Manchester Utd match delayed due to fan protests - Update: Postponed

[Deleted member 7862Bler]

The hypocritical bleating and hand-wringing on here from the anti-lucre late adopters is enough to make you gag.

Don't remember you queuing to throw yourselves under the tracks when the corporate tanks came rolling into downtown Soccerville over two decades ago. Nor can I recall you taking up pitchforks and marching on the Zurichberg when Blatter and The Dirty Digger made it their life's work to hock this game's sorry backside to every frosty corner of the globe they could smell a fast buck in. Weren't too worried about commoditization when you were upgrading your Sky subscription and hand-washing your collection of sweat shop replica shirts I bet...

Doesn't seem that long ago since you were all creaming your Levis over the brand boosting prospects of world domination via a Sino-Portuguese powerhouse alliance that would see the Shanghai club shop tills ringing for eternity and a day.

And why should it be the Glazers left holding the blood-splattered candlestick in the boardroom? Serial human rights abusers and the Russian mafia get a free pass do they?

Football signed its own death warrant in 1992 and we've all been dancing on its grave in one way or another ever since.

Remember comrades, you insisted on Boursin before bedtime every night....now quit moaning about the ******* nightmares.

Maurice Watkins was a Manchester United director. He lived on the road that I live on. In 2004 his house and car were attacked by vandals who were unhappy about the sale of shares to the Glaziers. Even though Watkins had no prior knowledge of who the shares would be sold to, fans have accused him of selling United's heritage and aiding Glazer's attempts to purchase the club. Think it’s fair to say this is a long standing issue and many United fans queuing to throw themselves under the digger 17 years ago

 

[wwbug]

Mixed feelings.
Man Utd are only one more football club and like Wolves can’t be guaranteed success .
They were spoilt with Alex Ferguson.
But as Wolves fans we have seen everything comes from the top , and if the owners don’t like football that’s a problem.
And owners are playing with fire if they ignore, or dislike , the fans.
Fosun hopefully know that you must have football expertise at the heart of the business . Hence Mendes .
I am very happy with Mendes ,and I understand there has to be something in it for him .
He is friends with Nuno and he does understand football and the part money plays in football.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Only a **** if you agree with anything outside of what was meant to be the protest. A protest that didn't need violence, damage to property or assualt to others

Unless you are the Glazers or FSG or the rest of them. The trouble at the protest is ideal to undermine the credibility of their vocal fan critics and convince the politicians that they are more like them than the thousands of disgruntled fans opposed to their ownership interests. Not a conspiracy theory just a statement of how it might appear to them.

 

[Chungster]

Pre-1992 the game was a hooligan infested **** show with death trap grounds, hideous non-league standard football controlled by a pathetic and mediocre tv cartel strangling any investment.
Don’t draw your bull**** line in the sand there, as if the game was in some sort of pure Corinthian utopia back then, it was a fetid rotting corpse.
The soul of the beautiful game has always been a battleground between cynics and idealists, the corrupt creaming money off fans childhood dreams.
Cynicism and corruption then is no reason to give up now. As for a Chinese club shop tills ringing, why shouldn’t they? Selling shirts to a global fan base doesn’t have to be the same as selling out the game in its entirety to US bankers - that’s a completely false equivalence drawn for cheap points scoring,

Another Ming vase smasher looking for the Loctite.

Another throat slasher kissing it better with a styptic pencil....

 

[WickedWolfie]

Pre-1992 the game was a hooligan infested **** show with death trap grounds, hideous non-league standard football controlled by a pathetic and mediocre tv cartel strangling any investment.
Don’t draw your bull**** line in the sand there, as if the game was in some sort of pure Corinthian utopia back then, it was a fetid rotting corpse.
The soul of the beautiful game has always been a battleground between cynics and idealists, the corrupt creaming money off fans childhood dreams.
Cynicism and corruption then is no reason to give up now. As for a Chinese club shop tills ringing, why shouldn’t they? Selling shirts to a global fan base doesn’t have to be the same as selling out the game in its entirety to US bankers - that’s a completely false equivalence drawn for cheap points scoring,

It wasn't as if 1992 was even unique. Even within the Football League the top clubs had systematically argued for more and more of the TV money with less distributed down the league. 1992 was in many ways a step change not a revolution.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Another Ming vase smasher looking for the Loctite.

Another throat slasher kissing it better with a styptic pencil....

