Manchester Tied
FRANK KEARTON, like Rupert Mur- doch, believed in vertical integration. When he took over at Courtaulds he bought all the companies Courtaulds supplied. His idea was that if he pushed enough cellulose and polyester into the machinery at one end, they would come out at the other end as millions of pairs of pink knickers. All that he had to do then was to get people to buy them, but that proved to be the difficult part. Mr Murdoch's new plan is to buy a supplier. Rather than pay Manchester United for the rights to televise its matches, he thinks he would be in a stronger position if he bought the club. Then its product would come out at the other end on televi- sion screens, and all he would have to do would be to get people to watch. I do not share the general view that he is betting on a certainty. Vertical integration is out of favour these days, outsourcing is in, and companies do better not to wed themselves to their suppliers or their customers. Choice is their friend. The viewers might even notice that, on current form, Manch- ester United is not the most successful side in England, and the England side is not the best in Europe or the world. Besides, there is always the danger that Mr Murdoch's enemies, assuming that he has some, will redirect his letters from Old Trafford to Maine Road. Then he will wake up and find that he has bought Manchester City.
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