member loginPaul Brooks
Committee Member
The first football match Paul ever attended was Bristol Rovers v. Manchester United on Sat 7th Jan. 1956. It was the 3rd round of the FA Cup. He was 4 years old as he watched the Rovers smash 4 goals past the stunned United keeper from his Dad's shoulders. Two years later the tragedy of Munich was to rob the world of the Busby Babes. As his Dad was a lifelong Rovers fan, Paul followed in his footsteps and was unaware of the significance of all this at the time. Little did he know that 17 years later I was going to emigrate to the Republic of Mancunia. At that point his acquaintance with the Reds was renewed and now everything is red. (Although he still checks the Rovers results every Saturday...there's still that little bit of blue in the blood!)
Paul joined Shareholders United because he believes that football has gradually been taken away from grass roots supporters. How many fathers can afford to take their 4 yr olds to matches now? He believes that the only way that real supporters can gain an influence in their club is to own it. Paul therefore supports the idea of a democratic ownership by fans of their clubs by means of not-for-profit organisations. Manchester United is the legacy of those supporters on whose shoulders it has been raised. It is a community asset and must remain so. It must never fall into the hands of a few rich men whose only thoughts are for the profits not the football.
'I believe the Manchester United Supporter's Trust is the ONLY organisation which can defend Manchester United from such a fate. I will fight for the right to own my club until my last breath.'
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