Another open-minded poster willing to debate his views huh....

 

[Fifty Niner]

I think what the Man U fans have done us awesome. Showing the owners how easy it is to get a game postponed sends a powerful message to those crooked owners. Target the ground, gather outside the hotels the players are staying in. Keep it non violent (if possible) but keep the tempo up: disrupt every single game and make them all unplayable.

Football fans have to realise their own power and the time is ripe. It's Time to reclaim the game from the money grabbers

Yeh, right on comrade. And when the People’s Front ( or is it the Popular People’s Front..?) have thrown off the yolk of the wicked money grabbers and reclaimed the game for the people, how long will their highly paid gladiators stick around once the tit has run dry (as Sir Jack would say).

 

[Contrarian]

Sadly the muppets play into the hands of the agenda setters and destroy their own cause. Mob mentality writ large.

Well, yes and no. Yes, the muppets play into the hands of the agenda setters. No, it's not the "mob" who are puppets. It's always that small minority of violent psychos who look for any excuse.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Well, yes and no. Yes, the muppets play into the hands of the agenda setters. No, it's not the "mob" who are puppets. It's always that small minority of violent psychos who look for any excuse.

Fair clarification.

 

[rincewind]

Yeh, right on comrade. And when the People’s Front ( or is it the Popular People’s Front..?) have thrown off the yolk of the wicked money grabbers and reclaimed the game for the people, how long will their highly paid gladiators stick around once the tit has run dry (as Sir Jack would say).

Popular Peoples Front? Bunch of splitters!

 

[Olivergoldblack]

Enjoying the debate here, chungster had a good post, kebab warrior had a great counter point. I've got the pop corn out.

 

[Contrarian]

Pre-1992 the game was a hooligan infested **** show with death trap grounds, hideous non-league standard football controlled by a pathetic and mediocre tv cartel strangling any investment.
Don’t draw your bull**** line in the sand there, as if the game was in some sort of pure Corinthian utopia back then, it was a fetid rotting corpse.
The soul of the beautiful game has always been a battleground between cynics and idealists, the corrupt creaming money off fans childhood dreams.
Cynicism and corruption then is no reason to give up now. As for a Chinese club shop tills ringing, why shouldn’t they? Selling shirts to a global fan base doesn’t have to be the same as selling out the game in its entirety to US bankers - that’s a completely false equivalence drawn for cheap points scoring,

Yes, football doesn't exist in a bubble. It is a part of the broader social picture. What happened in the 70's and 80's very much reflected the wider issues. The UK did go through a transformation in general - Thatcherism/Neo-Liberalism - of course. Not a value judgement on that, it had it's good and bad sides and is still very much the paradigm we have today, though has increasingly creaked over the past 10 - 15 years. My point is that the same effects are reflected in football.

For many, the free marker did improve things, but it also created an underclass. Similar in football, huge opportunies for those at the top, and the hooligan problem faded away - though never completely. Angry people look for opportunities to vent their anger. And when you don't have much opportunity, football is going to be latched on to. For me, the core problem is inequality in both football and the wider world. Nothing wrong with a spectrum from top to bottom, however we have these systems where more and more is held by fewer and fewer, leaving less for the majority. Great in the short run for those at the top. In the long run, riots and unrest are inevitable, that system just doesn't work. Increasing numbers of us are suspecting the whole thing is fixed and those raking it in are not divine super beings a billion times better than the rest, just they loaded dice. Football or the world in general? Both

I agree on it always being that battle between the cynics and idealists. Those who enjoy the game and those who enjoy the money they can make for it. Fairly sure this was going on with the first professional clubs in the 1880's! There literally was a club called "Corinthians" who were amateur and no doubt disliked all these greedy midlanders and northerners paying their players and setting up the original Super-League in 1888

What happens from here will depend on what happens in the broader world. We're seeing all sorts of protests than would be unimaginable 20 or 30 years ago.

 

[Stourport wolf]

My own opinion on this is, there is no need to mention the nationality of the owners, be they American, Chinese, Saudi Arabian or British. I can understand any one attacking owners, who are putting their club in to heavy financial debt, but I don't think mentioning the nationality helps the debate in any way.

 

[JonahWolf]

Another Ming vase smasher looking for the Loctite.

Another throat slasher kissing it better with a styptic pencil....

I happened to like your original poetic post, but also @Kebab Warrior’s reply.

