Manchester United are close to finalising a new share scheme that would allow supporters to start building up a stake in the ownership of the club.
Club officials have been in discussions with the Manchester United Supporters' Trust over the scheme and now say they are in "advanced talks".
The fan share scheme was pursued by MUST during a fans' forum event with United co-chairman Joel Glazer and a new fan advisory board is also being created.
In a statement on Monday, the club 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.
“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.
“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.”
The positive dialogue between the Glazers and supporters was sparked by United's disastrous decision to sign up to the Super League, which collapsed just 48 hours later.
That led to a new wave of protests from supporters and in a statement of contrition Glazer promised to listen to fans, attending a virtual forum event in June.
Glazer has since attended two more fans' forum events and the new advisory board is expected to launch shortly.
United sources stress that while the aim is to reach an agreement with MUST as soon as possible, "it’s more important to get it right than to rush to hit arbitrary deadlines."
The share issue could potentially continue over a number of years, with the year one offering considered a chance to establish the scheme and assess demand.
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.
