Asking a footballer for his autograph might be a simple enough request, but in the case of Manchester United it might lead only to disappointment.
The world's best-supported club has declared a ban on signing various forms of memorabilia, even if it means disappointing its youngest supporters.
Rather than a collective case of writer's cramp, the club says it is to reduce the risk of autograph hunters selling items on the Internet. In some cases, the club suspects that dealers are paying children to spend the day outside United's training ground collecting signatures.
Not any longer. Regardless of who they disappoint, the players will refuse to sign footballs, shirts, posters, portraits or anything else that could constitute a collector's item.
Magazines, match programmes and photographs represent a grey area, when it is up to the player to decide. The only item a supporter can brandish without risking short shrift from Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy and the rest of Alex Ferguson's squad seems to be a blank sheet of paper.
Children gathering outside the club's high-security practice ground in Carrington, near Manchester yesterday - the first day of the English Easter holidays - found a notice pinned to the gates informing them of the new restrictions.
"It's bad enough the place being designed like a prison," said one fan. "But this is just pathetic."
It has also been noted that Ferguson's son Jason has not been averse to cashing in on the club's name. He did, after all, create the £275 Manchester United shirt in 2001. While the same shirts were on sale for £35 at the Old Trafford megastore, Ferguson and his associates at Elite Sports Group Ltd used their contacts to get them signed by a United player, framed them and delivered them around the world at exorbitant prices.
The club has apologised to supporters but says the ban will continue for the foreseeable future. "Sadly it's the genuine autograph hunters who are made to suffer," said a spokesman. "We regret that fact - and the players regret it more than anyone - but clearly action was necessary to stop concerted and organised dealers."
