Manchester United plc's equity-owning fans are probably unlike any other shareholders. They don't whinge about stingy dividends, profits or share price. In fact they want to give the dividends back, never talk about profits and don't seem to care about the share price.

In the words of one woman who spoke at the company's annual general meeting yesterday, this is an "emotional" investment. They may collectively own about 16 per cent of the company, but their loyalty to the club gives them a sense of ownership far out of proportion to their equity.

And they are not about to part with it for any money. If US billionaire Mr Malcolm Glazer and his family were to dump their 28.11 per cent on the market tomorrow and halve the share price, the 35,000 share-owning fans would cheer louder than if the team were to unexpectedly turn around their current form and make a clean sweep of domestic and European titles at the end of the season.

Mr Peter Hargreaves, who sounded like he'd walked straight into the meeting from the Rover's Return, warned Sir Roy Gardner and his board: "What you have got to do is to make sure that Glazer does not get his grubby little hands on this place. My grandfather came here in 1910, he died in 1938, he's into big Old Trafford in the sky now and you owe 'im. Look after his 'eritage!"

Four generations of his family boast 160 years of supporting Manchester United between them, despite the fact that it's only existed for 121 years. Mr Steve Donoghue added that in 40 years he'd spent £44,000 (€62,984) on match tickets and travelled 264,000 miles across 16 different countries. He brought a framed scarf bearing mementoes of the trips to prove it, and not surprisingly said the club should give air miles.

He made it clear that he believed that the board simply took that level of support for granted, but he predicted that if Mr Glazer was about to vote to drop the board, the directors would have to look to the small shareholders to keep their jobs. "This is our Alamo," he declared to a meeting that was making more noise than the Stretford End, "you're either with us or against us, which shall it be?"

In reply, Sir Roy could only manage a pledge to "continue to dialogue" with fans and his oft-repeated reminder that the board had to look out for the broad interests of the shareholders and the company as a whole.

Comparisons with the Alamo notwithstanding, it's clear that the fans do not intend going the same way as Davy Crockett and his fellow Texans. Several speakers yesterday warned that if Mr Glazer acquired the club, they would not spend their money repaying the €700 million or so he will have to borrow from JP Morgan to buy it. They have already agreed that they will support the team, but not its merchandise, thus limiting one revenue source.

Mr Sean Bones, vice president of Shareholders' United, told the meeting that Mr Glazer's business plan stinks. "He wants us to buy the club for him, that's crazy, let's buy it for ourselves."

Mr Bones said his organisation believed that it would be possible to grow the fans' stake to 25 per cent over a comparatively short space of time. If that happens, all bets would be off for anyone else.