TomClare
Full Member
Martin Edwards was fast tracked onto the Manchester Board during 1970 at the tender age of 24. His father Louis, the Chairman, had coerced fellow board members into rubber stamping the appointment. Martin, knew little or nothing about football, nor about the running of a major football club. He had in fact led a very privileged life being, unlike his father’s early times, brought up away from the sprawling urban jungle of Manchester and Salford. He’d always known money and the rambling spaces of the Cheshire green belt. He was educated at a minor public school, Cokethorpe in Oxfordshire. He had no interest in the game of football at all, and at that time, certainly no interest in, and what was going on at, Manchester United Football Club.
After finishing his education at aged 19 in 1965, he went into the family meat business, gaining some limited experience in the shops before a few years later, taking over the appointment of retail/wholesale controller. It’s ironical really when you look at the family business which had been hugely successful during the previous 20 years or so, that it started to encounter problems as soon as Martin was taken on board! Even though he had become a director at Manchester United, he was very, very rarely seen at Old Trafford, preferring to spend his time at Wilmslow Rugby Club where he turned out for their lesser teams.
As the family business started to struggle in 1977, his father began to do what he had done in the 1960’s - acquire more shares any way that he could, only this time, he did it with the help of Martin. The reason being was that they both knew exactly what they were doing in that any further shares that they acquired at this time would be worth much more than they had paid for them in the not too distant future. It was in 1977 that Louis Edwards and Sir Roland Smith had hatched the plan regarding the rights issue.
One of the people coerced into parting with shares was the niece of the late Club Secretary, Walter Crikmer, who had perished at Munich. She had inherited 51 shares from her uncle. Edwards senior paid her 194 pounds a share, a total outlay of 9,900 pounds. Martin and his father somehow persuaded Alan Gibson to part with his remaining shares which totalled 1,138, and it was Martin who bought them for a price of 172.70 pounds each. He raised the money to purchase the shares by obtaining an overdraft of 200,000 pounds from his bank. When the 208-fold first rights issue was imminent, Martin increased his bank overdraft to 600,000 pounds to pay for it. It may well surpise a lot of United supporters to find out that this was the only solid tangible investment that he EVER made in Manchester United. That first rights issue cost the Edwards family a total of 740,000 pounds, and as Sir Matt and Les Olive had suspected and forecast, money started to go out of the club fast being paid out in dividends. So in 1978, the Edwards family holding in United grew to be 74%. What they were doing was not criminal, but it could be said that it didn’t set any new standards in commercial ethics!
After his father’s death in 1980, Martin took a lot more interest in Manchester United. He saw the club as a vehicle to make money. In 1981, the F.A. in their wisdom changed the rules and allowed the maximum dividend payable to shareholders to be increased to 15% under the pretext that it would encourage outside investors to put their money into football clubs. It was no coincidence that Manchester United immediately paid out that maximum 15% dividend, a total of 151,284 pounds, of which, Martin received 77,319 pounds. By 1987, the total dividends paid out since the initial rights issue was a little more than 500,000 pounds, of which, 233,684 pounds went to Edwards.
At the same time of the F.A.’s change in the dividend rule, they also changed another rule that had protected the game’s sporting ethos. Before 1981, no director had been allowed to draw a salary from their club. This was all about to change as they allowed for directors to be paid for the first time, the proviso being, as long as they were genuinely working full time for their clubs. The Edwards family business which had been in serious trouble had by 1980 been sold to Argyll Foods, and Martin Edwards had left the company – he was unemployed. It is no surprise therefore that upon the change of rule regarding directors being paid, he became one of English football’s first full time paid executives. Not only that, the club, controlled by Edwards shareholding, did not stint with regards to a salary for him. 30,000 to start with, 75,000 by 1985, 88,000 by 1988, 96,000 in 1989, and breaking the 100,000 barrier in 1990.
In 1980, from the very start of his taking a far more active part in Manchester United, Edwards played a leading role in calling for the top First Division Clubs to break away from the League, and to no longer share any monies with clubs from the lower divisions. He was continually moaning about his bank overdraft and the fact that United was his only full-time business interest. He got into bed with the likes of Irving Scholar and the idea of a “Superleague” began rumbling on. He also toyed with the idea of floating United on the Stock Exchange as Scholar had done with ‘Spurs in 1983. The new kids on the block were arriving fast, people like David Dein, Phillip Carter, Noel White and they were all in effect, pissing in the same pot.
