Protests from fans caused Manchester United’s Premier League game with Liverpool FC to be postponed last Sunday as anger grows over the club’s ownership. 

The protests, the third planned action against the club and its owners in recent days, broke out at United’s ground, Old Trafford, on Sunday afternoon. Angry fans broke into the ground, causing criminal damage and assaulting multiple police officers. 

The chaos began at around 1 pm as crowds began to gather outside the stadium holding anti-Glazer banners and chanting against them. A crowd of 200 had meanwhile gathered at the Lowry hotel in the city centre where the team was staying before the match. 

At around 2 pm firecrackers and flares were let off as a group marched towards the Munich Tunnel in Old Trafford, where just half an hour later security had been breached and the Old Trafford pitch invaded. 

Six officers are said to have been injured, including one who sustained a fractured eye socket and another a wound on the face that was caused by the throwing of bottles, cans and barriers. A 28-year-old man has since been arrested.  

By 3 pm the stadium had gone into lockdown with members of the media held outside and a sweep of the stadium required. The line ups for the two teams were issued at 3.30, an hour before the 4.30 kick-off, but another group subsequently breached the stadium and a further lockdown had to be enforced. 

By 5.40 pm the game had been called off for the day making it the first Premier League match to ever be postponed because of fan disruptions.

The match will now take place on Thursday, 13 May at Old Trafford, with kickoff at 20:15.

The statement from United read: ‘following discussions between the police, the Premier League, Trafford council and the clubs, our match against Liverpool has been postponed due to safety and security considerations around the protest today. Discussions will now take place with the Premier League on a revised date for the fixture.’ 

The Premier League said: ‘we understand and respect the strength of feeling but condemn all acts of violence, criminal damage and trespass, especially given the associated Covid-19 breaches.’ 

These protests are a further illustration of the breakdown of trust between the club’s fans and its owners, the Glazer family.

Malcolm Glazer took control of the club in 2005, with many arguing that Sunday’s discontentment has bubbled for the last sixteen years since the takeover. The takeover leveraged a debt of over £500 million on to the club who were previously free of debt. Glazer’s sons are now co-chairmen.

Fans argue that the owners of their football club care only about profits and not the game that they are in charge of – an institution which is 149 years old.

Many were also assembling to protest against the Glazer family and its efforts to sign the Club up to the European Super League (ESL) – a proposal which was heavily criticised by players, pundits, fans, MPs and football bodies who were not involved. 

The Glazer family, along with John W. Henry, Liverpool’s American owner, have been said to be the driving force behind the plan, which also brought in Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City and Chelsea. The plans have since collapsed due to all 6 teams withdrawing. 

The idea behind the ESL was for the clubs to remain in their national leagues but play each other in a new midweek European competition too. This would have rivalled the Champions League, containing 20 teams, 15 founding members of which would be permanent features and therefore could never face relegation. 

Many critics said that because 15 of the teams would not face qualification or relegation, it would be unfair and uncompetitive, devaluing the game. In addition, the founding members were promised a share of a £3 billion grant provided by JP Morgan, an investment bank, prompting critics to believe that the plan was driven by money and not the love of the sport. 

Former Manchester United defender, Gary Neville, told Sky Sports News: ‘there’s huge discontent. (The fans) are basically saying that enough is enough. Those 15 clubs (who would have made up the European Super League) would have walked away from their leagues and basically destroyed the ethos of the pyramid and relegation in English football. That’s number one, it’s unforgivable what they did as a family two weeks ago.’  

Amelia Cutting

Image courtesy of Jakub Mularski via Pixabay. Image license found here. No changes were made to the image.

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