Glazers are a bigger threat to football than protesting Manchester United fans

Man United fans storm the Old Trafford pitch in a protest against the club’s owners

Let’s get this straight: the Glazers are a bigger danger to English football than 200 Manchester United fans breaking a cordon, getting into Old Trafford, protesting on the pitch and forcing the postponement of the biggest fixture in the game.

Let’s also get this clear first: the errant behaviour of some United fans outside the Lowry Hotel, where their team were staying before the scheduled match with Liverpool, and outside and inside Old Trafford, of course, needs the full response of the civil authorities.

“Those in the stadium were evicted by officers but outside on the forecourt hostility grew with bottles and barriers being thrown at officers and horses,” Greater Manchester police said in a statement. “Two officers have been injured, with one officer being attacked with a bottle and sustaining a significant slash wound to his face, requiring emergency hospital treatment.” Shocking, unforgivable and the due process of the law, including banning orders, should now proceed.

But let’s also understand the cause of the events. Those of us regular attendees at Old Trafford, who were there, and have been chronicling the shameful story of the Glazers for 16 years, were able to peer through the smoke of the fans’ flares and fury, and see that the enemy within is not some trespassing fans but the odious owners bunkered up in Florida.

The majority of protesting fans are fighting for the soul of English football. This is not about one club. This is an uprising against all owners who fail to respect fans, their clubs’ traditions and the structure and history of English football. Who are the real vandals?

The statement from the Premier League said rather patronisingly that “fans have many channels by which to make their views known, but the actions of a minority seen today have no justification”. Yet it has also been the laxness of the elite division in policing these mercenary owners that brought on Sunday night’s events.

This protest was an event in the making from June 29, 2005, and from the moment that Joel, Bryan and Avram Glazer sat down for tea with the leaders of the English game at the FA in Soho Square in London, and were politely asked to be good chaps and look after one of the crown jewels of English sport.

They assured the FA, Premier League and the government of their good intentions, especially on the key point of collective bargaining. They managed to fool the authorities, but not the fans.

This was a day in waiting since January 23, 2010, when fans gathered on the main forecourt outside Old Trafford, just as they did on Sunday night, holding a long banner reading “GLAZER – forever in your DEBT”. Inside, as Wayne Rooney put four goals past Hull City, the fans chorused: “We want Glazer out.” The green and gold protest movement, a respectful nod to United’s original colours, accelerated.

So let’s consider the growing tide of frustration turning into waves of wrath uniting into this tsunami of protest. Underpinning all this rising dissent was a distrust of the Glazers, which is increasingly being confirmed as well founded.

This was a day in the shaping since October 11 last year, when Project Big Picture, a power grab driven by the Glazers and Liverpool’s equally money-conscious John W Henry, confirmed the greed of many of the elite.

The rage of the fans, inevitably deepened by being unable to voice their fears inside Old Trafford because of the coronavirus pandemic, built towards the events of Sunday night. It takes a lot to turn English football fans into protesters, as much of their emotion and focus is rooted in tribalism, ticket prices and refereeing decisions. Rebellion is rare.

So that is why the protest, an outcome of the inevitability of gradualness, to borrow a phrase from history, deserves to be assessed properly, the motives of the majority examined, not only the reprehensible excesses of a few. Those who do not appreciate the reasoning of those demonstrating are clearly not people who care about English football.

Because this protest was certain ever since the European Super League was proposed a fortnight ago and the Glazers again showed their hand — and it was a grasping one, a fistful of dollars. Joel Glazer’s inability to apologise properly when the larcenous plan was roundly condemned simply highlighted what United fans were up against. A venture capitalist focused solely on his financial returns regardless of the long-term damage to the Premier League and English pyramid.

Enough was enough. The supporters struck back, some undeniably physically, shamefully so. “We sympathise with the police and stewards who had to deal with a dangerous situation that should have no place in football,” the Premier League said.

Everyone sympathises with the police and stewards, who were obviously outnumbered from early on in the afternoon, surprisingly given that United fan groups last week signalled that there would be a protest outside Old Trafford at 2pm. It was hardly clandestine. It was almost in the fixture list.

United fans have every right to voice their concerns, and the sooner that the Premier League realises that it is on the same side, and that the real threat emanates from the Glazers, the better.

So they congregated in their thousands by the Holy Trinity statue of George Best, Denis Law and Sir Bobby Charlton, three men who represent the glory of Manchester United, who embody qualities of commitment to the shirt that the Glazers will never.

“You can buy our club but you can’t buy our heart and soul,” read one of many placards. United may be owned by the Glazers legally, but the club belongs to the fans — not simply emotionally but truly, as they will be there when the Glazers disappear with their billions.

For many United fans, the club means the world. For the Glazers, it means a cash cow.

United fans simply want to have a say in the direction of their club. So they stood in their thousands in front of the megastore with its huge sign: “The Reds Go Marching On On On”. And at 2pm, some went marching down the Munich tunnel and infiltrated the ground.

They wanted to show the Glazers the power of the fans. For staff in the stands, and footballing staff laying out kit in the dressing rooms, these were concerning moments. Seconds after 2pm a police drone took off like a rocket from behind the Sir Alex Ferguson stand, a helicopter swept across the dark skies and a tactical aid unit van shot around the back, through the players’ car park towards the Munich tunnel.

Some supporters carried placards demanding the German-style 50+1 ownership, where fans have a defining say on the big decisions at their clubs.

After the pitch was finally cleared, mounted police began steering fans from the forecourt at 4.20pm and the hope was still that the teams would be able to arrive at the ground.

Over in the hotels, the two teams continued to kick their elegant heels before the game was finally called off at 5.40pm for “security and safety” reasons, including cleaning the COVID-secure red zone, which had been breached by fans.

While this was going on, the former sports minister, Tracey Crouch, carried on with her government review into football, including ownership. Some fan representation on boards is under consideration. If not while on the pitch, United fans deserve to be heard.

The Times