Manchester United suffered their most humiliating defeat for 50 years on Saturday and the world's richest man Elon Musk, worth an estimated $250 billion, tweeted that he was going to buy the club just three days later. It is never dull reporting on United.
"Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome," Musk nonchalantly tweeted at 1:01 AM BST. The tweet has over 500,000 likes but it didn't take long for the South African and CEO of Tesla to retract his statement "This is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams," Musk added four hours later. "Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid."
Musk acted swiftly to clarify his initial tweet, but supporters have continued to message him in their thousands, pleading with him to free the club from the Glazers' shackles. Musk is an investor in private spaceflight and he enjoys making dreams a reality. United fans woke up on Wednesday morning with hope that Musk would make their dream of freeing their club from the Glazers a reality.
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The Glazers control and 'run' United from Tampa Bay, Florida but they might as well be on another planet. They are alien to how custodians of an elite football club should act and they are responsible for the failures at Old Trafford over the last decade.
United fans have consistently protested against the Glazers. They have never accepted the American owners after a controversial leveraged buyout of the club in 2005, which has led to United paying a staggering £743m in interest since that takeover.
Rather unsurprisingly, United are the only Premier League club to pay dividends to their shareholders, mainly to the Glazers. The dividend has been paid every six months since 2016, averaging £22m a year, and that's including during the pandemic.
The financial figures also show the Glazers have only spent money that the club has generated, which debunks accusations from rival supporters. The financial figures speak louder than words.
Sir Alex Ferguson still delivered trophies under the Glazer but only he could. The game has evolved since Ferguson retired and the Glazers' neglect has gradually been exposed, with United regressing in every department on the pitch and away from it.
United have won just three trophies over the last 10 years and they have not come close to winning the silverware that really matters, the Premier League and Champions League. Those trophies have not been hoisted for nine and 14 years respectively and the club has become synonymous with mediocrity, although it would be kind to consider United's performance versus Brentford as just mediocre.
That result felt like a brutal, new low after a season of spectacular failure. The good feeling around the club that Erik ten Hag's appointment created has already evaporated and the transfer window becoming a circus has exacerbated fan anger.
After the club's worst season for decades, the squad requires significant investment but United have been reduced to considering transfer targets like Marko Arnautovic instead. United's interest in Arnautovic, 33, was nothing short of disgraceful.
It is not a surprise that supporters are rallying once again to protest against the Glazers. United supporters' group 'The 1958' have confirmed they will protest on Monday before the Reds' match versus Liverpool and they have urged fans to join them.
"So, as we have said before, put our differences aside and come together. Join the march from 7pm. Protest on the forecourt. We will plant our flag as a focal point. Be loud, be proud, stand as one," a statement from The 1958 read on Tuesday night.
Regardless of whether such protests pressure the Glazers to sell the club or not, they certainly raise awareness about supporters' concerns and build momentum, which could eventually help fans to achieve their ultimate goal of removing the owners.
Musk tweeting about buying United is proof of that. There's no denying Musk is social media savvy, but the message that supporters want the Glazers to sell their club has travelled to him, almost 5000 miles away from Manchester in Boca Chica, Texas.
United fans are successfully raising awareness and that can only be a good thing. The 1958 consider themselves 'an underground group', but they are helping fans to catch the attention of people like Musk - the protests against the Glazers are working.
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