arnold to come to the pub and the one who filmed it has been kicked out for chasing twitter clout by another one who has also been kicked out for being a massive racist.

So it’s going well
fecking hell :lol:
 

noodlehair

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Of course it’s a fecking PR move…

How did he get the info, from his house, that a few Utd fans were going to protest outside his house… and knew what pub they were inside… and who they were in the pub!?

Somebody knew who also had his personal contact details? Cmon.

Then he goes out and it ends up with you all thinking he’s a ‘man of the people’, who ‘got the beers in with the lads’ - a right good bloke, humouring the plebs like.

Let’s see how you all feel about Arnold in a few seasons time…

It then ends up that the Glazers have found a way to speak to the fans while generating pity and explaining why money isn’t being spent - how incredibly fortuitous for them.

FFS cmon. This is the same outcome of nearly all expensive PR - to come across as ‘one of the people’.
I mean he easily could just know the pub owner who would have tipped him off.

What I find more implausible is the idea a bunch of fans who've already agreed to protest outside his house, would turn up at his local pub to openly discuss their plans, and do so for so long that he happened to be able to make his way down there and meet them.

I don't care about PR rubbish one way or the other. Like you said it's about how well he does his job, and we currently have half a squad due in part to his predecessor being a bumbling fecking idiot.

Less meeting people in pubs and more sorting out the mess please
 

MuFc_1992

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Did he actually say that FDJ deal was about to be completed? I hope it's a done deal in that case because Barca can demand extra 10 million from us because Arnold put himself in a situation where he has to deliver FDJ.
 

ilrm

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Because you target the individual and not his role or function.

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - he has done which warrants bothering (potentially scaring/upsetting) his family.

This goes for even the most despicable politician, as far as I'm concerned. So, it obviously goes for the CEO of a football club.
Precisely. Protest outside Old Trafford, Carrington or the clubs offices in London only thing protesting outside Arnold's house was ever going to achieve was to scare his family and get a talking to from the police. These are 30/40/50 year old men you'd think they would have more sense.
Since when have protests that make anyone feel comfortable ever worked? Since when has standing in a designated corner, silently protesting on a weekend, ever worked? I'm sorry but what world are you living in?
I'm not asking anyone to do anything illegal but if you don't make the 1% or those in power uncomfortable, they will take your voice away forever - in football and in life.
 

roseguy64

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Since when have protests that make anyone feel comfortable ever worked? Since when has standing in a designated corner, silently protesting on a weekend, ever worked? I'm sorry but what world are you living in?
I'm not asking anyone to do anything illegal but if you don't make the 1% or those in power uncomfortable, they will take your voice away forever - in football and in life.
It's a football club not abortion or cost of living. FFS.
 

Keefy18

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Outside of Bayern, not a single club is competitive in Europe in the transfer market or the CL.

Fans want to win trophies, not own 50%. We can’t even agree on this forum what’s best for the club, imagine what would happen to the club if we owned 50%? We have to accept that there’s a bunch of United fans who just have a problem with establishment and don’t trust any authority, regardless who’s in charge or who owns the other 50%.
Ah Bayern have a monopoly alright, still I reckon there's lots of good there that can be taken but utilized better, if done right.

Absolutely agree, too many cooks and all that. Not saying I agree with it just what I believe they'd like to happen ideally.

Any time I ask one of these headstrong anti Glazer... LUHG sorts that if they did manage to oust them, what next?

The go to answer is to have supporters own a percentage or they want Ratcliffe (Not happening) or Oil money (become what they've mocked, City / PSG & Newcastle).
 
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Bertie Wooster

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Yes - and...well, we all need that: self worth. I don't want to judge them like some high-horse twat.

But it's just...misguided. If you really want to confirm yourself by fighting for a bigger cause, there are so many things you could do that would be better and more productive than this.

I think it's their comfort zone, to be brutally honest. They've been doing this (getting confirmation from their peers, being part of a tribe, nothing truly important on the line apart from the objectively trivial shite they've dedicated themselves to because that's what the older boys did) since they started drinking at the age of 13...oh, I'm rambling, and I'm probably being overly harsh, but there you go: I do know the type (I could have very easily been one of them myself).
You’re not rambling mate, you’re spot on.
Yep. Completely agree with all that.

