It is August 1989 and Knighton, having unveiled a radical blueprint aimed at realising United's global potential, strides on to the Old Trafford pitch, in full Manchester United training kit, and juggles the ball before striking it into the net at the Stretford End prior to the 4-1 victory against Arsenal.
Knighton had the United supporters in the palm of his hand. Martin Edwards, the hugely unpopular owner, had signalled his readiness to accept Knighton's £20 million takeover bid and succumb to the 'Edwards Out' chants that had echoed around Old Trafford for months.
It was a dream scenario for the United supporters. Here was a man with a plan, a charismatic tycoon ready to modernise Old Trafford and allow the United brand to generate the huge income streams it provides today.
Yet the dream quickly died. Knighton's partners, Robert Thornton, the former Debenham's chief executive, and Stanley Cohen of Parker Pens, withdrew their financial backing when the bid began to attract adverse publicity and, within months, Edwards abandoned plans to sell. Knighton was instead offered 30,000 shares and a seat on the club's board.
As the Red Knights, the supporter-backed group of wealthy individuals, attempt to go one better than Knighton by ousting United's current owners, the Glazer family, history is beginning to repeat itself at Old Trafford.
And Knighton, now a semi-retired resident of the Channel Islands, warns that the "astonishingly naive" Red Knights will ultimately suffer the same fate as himself if they continue to stalk the Glazers.
Knighton said: "Even when you are talking in terms of £1 billion or £2 billion, Manchester United is massively under-valued, and the Glazers are no fools. They know that you do not sell an asset like Manchester United unless needs must.
"United are the Disney of the sporting world because of the sheer power and value of their brand. They are Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM. When you have such a prized asset, you simply do not sell it.
"The takeover of Cadbury by Kraft earlier this year was done at a figure of around £11 billion and, although you would not compare Cadbury and United like for like, the reality is that United's brand name is equally powerful and the Glazers have no reason to sell.
"The Red Knights appear to be astonishingly naive in this regard. The whole approach smells typically of stirred-up egos over good sense."
Knighton, who subsequently resigned as a United director in 1992 in order to buy Carlisle United, admits that the Glazers have saddled United with excessive debt, an issue he believes must be addressed. But he has warned the club's supporters to be wary of pinning their hopes on the Red Knights.
Knighton said: "I 'did debt' at Carlisle and it is sometimes a necessary evil in football, even at the ruinous interest rates that come with it.
"There is no question that the Glazers have run up too much debt at United. The club is very highly geared and they must deal with that. One route could be to offload a percentage of their stake to a wealthy investor, but at the same time retaining their majority shareholding.
"But under their ownership, United have enjoyed tremendous success on the pitch. Off it, their commercial revenues have rocketed.
"They have left Sir Alex Ferguson to get on with the job and the club is run as a very successful business.
"Unfortunately, many football fans do not live in the real world. Football is a business and the romantic scenario of supporter-owned clubs is simply not workable.
"The fact that the United fans are prepared to even consider a group of City bankers running their club, no matter how unpopular the current owners might be, highlights how muddled fans can become."
Calls for United fans to boycott games and not renew season tickets have been made by figures close to the Red Knights' campaign, but Knighton fears such tactics are doomed. He said: "What kind of subversive talk is that? And from supposedly respected figures, too.
"If somebody attempting to buy any other business called for a boycott of the product, then their reputation would be shot to pieces.
"Those tactics might work at clubs in the lower divisions, but they will never succeed at clubs like United that have such a huge, global following. Such ideas only confirm my view that the Red Knights do not have a snowball in Hell's chance of success.
"If they need to recruit 40-60 backers to raise the funds required to mount a bid, it suggests they are relying on small-scale figures.
"The reality is that, if and when the Glazers do come to sell – and at a huge profit – they will find a buyer in the Middle East or Far East who can do it all on his own."