In 1985 another capitulation by the FA allowed Clubs to keep all their home gate money and the majority of the television income was split between the “famous five” – United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton and Arsenal.. Once again, the threat of a breakaway had got the FA trembling and they caved in to their demands. It was during these negotiations that Edwards was heard to make the crass remark; “The smaller clubs are bleeding the game dry ………they should be put to sleep.” This remark showed not only how much he knew about the game, but just how little he really cared for it.
Edwards had brought on board around this time Maurice Watkins, a solicitor in a company named James Chapman & Co. They were specialists in personal injury liability. Edwards father, had in 1977, started using Watkins as Manchester United’s solicitor, and Martin Edwards had also engaged him to become his own solicitor. In 1984, Edwards unceremoniously swept away some of the old board members, and replaced them with close allies. Sir Matt had resigned his non-executive directorship some years earlier. Edwards in later years, was to comment about this, saying in effect that, Sir Matt didn’t understand the financial workings of a modern day football club, and that he couldn’t understand them. It’s my opinion that Sir Matt knew only too well, as did Les Olive, the financial workings of the Club, and weren’t happy to see the money that was going out of the Club, and the direction the in which the biggest percentage was traveling! Maurice Watkins was made a director, but to do this he had to own 50,000 shares. The story goes that he was allowed to purchase these shares probably for the paltry sum of one or two pounds per share!
Around the time that Edwards was thinking about floating the club on the Stock Exchange, he was also involved in some negotiations with Robert Maxwell who was starting to have a desire for getting more involved with owning a football club. However, although Maxwell was purported to have offered 10 million pounds for Manchester United and that Edwards was amenable to the deal, on advice from Watkins, he turned it down. To most Manchester United supporters at this time, it was unthinkable that Edwards would sell the club – but the warning signs were now there – the club was for sale – but at the right price. On the first Saturday of the 1989/90 season which was a home fixture against Arsenal, a slightly portly figure emerged from the players tunnel at Old Trafford dressed in a United playing strip, and carrying a football. This figure made his way onto the pitch and down towards the hordes massing on the Stretford End. He began juggling with the ball before finally lashing it into the back of the goal net. This man was Michael Knighton, a former school teacher, and erstwhile small time business man. He had hatched an audacious plan to purchase Manchester United. Say what you will about Knighton, but he was also one of the first to see that there was money to be made out of football clubs. Prior to making known his plans to buy Manchester United, he had made quite an intensive study the findings of which showed him that by financially exploiting fans through their emotional attachment to their clubs, it was possible to make money through exploiting and merchandising that emotional attachment. He also foresaw that there was enormous amounts to be made from future television revenues. So contrary to popular belief, Michael Knighton was not the “dumbass” that he was so freely perceived to be around that time!
After finishing his education at aged 19 in 1965, he went into the family meat business, gaining some limited experience in the shops before a few years later, taking over the appointment of retail/wholesale controller. It’s ironical really when you look at the family business which had been hugely successful during the previous 20 years or so, that it started to encounter problems as soon as Martin was taken on board! Even though he had become a director at Manchester United, he was very, very rarely seen at Old Trafford, preferring to spend his time at Wilmslow Rugby Club where he turned out for their lesser teams.
As the family business started to struggle in 1977, his father began to do what he had done in the 1960’s - acquire more shares any way that he could, only this time, he did it with the help of Martin. The reason being was that they both knew exactly what they were doing in that any further shares that they acquired at this time would be worth much more than they had paid for them in the not too distant future. It was in 1977 that Louis Edwards and Sir Roland Smith had hatched the plan regarding the rights issue.
One of the people coerced into parting with shares was the niece of the late Club Secretary, Walter Crikmer, who had perished at Munich. She had inherited 51 shares from her uncle. Edwards senior paid her 194 pounds a share, a total outlay of 9,900 pounds. Martin and his father somehow persuaded Alan Gibson to part with his remaining shares which totalled 1,138, and it was Martin who bought them for a price of 172.70 pounds each. He raised the money to purchase the shares by obtaining an overdraft of 200,000 pounds from his bank. When the 208-fold first rights issue was imminent, Martin increased his bank overdraft to 600,000 pounds to pay for it. It may well surpise a lot of United supporters to find out that this was the only solid tangible investment that he EVER made in Manchester United. That first rights issue cost the Edwards family a total of 740,000 pounds, and as Sir Matt and Les Olive had suspected and forecast, money started to go out of the club fast being paid out in dividends. So in 1978, the Edwards family holding in United grew to be 74%. What they were doing was not criminal, but it could be said that it didn’t set any new standards in commercial ethics!
