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| '''Michael Knighton''' is an |
'''Michael Knighton''' is an English businessman. He was a director of Manchester United Football Club (1989-1992) and owner/chairman of Carlisle United AFC (1992-1999). His high public profile during his attempted, and finally aborted, take over bid for Manchester United- left him one of the best known football people in England in the 1980's/1990's | ||
| ==Early life== | |||
| Knighton grew up in ] and was a talented ] in his youth, and took on an apprenticeship with ] in ]. He failed to make his mark there, however, and moved to ]. His dreams of playing football, however, were shattered when he ruptured a muscle in his ].<ref name="injury"> Knighton's early career, Retrieved ] ]</ref> After achieving a degree in ] at ], he briefly became a ], also receiving a ] coaching badge. He then moved into property trading, buying a number of properties in the ] and the ], basing himself in the latter.<ref>]</ref> | |||
| '''LEGAL ACTION''' | |||
| ==Manchester United Takeover== | |||
| The eminent London Law Firm David Price - Specialist Advocates in Media Law - in 1996 this Firm successfully won substantial libel damages for Knighton when they sued the Sunday Times Editors and Reed International Books for publishing their..."The Sunday Times Illustrated History of Football". In this publication, like so many others before them, they claimed, inter alia, that Knighton did not have the funds to Complete his £20m bid for Manchester United in August 1989. Evidence produced in the High Court in London proved to the Court that the publishers malicious and damaging claims were completely unfounded and untrue. Indeed, his lawyers demonstrated to the Court that not only did Knighton have the financial wherewithal to Complete the Takeover of Manchester United by buying all of Martin Edwards shares, further, the lawyers also proved that Knighton had sufficient financial clout to carry out the proposed development of the Stretford End of Old Trafford Stadium. ''(1)'' | |||
| In ] Knighton made a takeover of ]20 million for Manchester United. At the time this was a record figure for a British football club and the offer was accepted by Chief Executive ].<ref> BBC News, Accessed ] ]</ref> Knighton promised to invest £10 million in ], the team's stadium and to help rebuild the club at which ] was ]. | |||
| Knighton appeared on the pitch at Old Trafford before a game dressed in a full Manchester United football kit to publicise the takeover. Famously, he showed off his football skills by completing a long series of skilful ]s.<ref> ], Accessed ] ]</ref> However, the deal eventually fell through,for unknown reasons, although many speculated that Knighton's financial backers pulled out.<ref> Sportstar, Accessed ] ]</ref> In retrospect, the purchase could have been one of the business moves of the century; Manchester United went on to grow as part of the football boom of the 1990s and a bid from ]'s ] for ]680 million was accepted in 1999 (though eventually blocked by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission); they were later sold for ]790 million in 2005 to ]. | |||
| REF:''(1)'' Legal Archive: | |||
| ==Carlisle United== | |||
| David Price Solicitors and Advocates-Specialists in Media Law. | |||
| Knighton, after the Manchester United deal, went on to buy Carlisle United, based in the ]n city of ] in ]. At the time, they were in the bottom division of ] and Knighton set about building up the club who he claimed he could return to the top league of English football, the ] (Carlisle had previously played at that level in the ]).<ref> This is Lancashire, Accessed ] ]</ref> | |||
| 21 Fleet St | |||
| London | |||
| EC4 Y1AA | |||
| +44 (0)2073539999 | |||
| enquires@lawyers-media.com | |||
| Initial success saw Carlisle win ] and achieve ] in 1995, as well as reaching the final of the ]; they were ] the following season but promoted back again to ] in 1997. In '97 they also reached a second Football League Trophy final, beating ] on penalties. | |||
| THIS FIRM ARE RETAINED BY MICHAEL KNIGHTON TO PROTECT HIS REPUTATION FROM LIBELOUS STATEMENTS PUBLISHED BY ANY MEANS INCLUDING THE INTERNET | |||
| In 1996 Knighton was publicly mocked over his claims to have seen a UFO.<ref> UFOs over America, Accessed ] ]</ref> He claimed that he and his wife Rosemary had seen a UFO in 1976. The local newspaper, the ], broke the story with the headline 'Knighton: Aliens Spoke To Me'. | |||
| After a poor start to the ], Knighton sacked popular manager ] and took over the management and coaching of the team himself.<ref name="injury"/> The move proved unsuccessful, and Carlisle were relegated back to Division Three. He kept himself as head coach until December 1998, when he handed the job over to ]. Knighton remained chairman of the club, but no longer had the financial resources to achieve another promotion. Carlisle struggled in the bottom division, only avoiding relegation to the ] with a last-minute goal by ] ], in what is one of football's most famous comebacks.<ref> The Informer Online, Accessed ] ]</ref> | |||
| Knighton became increasingly unpopular with fans, who formed the 'United Trust' organization to protest against his control. Knighton attempted to sell the club in 2001 to ], but he eventually backed out of the deal. The fans instead backed John Courtenay to take over, but negotiations were protracted and Knighton fired manager ] for his comments over the deal. Eventually, after Carlisle were put into voluntary ], Courtenay purchased the club from Knighton in July 2002 and reinstated Collins.<ref> Accessed ] ]</ref> | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| {{Carlisle United F.C. managers}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Knighton, Michael}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 00:39, 9 September 2007
Michael Knighton is an English businessman. He was a director of Manchester United Football Club (1989-1992) and owner/chairman of Carlisle United AFC (1992-1999). His high public profile during his attempted, and finally aborted, take over bid for Manchester United- left him one of the best known football people in England in the 1980's/1990's
LEGAL ACTION
The eminent London Law Firm David Price - Specialist Advocates in Media Law - in 1996 this Firm successfully won substantial libel damages for Knighton when they sued the Sunday Times Editors and Reed International Books for publishing their..."The Sunday Times Illustrated History of Football". In this publication, like so many others before them, they claimed, inter alia, that Knighton did not have the funds to Complete his £20m bid for Manchester United in August 1989. Evidence produced in the High Court in London proved to the Court that the publishers malicious and damaging claims were completely unfounded and untrue. Indeed, his lawyers demonstrated to the Court that not only did Knighton have the financial wherewithal to Complete the Takeover of Manchester United by buying all of Martin Edwards shares, further, the lawyers also proved that Knighton had sufficient financial clout to carry out the proposed development of the Stretford End of Old Trafford Stadium. (1)
REF:(1) Legal Archive:
David Price Solicitors and Advocates-Specialists in Media Law.
21 Fleet St
London
EC4 Y1AA
+44 (0)2073539999
enquires@lawyers-media.com
THIS FIRM ARE RETAINED BY MICHAEL KNIGHTON TO PROTECT HIS REPUTATION FROM LIBELOUS STATEMENTS PUBLISHED BY ANY MEANS INCLUDING THE INTERNET