Will the police be fined for not controlling them? Though they weren't fined for not controlling protesters at BLM and Extinction Rebellion Protests. In fact they were softer with them.
Must say, and I love I good protest, that while they weren’t protesting because they’re not winning much you can’t overlook the coincidence of them getting a game cancelled that could have seen the other City crowned champions. I do think they wouldn’t have done it if it was a match they could have won the title at. Would they? Their previous protests, of those that still went, seemed mainly to consist of wearing different coloured scarves, and banners in the ground. And good on them for that, but they weren’t trying to stop games then. Obviously the Super League highlighted their views on the owner, but that seems to mostly be down to the debt they were laden with. Quite right too, but that hasn’t suddenly changed. On the flip side football protests in general, including this one, have suddenly made people realise that fans do have power...and that’s a good thing I think.
Unfortunately as in most protests the event attracts some people with little interest in the reason for being there, they see it as an opportunity to vent their sinister aggressive anger against society.
Man United should be punished heavily for this. Make em play the re-arranged game behind closed doors. That’ll learn em.
Is anyone surprised? They were saying that Old Trafford is crumbling and needs a lot of money spending on it. Obviously the lack of mirrors in the ladies toilets has tipped them over the edgej.
And the pie forks were better at Newton Heath (a club which of course was also a Yorkshire one, so it’s no wonder it’s heritage is fondly remembered)
Establishment line seems to be 'disgraceful scenes' and 'this is not the right way to bring about change' Perhaps they should have toppled a few statues to get full Establishment appeasement on this important issue
Maybe the police could have taken the knee or done a bit of skateboarding. It wasn't a proper protest, not a Socialist Worker banner to be seen.
I’m surprised there isn’t more sympathy here for the fans here - here is a club where the distant, aloof owners treat it like a business, ignore fans and fan organisations yet also oversee a successful period in the club’s history. Has many parallels with us and other clubs up and down the leagues. it’s an emotional battle for United’s soul, and many of them haven’t really come to terms with the way things have been going since Martin Edwards was chairman back in the 80s. These fans are certainly not the plastics accepting PL football at any cost. They want the old community spirit back, the feeling that they and the club are one and the owners are just the custodians holding it in trust. Problem is, that kind of club doesn’t exist in the upper leagues any more and they need to accept that if that is what they want then FC United or Salford are the clubs for them.
Or the local clubs in the length and breadth of the country where Man Utd "fans" come from. Starting in Hull and East Riding...
After Man City they have been the biggest spenders in recent seasons. It's just that they have bought a load of overpriced ****. In this regard, of 92 clubs I place them 92 in the league table of hard done to fanbases.
Carragher made an excellent point on air about this. He said, as a Liverpool fan, he supports those Man Utd fans that were protesting and could see why they are protesting. He called for the media to not spin it because of a few idiots involved when the majority were peaceful. He wanted all fans to get behind those fans because of what some owners are doing to our clubs. He said for too long football fans get wrongly labelled and he didn’t want that to happen again. Sky then pulled Super Sunday off air when the pundits (Carragher, Neville and Keane) ignored the narrative the presenter was trying to take and pulled in a different presentation team for their later game.
Ok, so people who don’t live in Manchester are Man Utd fans, as kids, they see a team who wins things or has a lot of success & glamorised etc, so as kids, they start following that team, maybe it was a parent/grandparent, maybe it was their mates, who knows why. Then maybe they can get a ticket to a game, probably can’t. Although living by OT for a few years, there were always people “selling” tickets outside. So after a few years, they don’t win anything, start going downhill, are those same people still classing themselves as fans? Yes- Then they’re not plastics, they’ve stuck by their teams, in most cases, they’ll go back onto winning things, but they’ve stuck by them through the “hard times” of finishing 8th & 10th & getting knocked out of the cup by little old Hull City. No- Then they are indeed plastics, probably latched onto the next successful team, they are the worst fans. I know a few Arsenal fans that live in East Yorkshire, they’re still Arsenal fans despite the **** they’ve had to put up with. Okay it’s being mid table & no Champions League, but for a team like that to become so **** after their past success, is still “hard” for them.
How ironic that two representatives of Clubs that have contributed to what I believe is the demise of football, are the ones voicing the words that need to be said.
What is interesting is how few people it took to completely upset the paid TV coverage of a football match. Opponents of the ESL and TV companies take note.