Ronald Ainsbury responds to 'Bring Ronaldo Home campaign' scam confusion

Ronald Ainsbury, spokesperson and director of communications for Bringronaldohomeorg, replied to our email about their campaign to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United.

Mr. Ainsbury admitted that there is some confusion (read more on the online campaign and the finer details suggesting a scam) related to how they will pay for Ronaldo‘s fee. In a nutshell, he claims that all the money raised through the website will be transferred to Manchester United. Nike will supply the t-shirts to those who pledged their support to the Bring Ronaldo Home campaign.

If the campaign doesn’t succeed, they will refund the amount in full. It means that they went back on their earlier statement that £3 will be deducted towards administrative costs. Previously, Mr. Ainsbury told us that administrative costs include the PayPal charge for reversals and there are auditing costs to be also covered. PayPal doesn’t charge for refunds if they are returned within 30 days.

Bringronaldohome.org claim that they will be sponsoring two charities – WWF and Save the Child – by using the money raised through advertisements on its webpages. But they plan to cover their costs and only then make a contribution to the charities.

Here is an original copy of the email:

People are quite correct to say there has been some confusion!

To be honest, given the time frame within which the campaign has been put together I think this is only to be expected. Of course when we look back we will say “we shoulda, we shouldnta” – but 20-20 hindsight is wonderful. If only we had 20-20 foresight.

The thought came to a Manchester United fan just two months ago.

• Ronaldo was being quoted as saying he wants to return• Sir Alex was quoted as saying he wants him back• There appeared to be much fan support saying he should come back• And then he read about crowd funding and came up with the idea – how do we motivate fans to unite to go to the club to bring him back?

Then gathered together like-minded supporters and so the campaign began.

There is only a short window of opportunity – the transfer window.

We were rather taken aback, as most reporters were, by Sir Alex’ announcement – but the recent changes at MU do not deflect the original intention – that Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford would be a huge boost for the club.

Now – do we go to the Club Management first and seek their endorsement? No! Then we aren’t a fan-based movement at all. This is about uniting fans.

Yes – this could be seen as just assisting the owners – another way to take money from fans – but a successful outcome will be a united fan base that management will not be able to ignore.

How do we see this playing out?

Imagine the scenario where we have garnered pledges from, say, million and a half fans: we approach United (and probably its kit sponsor) and say – here’s the deal, once you have signed Ronaldo to the Club we will authorise Paypal to transfer all funds to you – and – you need to send a Ronaldo Shirt to all those fans. Yes, all sorts of questions can be raised about the cost structure of the deal – and we have. But we believe that neither the club nor its clothing sponsor would be able to afford to ignore the contribution that would arise from the pledges of so many supporters and the marginal contribution from so many shirts.

If United say no – or fail to clinch the deal – we return the pledges.

But – we will have put together a substantial united United fan base – with a strong voice.

Mechanics of the deal – yes some confusion. The announcements at MU last week kind of forced us to more a bit quicker than we thought and so the pledge instructions have become a bit confused:

1. We will return the difference between the original pledge and £10 to those who already pledges – without any fees, as soon as we can arrange this via PayPal.2. The shirt will be supplied by MU’s kit sponsor – in the new strip (just announced)3. We will be explicit about the refund.

It is our intention that all funds raised through the pledge will either go to MU on success or returned to fans on failure to sign Ronaldo. We plan to cover our costs and make a contribution to the charities based on advertising revenue which we plan to sell over the next few weeks.

We realise that fans might be cynical (and reporters) but our intention is clear and our motivations straightforward. At the start of any campaign that breaks the mould one can expect cynics and pessimists.

We’d love to have more support from sportswriters and fans alike – imagine that place: a new supporter base of over 1.5 million fans that can’t be ignored by the Club.