As well as being a tribal thing, I think for many of them it's also an ego thing - you can be generous and say self worth, but you can also call it self importance. They've found the only way they can to make themselves 'somebodies' and now just want that buzz of being in the news as often as possible. And that requires more protests, otherwise they go back to being nobodies just ranting on social media.
 
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crossy1686

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Ah Bayern have a monopoly alright, still I reckon there's lots of good there that can be taken but utilized better, if done right.

Absolutely agree, too many cooks and all that. Not saying I agree with it just what I believe they'd like to happen ideally.

Any time I ask one of these headstrong anti Glazer... LUHG sorts that if they did manage to oust them, what next?

The go to answer is to have supporters own a percentage or they want Ratcliffe (Not happening) or Oil money (become what they've mocked, City / PSG & Newcastle).
There’s a short sighted approach to the LUHG movement and I think a lot of them would secretly or not secretly love us to by bought out by the Saudis. Personally that would be the end of my involvement with United as a fan and I’d become more of a casual observer of football in general.

Whether we like it, accept it, condone it etc, whomever owns United from a business perspective is either going to use the club to sportswash, launder money or take a dividend. At least with these options we’d be competitive as it’s within the owners best interests to make the club better, make more money and win stuff.

If the fans co-owned United we’d see more emotional decisions being made, we’d probably have blown the next 4 summers transfer budget on a new stadium because everyone else is. We’d probably reduce season ticket prices (despite them not rising in over 10 years, which is unheard of anywhere else) and the club would struggle to sign quality players when Liverpool, City, Chelsea etc can all throw around more money than we potentially could, all while doing this from a position of weakness seeing as we haven’t won anything worth shouting about in 10 years.

It’s controversial, and I don’t like the Glazers, I don’t like the debt, I don’t like the way they took control or the dividends but if they were just more involved and we were winning trophies again this whole conversation goes away.
 

Keefy18

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There’s a short sighted approach to the LUHG movement and I think a lot of them would secretly or not secretly love us to by bought out by the Saudis. Personally that would be the end of my involvement with United as a fan and I’d become more of a casual observer of football in general.

Whether we like it, accept it, condone it etc, whomever owns United from a business perspective is either going to use the club to sportswash, launder money or take a dividend. At least with these options we’d be competitive as it’s within the owners best interests to make the club better, make more money and win stuff.

If the fans co-owned United we’d see more emotional decisions being made, we’d probably have blown the next 4 summers transfer budget on a new stadium because everyone else is. We’d probably reduce season ticket prices (despite them not rising in over 10 years, which is unheard of anywhere else) and the club would struggle to sign quality players when Liverpool, City, Chelsea etc can all throw around more money than we potentially could, all while doing this from a position of weakness seeing as we haven’t won anything worth shouting about in 10 years.

It’s controversial, and I don’t like the Glazers, I don’t like the debt, I don’t like the way they took control or the dividends but if they were just more involved and we were winning trophies again this whole conversation goes away.
Great to see a level headed sensible comment on the board for once on here!

Spot on about the Saudi owners, they openly mock oil owned clubs for being plastic and no history yet they yearn for it!

There is no perfect owner, most of these owners have earned their billions through nefarious means.

If our supporters owned the club or had a legitimate say in actions it'd be dead in the water within a few years.
 

Bilbo

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It wasn't a PR stunt for goodness sake.

What it was though was reckless. I'd imagine he would have been in contact with the club before going there, but even so when you profile a group of football supporter so passionate/annoyed/frustrated about what they perceive to be happening that they are planning to protest outside of your home, then you really have no idea what you are walking into. I haven't seen any mention of him having security with him which is the most surprising aspect of this whole thing to me.

Credit to him for doing it, and fortunately it's turned out well, but it wasn't smart to do this. I would prefer that the club improved their official communication channels rather than feel it necessary to mollycoddle a group of people who in no way represent our fanbase.
 

JPRouve

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There’s a short sighted approach to the LUHG movement and I think a lot of them would secretly or not secretly love us to by bought out by the Saudis. Personally that would be the end of my involvement with United as a fan and I’d become more of a casual observer of football in general.

