Thousands of Manchester United fans protested against the club’s ownership ahead of Sunday’s Premier League match against Arsenal at Old Trafford.
The Glazer family were subject to the majority of many angry chants, but plenty were also directed at co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, throughout a march that started a mile away from the ground at the Tollgate pub.
The 1958 fan group organised the protest and many supporters heeded their request to wear black to symbolise how the club is “slowly dying” under the current structure.
“R.I.P fan culture 1878-2025” read a giant banner that supporters marched behind as vociferous calls for the Glazers to leave filled the air along with smoke from flares.
Ratcliffe was also the subject of songs having made some unpopular decisions since becoming co-owner last February, including the mid-season ticket hike of remaining home tickets to £66 per match.
The British billionaire walked up to the Old Trafford directors’ box just as the protest got under way a mile away, with director Edward Glazer also in attendance for the match against the Gunners.
Fans had been encouraged to gather at the Tollgate pub at around 3pm but many arrived early and Talbot Road had effectively been closed to traffic before that time as the crowd spilled out of the pub’s garden and on to the street.
The protest steadily grew in number as it passed the Old Trafford cricket ground before heading up towards the Trafford pub.
The protest ended with fans passing through the Munich Tunnel underneath the Sir Bobby Charlton stand, where the directors’ entrance had been shuttered early.
United head coach Ruben Amorim defended the right of fans to protest before the match and spoke again on the matter after the 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
“This club will never die,” he told Sky Sports. “That is clear. You feel it in the streets, not just in the stadium.
“But you know that is a big business and maybe all the fans around this league felt that sometimes it’s harder to go to the games, to pay for tickets, and that is normal.”
Speaking before the match, former United defender Gary Neville told Sky Sports that supporters were “really angry”.
“It’s down to a number of things,” Neville said. “It’s down to debt repayment, it’s down to mismanagement, if you’re getting rid of 450 people it means someone has been mismanaging the club for 10 years.
“You think of the impact of the performance on the club’s revenue, no Champions League football, losing £30-40million a year because of that. Woeful recruitment that means you have to recycle players constantly and not create assets within the club.
“All of that is coming home to roost here today. You can’t kid football fans or con football fans.”
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