Glazer family on borrowed time with their borrowed money...but be careful what you wish for Man United fans

It was in the same way 25 years ago when the Brighton/York City game was abandoned after 13 minutes due to a mass pitch invasion by disgruntled Albion fans.

Back then, in April 1996, I was interviewed by John Lees on BBC Radio Sussex about 20 minutes before the game started. The buzz around the Goldstone that afternoon was that something was going to happen, I knew this when Leesy thrust his microphone under my nose.

But clearly I couldn’t say anything to implicate myself or my co conspirators given what was going to develop within the next half hour or so. Although I did end the interview with the soundbite, “Football is a huge part of a lot of people’s lives, when you start interfering with people’s lives you have to be prepared to take the consequences.”

As with the York game, Sunday’s protest was clearly premeditated, especially in light of a satellite protest at the team hotels, stopping either club travelling to Old Trafford.

Having been sued for my opinions in this column previously by the enigmatic Ken Bates, I will choose my words very carefully but having seen my own club fall foul of boardroom skullduggery, there are still many question marks over how the Glazers raised the funds to purchase arguably one of the biggest clubs in the world.

But buy they did, and with blessing of the Premier League...along with all the other foreign owners at the high end of our game.

And this is the whole crux of the matter. Talk of the "big six" returning to domestic ownership, let alone fan backed stake holding, could have come from the pen of Hans Christian Anderson.

For example, regardless of what the Glazers paid for United, the club is valued at £3billion, talk of a 40 per cent fans stake would currently be valued at £1.2 billion, however many fans United have got, that’s not the kind of money you find down the back of the sofa.

Back in the late 80s, the late Greg Stanley was lauded as the saviour of the Albion and look how that ended.

So for all the "Dirty Half Dozen" supporters who’ve welcomed the various foreign sugar daddies down the years, it really has now turned into a “be careful what you wish for scenario.”