After his father’s death in 1980, Martin took a lot more interest in Manchester United. He saw the club as a vehicle to make money. In 1981, the F.A. in their wisdom changed the rules and allowed the maximum dividend payable to shareholders to be increased to 15% under the pretext that it would encourage outside investors to put their money into football clubs. It was no coincidence that Manchester United immediately paid out that maximum 15% dividend, a total of 151,284 pounds, of which, Martin received 77,319 pounds. By 1987, the total dividends paid out since the initial rights issue was a little more than 500,000 pounds, of which, 233,684 pounds went to Edwards.
At the same time of the F.A.’s change in the dividend rule, they also changed another rule that had protected the game’s sporting ethos. Before 1981, no director had been allowed to draw a salary from their club. This was all about to change as they allowed for directors to be paid for the first time, the proviso being, as long as they were genuinely working full time for their clubs. The Edwards family business which had been in serious trouble had by 1980 been sold to Argyll Foods, and Martin Edwards had left the company – he was unemployed. It is no surprise therefore that upon the change of rule regarding directors being paid, he became one of English football’s first full time paid executives. Not only that, the club, controlled by Edwards shareholding, did not stint with regards to a salary for him. 30,000 to start with, 75,000 by 1985, 88,000 by 1988, 96,000 in 1989, and breaking the 100,000 barrier in 1990.
In 1980, from the very start of his taking a far more active part in Manchester United, Edwards played a leading role in calling for the top First Division Clubs to break away from the League, and to no longer share any monies with clubs from the lower divisions. He was continually moaning about his bank overdraft and the fact that United was his only full-time business interest. He got into bed with the likes of Irving Scholar and the idea of a “Superleague” began rumbling on. He also toyed with the idea of floating United on the Stock Exchange as Scholar had done with ‘Spurs in 1983. The new kids on the block were arriving fast, people like David Dein, Phillip Carter, Noel White and they were all in effect, pissing in the same pot.
In 1985 another capitulation by the FA allowed Clubs to keep all their home gate money and the majority of the television income was split between the “famous five” – United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton and Arsenal.. Once again, the threat of a breakaway had got the FA trembling and they caved in to their demands. It was during these negotiations that Edwards was heard to make the crass remark; “The smaller clubs are bleeding the game dry ………they should be put to sleep.” This remark showed not only how much he knew about the game, but just how little he really cared for it.
Edwards had brought on board around this time Maurice Watkins, a solicitor in a company named James Chapman & Co. They were specialists in personal injury liability. Edwards father, had in 1977, started using Watkins as Manchester United’s solicitor, and Martin Edwards had also engaged him to become his own solicitor. In 1984, Edwards unceremoniously swept away some of the old board members, and replaced them with close allies. Sir Matt had resigned his non-executive directorship some years earlier. Edwards in later years, was to comment about this, saying in effect that, Sir Matt didn’t understand the financial workings of a modern day football club, and that he couldn’t understand them. It’s my opinion that Sir Matt knew only too well, as did Les Olive, the financial workings of the Club, and weren’t happy to see the money that was going out of the Club, and the direction the in which the biggest percentage was traveling! Maurice Watkins was made a director, but to do this he had to own 50,000 shares. The story goes that he was allowed to purchase these shares probably for the paltry sum of one or two pounds per share!
Around the time that Edwards was thinking about floating the club on the Stock Exchange, he was also involved in some negotiations with Robert Maxwell who was starting to have a desire for getting more involved with owning a football club. However, although Maxwell was purported to have offered 10 million pounds for Manchester United and that Edwards was amenable to the deal, on advice from Watkins, he turned it down. To most Manchester United supporters at this time, it was unthinkable that Edwards would sell the club – but the warning signs were now there – the club was for sale – but at the right price. On the first Saturday of the 1989/90 season which was a home fixture against Arsenal, a slightly portly figure emerged from the players tunnel at Old Trafford dressed in a United playing strip, and carrying a football. This figure made his way onto the pitch and down towards the hordes massing on the Stretford End. He began juggling with the ball before finally lashing it into the back of the goal net. This man was Michael Knighton, a former school teacher, and erstwhile small time business man. He had hatched an audacious plan to purchase Manchester United. Say what you will about Knighton, but he was also one of the first to see that there was money to be made out of football clubs. Prior to making known his plans to buy Manchester United, he had made quite an intensive study the findings of which showed him that by financially exploiting fans through their emotional attachment to their clubs, it was possible to make money through exploiting and merchandising that emotional attachment. He also foresaw that there was enormous amounts to be made from future television revenues. So contrary to popular belief, Michael Knighton was not the “dumbass” that he was so freely perceived to be around that time!