Letter from a red shirt.

well I am not doing the church hustings but I at least communicating with a lot of local voters via email, just had this enquiry about football from a Man U fan.


Dear Omar,

If I am honest I would have to say that my knowledge of football is about as large as my knowledge of astronomy (not very great) but I do know that it matters intensely to millions of fans.

I am dismayed by corporate control, mounting debt and clubs going bankrupt. I think government should support the game and should help clubs move to mutual ownership (i.e ownership by fans).

thanks for getting in touch with me,

Derek


>
> Dear candidate,
>
> I live in your constituency and as a Manchester United supporter I am very concerned with the state of our national game. As I’m sure you are aware, my club is now the most heavily indebted in world football, having been the subject of a hostile and highly leveraged takeover by the Glazer family in 2005. But we are by no means the only club facing such problems.
>
> I was very pleased to see that all three of the main political parties have promised to tackle the issues of debt, better regulation, transparency and supporter ownership. Labour and the Conservatives included promises on supporter ownership in their manifestos, and all three parties have pledged to instigate a system of independent regulation before the end of the summer.
>
> Whilst I broadly welcome what the Parties have said on these issues, there is a real need to ensure the party leaderships continue to take these issues seriously after the Election - and that will depend very much on how strongly their newly elected MPs feel about it.
>
> So I’m interested in what view you hold as one of my local constituency candidates. Anything you could say on the matter, beyond what your Parties have already stated, could well determine how I vote.
>
> As I'm sure you appreciate, there are a great many people for whom football matters a great deal - and who might be enthused to either go to the polls when they otherwise may not have done, or may potentially switch their vote if they felt they were voting for something they hold so dear as the future of their football club.
>
> I look forward to hearing your views.
>
> Thank you.