Man Utd refuses to comment on shirt price fixing claim
Manchester United is refusing to comment on claims that it fixed the price of replica football shirts.
An investigation by the British Office of Fair Trading found evidence that 11 companies entered into anti-competitive agreements on the supply of kits from Umbro, including the England strip.
The 11 include Manchester United, the English Football Association and Umbro.
In a statement the FA says: "A number of weeks ago, the FA publicly acknowledged breaches and made it clear that it had been assisting the OFT for several months.
"The FA confirmed today that it will be taking the opportunity to make representations to the OFT regarding this matter. Therefore it would being appropriate to make any further comment until after this has taken place."
Umbro says: "Umbro has been co-operating fully for several months with the Office of Fair Trading regarding an investigation into pricing of replica football kits and will continue to do so."
A spokesman for Manchester United refused to comment, saying it would be inappropriate to do so before he had seen the OFT's proposed decision.
Alan Bloore, deputy chairman of the National Federation of Football Supporters' Clubs, said: "We have never been able to prove price-fixing but it was always funny that whatever shop you went into the kit was the same price."
Edward Freedman, a former managing director of merchandising at Manchester United, says there was a verbal agreement with the manufacturer at what price kits were sold.
"If someone made up their mind to sell shirts £10 ($16) cheaper the manufacturer wouldn't be happy about it," he says.