Whether we like it, accept it, condone it etc, whomever owns United from a business perspective is either going to use the club to sportswash, launder money or take a dividend. At least with these options we’d be competitive as it’s within the owners best interests to make the club better, make more money and win stuff.

If the fans co-owned United we’d see more emotional decisions being made, we’d probably have blown the next 4 summers transfer budget on a new stadium because everyone else is. We’d probably reduce season ticket prices (despite them not rising in over 10 years, which is unheard of anywhere else) and the club would struggle to sign quality players when Liverpool, City, Chelsea etc can all throw around more money than we potentially could, all while doing this from a position of weakness seeing as we haven’t won anything worth shouting about in 10 years.

It’s controversial, and I don’t like the Glazers, I don’t like the debt, I don’t like the way they took control or the dividends but if they were just more involved and we were winning trophies again this whole conversation goes away.
Your third paragraph is kind of a mistake because the reality of a club like United or as an actual example Bayern, is that the fans would still have little actual say on the club's management. No day to day, season to season decisions would be made by fans, in fact the same is true for far smaller local clubs that are owned by the locals, the vast majority of decisions aren't made collectively and definitely unanimously whoever owns 50% is at an advantage that person is alone while the other 50% are multiple as are their opinions.

And fundamentally people need to think carefully. The entities that can invest in a 4bn£ asset are almost exclusively investment groups that operates like the Glazers. The other type of entities are either dumbasess that will bankrupt your club because they don't respect the value of money or they have a lot of money to burn, typically oil barons but even those don't really make these types of purchases, they chose to spend dozens or hundreds of millions on the purchase of the club and then use the other billions to invest in their clubs, they have no passion for giving extra money to the likes of the Glazers.
 

Rhyme Animal

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Nonchalantly scoring the winner...
Why is protesting legally outside a person's residence wrong? Is it illegal on a public street in UK?
Went through their Twitter page and I'm surprised why United fans don't get behind them. They are literally organizing a targeted and seemingly legal attack on the sponsors who prop up a regime that you hate. This is literally how Liverpool fans pressured their previous regime to sell - sponsors started to pull out and new ones avoided signing on as their social media was filled with negative comments and that further drove to damage the previous regime's finances.
Is this illegal in the UK? How did Pool fans do this?

In every group there will be a few racists/sexists/homophobes. The important thing is to remove such people and get behind the idea. Martin Luther King was absolutely clear that women did not belong in the workplace and that homosexuality was a sin. Yet people got behind his idea of racial solidarity.

Please note: this is the reality of your owners - and it goes way beyond football or partisan fans:
https://www.12up.com/posts/court-fi...om-environmental-disaster-relief-01dbxrw427b4
Yeah, that’s why this would never fly at Real.

In Utd, they found a fanbase so loyal (due to the Fergie years) and placid that they‘ve had an incredible easy ride.

Added to that the internet and new socially conscious age has also really helped them - e.g years ago no one would know that one of the protesters was saying racist stuff, the ‘meeting’ wouldn’t have been filmed, so no PR for them etc.

They’d just be judged on the job they’ve done - which, obviously, is a demolition job on Man Utd as a football club, and nothing else would come into it.
 

Rood

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It wasn't a PR stunt for goodness sake.

What it was though was reckless. I'd imagine he would have been in contact with the club before going there, but even so when you profile a group of football supporter so passionate/annoyed/frustrated about what they perceive to be happening that they are planning to protest outside of your home, then you really have no idea what you are walking into. I haven't seen any mention of him having security with him which is the most surprising aspect of this whole thing to me.

Credit to him for doing it, and fortunately it's turned out well, but it wasn't smart to do this. I would prefer that the club improved their official communication channels rather than feel it necessary to mollycoddle a group of people who in no way represent our fanbase.
Unfortunately this group of people actually represent our fanbase very well!
Anonymous internet warriors who end up infighting ratter than uniting for the common cause.
TBF to them they managed to stir up enough support for a decent sized protest last season - will be interesting to see if that continues next season

I don't believe it was a planned PR stunt either
 
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