Thomas Zilliacus puts in bid to buy Manchester United football club together with fans
Thomas Zilliacus, the Finnish entrepreneur who is the founder and chairman of novaM Group, a new social media group built on Nordic values of respect, equality, humanity and dignity has yesterday submitted a bid to buy Manchester United football club through XXI Century Capital, an investment firm owned by his holding company.
”Any sport club ultimately should belong to its fans” says Thomas Zilliacus, who has been chairman of Finland’s 32-times football champions HJK and an owner of Finland’s 6-times ice hockey champions Jokerit.
“The current development, where billionaire sheiks and oligarks take over clubs and control them as their personal playgrounds is not a healthy trend” continues Zilliacus.
Zilliacus therefore is building his bid in a completely novel way, where the fans of Manchester United will have ownership and an equal say in all issues that relate to the football decisions at the club.
“The current market value of the club is just under 3.9 billion USD. That means that if every one of the fans of the club would join in buying the club, the total sum per fan would amount to less than 6 dollars. My bid is built on equality with the fans. My group will finance half of the sum needed to take over the club, and will ask the fans, through a new company that is being set up for this specific purpose, to participate for the other half. If every fan joins it means less than 3 dollars per fan. Each fan who joins will have access to an app which the fan, from anywhere in the world, can use to participate and cast his vote when deciding on footballing matters relating to the club. No decisions will be taken that are not supported by a majority of the fan base” says Zilliacus.
Global superstars in football and Formula 1 including Lewis Hamilton, Marcus Rashford, Thierry Henry and Raheem Sterling and supported by FA President Prince William, UEFA, Premier League, Women’s Super League and several other leading sport associations recently led a weekend boycott of leading social media brands in order to fight racism and hate speech.
“Manchester United should not only be the best football club in the world, it should also be the leading club in the world in working to stop abuse, racism and hate speech in social media and on sports grounds” says Zilliacus.
“Should we be successful in our bid we will ensure that Manchester United, the best football club in the world, will operate on a foundation of respect, equality, dignity, diversity, racial harmony and democracy, and with its global fan base included and involved in all decisions” Thomas Zilliacus concludes.
For more information:
Thomas Zilliacus
thomas.zilliacus@mobilefutureworks.com
+358-500850935
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