‘We want to turn our strength into their weakness. ‘We have the biggest fanbase in the world – it’s what Ed Woodward routinely uses to woo potential partners. We are a bottom-up, grassroots organisation, but right now we want to show the power that lies in every single Red to make an impact without the need for fundraising. ‘We have no plans at the moment to start a fundraising campaign. We asked ‘J’ whether #NotAPennyMore would be fundraising to help the campaign to grow. We’ve had successes already, so we want to see how far this Movement can continue to push this open door.’ ‘How the end will come exactly for them we don’t know for sure, but we’re excited to find out. ‘It’s possible that no sponsors leave but we hurt them enough to put unbearable pressure on the Glazer family to take steps to sell or, it could be that a handful of partners leave the club, causing a collective loss in faith in the Glazers from remaining stakeholders. ‘J’ thinks that it may not even take another sponsor leaving to push the Glazers out if the pressure from the remaining partners becomes too great. ‘Clearly some are more vulnerable than others – we focus on using guerrilla tactics that disrupt the sponsors as much as possible, and each sponsor has their own level of tolerance to such levels of disruption. ‘There are some big challenging commercial partners but we are not daunted,’ he said. United have a number of commercial partners and some of them are huge corporations, but that initial success has convinced ‘J’ that the campaign is moving in the right direction and that many more successes will follow. ‘The Boycott Movement is only as strong as those that actively support it.’ Until then we are energised and motivated to reach out to more Reds and hit more sponsors. We’re sure we will all pat ourselves on the back once more sponsors choose to leave or not renew. One swallow does not make a summer, and there are plenty of swallows to come. ‘We should say we are naturally delighted by the immediate success, but we’re not resting on our laurels. ‘When the Manchester United fan base unites there’s nothing that can stop us. Reds came together in an unprecedented way in the weeks before at Old Trafford to protest, and online to boycott. ‘Initially we were surprised because the news came out of nowhere late on a Saturday night. We asked ‘J’ whether he was surprised how quickly #NotAPennyMore got this fantastic result. It was reported that the Hut Group recently pulled out of a corporate deal with United due to concerns of negative publicity. We need to be united, so the Movement is about creating unity over division.’ ‘After all, while we were at each other’s throats the Glazer family were secretly plotting to destroy English football. ‘We are trying to build a broad coalition, the last thing we want is to be dragged into infighting that hurts no-one but the fanbase, and lets the Glazers off the hook.
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