Cheltenham yet to decide on United protesters

Officials at Cheltenham have yet to make a decision on whether disgruntled Manchester United fans should be allowed to hold a…

Officials at Cheltenham have yet to make a decision on whether disgruntled Manchester United fans should be allowed to hold a protest on Tote Gold Cup day.

However, managing director Edward Gillespie stressed today that he is keen to "keep dialogue open".

As many as 18 sets of fans are reportedly ready to demonstrate against major club shareholders John Magnier and JP McManus, who are involved in financial in-fighting at Old Trafford.

In a statement released to the Racing Post, United4Action claim 15 "cells" of fans will be in the Tattersalls enclosure and three in the Courage enclosure.

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At a given time, these "will be activated at two or more very specific points with the idea that this will cause immense embarrassment to Mr McManus."  The action will take place unless Gillespie grants the group permission to stage a protest.

"We have not made a decision, but we have progressed our own thoughts and we are beginning to understand the sort of people we are dealing with," Gillespie said.

A group of fans caused a 10-minute delay at Hereford last week when they staged a protest on the course and since then most tracks with a McManus-owned runner have been keeping a watchful eye on security.