By Simon Stone, PA Sport
A representative of prospective Manchester United owner Malcolm Glazer last night made official contact with the club's major shareholders, just as Red Devils fans were stepping up their fight to block any takeover plan.
Representatives of John Magnier and JP McManus, who through their Cubic Expression holding company own 29.3% of the club, have spent the week rejecting suggestions there had been any contact between themselves and Glazer, who is widely believed to be behind the `preliminary approach' the Old Trafford club revealed to the Stock Exchange on Monday.
However, the Press Association understands the situation changed last night when an official from the Glazer camp made an `unsolicited call' to representatives of Cubic Expression, to bring to them up to date with their present position.
It is not thought that any share purchase was discussed and there is no suggestion that a deal between the parties is imminent.
But the news though is bound to alarm United fans who staged a noisy protest at Altrincham's Moss Lane ground night, briefly halting United's reserve team game with Birmingham.
The Glazer camp are believed to be considering their position but they would certainly require the agreement of Magnier and McManus to proceed with any plan to buy the club.
News of last night's contact between the two parties comes against a backdrop of increasing frustration among United fans.
United's official television station MUTV was targeted by fans who disrupted live coverage of the Altrincham reserve team match.
The group, calling themselves the Manchester Education Committee, claimed MUTV coverage favoured Glazer.
And they vowed to launch a "civil war" against the club and all its interests unless they began to take supporters' views into account.
MUTV - one third owned by United - took the fans' complaints seriously enough today to issue a staunch defence of their editorial policy.
An MUTV spokesman said the interview in question, with a supporters' official of the Glazer-owned Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team, was "entirely legitimate in terms of trying to give both sides of the story".
He added: "Nobody should object to any news organisation trying to give a balanced view.
"We also wish to point out that numerous spokesmen from Shareholders United and the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association - who were opposed to the alleged takeover - have been given large amounts of airtime.
"In addition to that, many ordinary fans have been interviewed by the channel or have rung phone-ins on recent days, and have been for the most part opposed to any possible takeover."
United themselves refused to be drawn on the controversy other than to issue a terse statement in response to the three-minute protest, during which around 30 fans invaded the pitch brandishing a `Not For Sale' banner.
It read: "Encroaching on the field of play is against the law.
"The club does not condone what happened last night. It would be unacceptable at a first team game and it is unacceptable for the reserves."
The peaceful protest came two days after United director Maurice Watkins had red paint splashed over his car in response to a million of his shares making up Glazer's 19% current shareholding.
The MEC were also responsible for disrupting a race meeting at Hereford earlier this year during Sir Alex Ferguson's feud with Irish racing moguls Magnier and McManus.
Immediately after last night's events the MEC issued a statement insisting that if the club continued to turn a deaf ear to fans' concerns they would "render the club ungovernable".
They said they would consider all the club's sponsors and commercial partners as "legitimate targets" for future attacks.
United's influential supporters' groups believe Glazer would have to mortgage the club's future to raise the required stake.
Glazer is still to confirm that he made the initial approach to United last week seeking clarification of a number of issues relating to a possible buy-out.
But Magnier and McManus have distanced themselves from any new bid from the club, leaving Glazer as the only realistic current bidder.
Altrincham secretary Graham Heathcote today praised the reaction of his stewards to the incident and played down the chances of it happening again.
United have played second team games at Moss Lane for the last three years and their average 600 crowds are normally attended by 18 stewards.
Heathcote said: "Our stewards followed the procedure laid out and we are quite happy with the way things were handled.
"It was a peaceful protest and an impossible situation to entirely prevent at this level of the game."
Meanwhile Manchester City said they would take note of the events ahead of next Tuesday night's reserve derby adjacent to their new Eastlands stadium.
City are expecting twice the normal average crowd of up to 3,000 for the game.
A spokesman said: "Clearly the events of last night will register in the plans but I don't think we will be looking again at security arrangements.
"It's the biggest reserve game in the calendar, we are expecting a fairly substantial crowd for the game and our stewarding and policing will reflect that."
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