If fans did not feel they had a voice before Sunday’s protests, they do now.
Swiftly following the successful resistance two weeks ago to the Premier League’s so-called Big Six’s attempts to carve out their own fifedom via the European Super League, came a groundswell of dissent from United fans who have had enough of their owners caring little about the club itself and more about the bottom line.
And it feels that the tide may have turned a little more in favour of the fans, whose message was clear: our club is not the plaything of a rich, largely absent owner.
Manchester United have been owned by the Glazer family since 2005 – and the relationship between them and club’s fans has seldom been friendly. They have saddled the club with debt and have done little to improve the facilities at Old Trafford or the training ground. Granted, there has been success during the Americans’ tenure, but the feeling from fans is that it is no longer their club.
And that is what Sunday’s protests were about. Fans want a say – they look enviously at their contemporaries in Germany’s Bundesliga, who have the 50+1 rule, which states that outside investors cannot acquire more than a 49 per cent stake in clubs. In effect German fans have a casting vote on which direction their clubs take. Here the feeling among supporters is that the owners of their clubs can act with impunity.
Sunday’s demonstrations – which led to the dramatic conclusion of yesterday’s match between Manchester United and Liverpool being called off – gave fans hope that maybe their concerns are being listened to. Expect more dissent at Anfield this Saturday night; at Chelsea on Wednesday and at Arsenal on Sunday. As the ex-Manchester United defender Gary Neville said yesterday: “The fans have had enough.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3e9CvSw
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