Manchester United are in "advanced talks" with fans about them taking a "meaningful ownership stake" in the Premier League club.
The Old Trafford club, in an update on progress towards creating a new Fans’ Share Scheme, confirmed that discussions have been under way for several months with the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) about the plans.
In a statement, Manchester United said: "We are in advanced talks with MUST about a Fans’ Share Scheme which would open a path for fans to build, over time, a meaningful ownership stake in Manchester United.
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"This would give fans a strong collective voice within our ownership structure and help cement a new spirit of long-term partnership between fans and the club.
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"There are significant legal and regulatory complexities being worked through, together with MUST and expert advisers.
"As well as making progress on the Fans’ Share Scheme, we are also creating a Fans’ Advisory Board as a new channel for board-level dialogue with supporters and this is close to launch."
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The share scheme and advisory board were proposed by co-chairman Joel Glazer in a meeting with the club’s Fans’ Forum in June which was organised in the wake of the European Super League controversy.
The proposed share scheme would involve a new class of fan shares each with the same high-vote rights as the B shares held by the Glazer family.
United said more details will be provided on both the share scheme and the advisory board "once these processes are completed".