The band of brothers known as the 'Red Knights' looking to buy Manchester United have attracted plenty of attention in recent weeks.

Sir Alex Ferguson was fairly scathing of his assessment of one of the group, Keith Harris, in his press conference on Friday but James Lawton, writing in the Independent, has nothing but praise for the group.

Lawton welcomes their interest in purchasing United from the hated Glazer family as a return to the days when owners cared deeply about their club.

"Let's hear it for the Red Knights of Manchester United. Let's hear it, at least, for their reassertion of something that was the lifeblood of English football, a passion and a caring not for creating cash cows, objects for various kinds of plunder, but something vital to the amusement and invigoration of a community.

"No one is saying, or could ever say, that the ownership of English football has ever been expressed in much like a perfect form. For so long the treatment of the players was nothing less than iniquitous. The behaviour of the old cabals of butchers and candlestick makers was often dominated by a combination of arrogance, ignorance and a desire for privilege, so much so that for many their contribution to the game was best summed up by the great talent and character Len Shackleton, who left a blank page of his autobiography under the chapter heading, 'What the average director knows about football'.

"However, unlike the current owners of Manchester United and Liverpool and those who have presided, unchecked by the Premier League, over the ongoing disaster of Portsmouth, the old gangs of burghers and local business figures did acknowledge certain obligations.

"One was not to imperil the future of their clubs by loading them with impossible debt. The other was to respond, not always with the required nerve and judgement, to the presence and loyalty of the fans and the key role they occupied."