Manchester United Supporters Trust

Manchester United Supporters' Trust (formerly Shareholders United) is the official supporters' trust of Manchester United F.C., as recognised by Supporters Direct. The group, like other supporters' trusts, seeks to strengthen the influence of supporters over the destiny of their clubs through democratic supporter ownership. With a membership of over 200,000, it is the largest supporters' trust in the United Kingdom. MUST's members hope to be able to pool their funds to buy a meaningful stake in the club at a future date if the opportunity arises.

The group was founded in 1998 as 'Shareholders United Against Murdoch', to stop a proposed takeover by Australian-American media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. His bid for control of the club was blocked by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. The group then changed its name simply to Shareholders United and continued its efforts to encourage supporters to own shares in the then publicly traded club.

In 2004, the American businessman Malcolm Glazer made an attempt to buy the club, but was rebuffed by the PLC board because of the large amount of borrowing his bid would rely on. They felt that he would mortgage the club's future to pay for his bid. Shareholders United, together with the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, organised demonstrations before matches, first before an important league match against Arsenal in an attempt to show the board that supporters were against the takeover, and later before a Champions League match against Milan, when thousands of supporters marched to demonstrate to Glazer that they would not welcome him if he bought the club. They also encouraged members to form flash mobs, where large groups congregated at shops owned by the club's sponsors to temporarily prevent the shops from trading. The purpose of this was an attempt to warn the sponsors that supporters would boycott their products if they continued their links with the club after a takeover.

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