It can be safely said that Manchester United are the most famous football club in the world.

Another Manchester football club, FC United, is less well-known.

But they've got great ambitions. They're also owned by its fans, run as a co-operative and are vehemently opposed to the takeover of the game by big business interests, oil-rich oligarchs and profit-hungry investors.

FC United were established in 2005 by Manchester United fans whose tolerance was pushed to breaking point by the takeover of their club by the US-based business headed by Malcolm Glazer.

After the takeover more than 2,000 fans abandoned the club and launched their own.

Roy Williamson, a 61-year-old semi-retired social worker from Hebden Bridge in west Yorkshire, is one of them.

"I first went to Manchester United in 1962 - my brother took me," he said. "Then in 2005 the Glazer family bought the club."

The takeover was achieved through a gradual increase in the Glazers' shareholding. The total cost was almost £800 million.

"They bought it in a typical sort of US way," said Williamson. "They borrowed the money and then saddled the club with interest repayments. So money I spent at Manchester United went to pay their debt. Myself and about 3,000 other fans said we were not prepared to do it."

Fans had attempted to influence Manchester United to keep ticket prices "reasonable" and as Williamson put it "to treat supporters as supporters, not consumers."

They even succeeded in blocking an earlier attempted takeover by media magnate Rupert Murdoch by appealing to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

But the Glazers' takeover proved too much for them.

Williamson said: "The breaking point was, I think, that we knew we would have no say in what the club was doing - that is, the supporters and their organisations would be ignored."

Steve Bennett, 44, is another former Manchester United fan from Stockport known to his mates as "Swampy." He said that when Glazer took over, fans rioted, "there were demonstrations. Fans barricaded the road with lorries to stop Glazer getting to the ground."

Disgusted fans were deserting the club, but "there was a suggestion that rather than all disappear, we should think about setting up a new football club," remembers Williamson.

"Then a group of people met in a curry house in Rusholme to talk about the possibility. They set up a meeting at the Apollo (concert hall) in Manchester, and a lot of people turned up.

"They needed about 1,000 people to commit to supporting a new club for it to work and on the night almost 3,000 turned up and we decided to set up a new football club."

"To leave something you love, that has been part of your life, is very hard to do," Swampy says. "But there's a price on principle. We raised £100,000 in 14 days."

The name chosen was FC United.

"FC United was set up on the basis of one member one vote, as a co-operative. There was a lot of advice taken from the co-operative movement. There was a lot of concern about how we could make it a democratic organisation," says Williamson.

Advice also came from Wimbledon FC - an established co-operative football club.

A constitution was drawn up safeguarding democratic principles and a board was elected.

With the structure in place, a manager was appointed and players were invited for trials. More than 3,000 applied.

"We negotiated with Bury football club to play at their ground," recalls Williamson.

"Some people joined us because of the principles of it, attracted by the democratic process and sick of being ripped off. There were a lot from Old Trafford - I would say 90 per cent from there. Now it's probably 70 per cent, with many more people joining because of the principles of it."

The club's first game attracted 3,000 supporters. Tickets were priced at £8 for adults and £2 for youngsters - a fraction of Manchester United's prices.

FC United established links with like-minded clubs across Europe and beyond - clubs with anti-fascist and anti-racist principles.

FC United's team play in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, "two promotions away from the Football League" as Williamson puts it.

It doesn't accept commercial sponsorship - such as companies logos on the players' shirts and so on.

"We've developed a community programme which works with disadvantaged young people, and with adults and young people with disabilities where we provide football coaching but also advice on healthy living," said Williamson.

"Also we have anti-racist events on certain match days, and organise United youth days where we invite local young peoples' organisations to a match - including young refugees and young people from all ethnic backgrounds."

The club are close to their next breakthrough.

"We started building our new community football ground in Moston in Manchester," says Williamson, who does TV commentary on the club's website.

"It will have a 5,000 capacity and we'll base all our community work there. We'll be working with local schools and organisations, and we'll be involving the communities of north Manchester in the club."

Swampy doesn't see the founding of FC United as overtly political - but as the right thing to do.

"The struggle wasn't about setting up a left-wing, socialist football club," he notes. "It's about making something work for people, doing something different, doing what is right for the community. You don't pay your players exorbitant wages, you don't separate your players from the community.

"We work in areas where, we believe, it is not political - it is right. It's not political to be anti-racist, it is right. We work with underprivileged children because it is right.

"We are proving that you can run a football club democratically and inclusively. And we are getting there. We are not there yet by any stretch of the imagination. But we are getting there."

Williamson and "Swampy" recently visited Cuba on a tour with the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.

They took an FC United flag with them. They held it up proudly at the museum of the Bay of Pigs at Giron where military equipment used to repel United States-backed mercenaries in the 1961 invasion of Cuba is on display.

The flag bears the words "FC United - Songs of Freedom."