It’s a matter of varying shades of ****. Football has always been **** in some ways and to some extents, more so now in many ways, less so in some.
Football’s ‘soul’ has been sold for a long time, but Fosun at least appear to keep its remains and heritage in a decent looking urn on the mantelpiece, whereas the Glazers alternate between ****ing the corpse and urinating on it.

 

[WickedWolfie]

My own opinion on this is, there is no need to mention the nationality of the owners, be they American, Chinese, Saudi Arabian or British. I can understand any one attacking owners, who are putting their club in to heavy financial debt, but I don't think mentioning the nationality helps the debate in any way.

I suspect that the reason that the nationality of US owners is mentioned is that they seem to be trying to import the US concept of franchised teams and closed shop leagues....

 

[The Wolf Of Wombourne]

Oh dear.....
yes, you’re right. Even after all the trophies United won since approx. the Glazers took over, you, not me, could suggest that they’ve gone backwards.

I mean they have gone backwards though? They’ve gone from winning or finishing 2nd pretty much every year to being miles behind despite still spending big.

 

[The Wolf Of Wombourne]

Extinction Rebellion are known anarchists who smash up anything regardless of cost to others. In my own city they blocked ambulances in their cause and couldn’t give a **** about anyone but themselves. Yeh, maybe you’re right. The Utd fans doing what they did are a bit like ER.

ER stop normal day to day people getting to work and education to push their point. Stopping a football match going ahead is a little different in my view.

 

[Oliwolf44]

I wonder whether people are realising the common goal here, more protests are needed for change.
Now any violence etc cannot be condoned, as anyone with a brain knows. But protests are supposed to be inconvenient, otherwise its not a protest.
The Man Utd official statement said that "there are channels for this to be addressed" in other words please write down your thoughts as you have been for the last few years on this piece of paper which we will then throw in the bin and get on with what we were doing.

The whole idea of the protest was because those channels arent working and fans have no voice. You cant make a good omelette without breaking a few eggs.

Hopefully the fans will realise that they have more power than they think and we do matter and can affect change. This game being called off is probably the biggest statement the fans could have made.

 

[Kebab Warrior]

Another Ming vase smasher looking for the Loctite.

Another throat slasher kissing it better with a styptic pencil....

Great counter argument.

 

[ricki herberts moustache]

Yeh, right on comrade. And when the People’s Front ( or is it the Popular People’s Front..?) have thrown off the yolk of the wicked money grabbers and reclaimed the game for the people, how long will their highly paid gladiators stick around once the tit has run dry (as Sir Jack would say).

Players wages are out of control so a wee reset on that front would be a move in the right direction

 

[Fifty Niner]

Players wages are out of control so a wee reset on that front would be a move in the right direction

Good point.

 

[VancouverWolf]

Look, I really don’t want to restart all of this again, but maybe you should reread your own quote from #32 as you keep suggesting others do.

Your words were “Glaziers made United football powerhouse and brought trophy after trophy ......glory after glory...”

That word in bold and underlined, made, sees you imply that the Glazers are responsible for the clubs success. That’s why people keep bringing up the past.

If you’d said “they’ve continued to be...” then yeah fair enough, your point may be more valid. People would likely still suggest their ownership has not been good for the club but you’d be right to say they’ve continued to win things.

You’re arguing that the Glazers made the club the powerhouse it is though. That’s why you’re getting a barrage of replies.

If you genuinely believe that they made the club a powerhouse then I don’t know what to say to you, but that’s why you’re getting the replies. Not for just stating that they’ve won things like you seem to think.

Ok.....fair enough and I think you’re on the level......ie....not just being a troublemaker, right?
I will respond if what I post is received on an adult, rational, logical, intellectual level , ok? ........lighthearted, fun kinda thing.

Ps....If we take 2+2 =4 as a baseline, then , yes I do believe what I posted, i.e. ‘made’........ok?

up to you.

 

[pacamac]

Fair play to the Mancs direct action the way forward

 

[Burton Wolf]

Pre-1992 the game was a hooligan infested **** show with death trap grounds, hideous non-league standard football controlled by a pathetic and mediocre tv cartel strangling any investment.
Don’t draw your bull**** line in the sand there, as if the game was in some sort of pure Corinthian utopia back then, it was a fetid rotting corpse.
The soul of the beautiful game has always been a battleground between cynics and idealists, the corrupt creaming money off fans childhood dreams.
Cynicism and corruption then is no reason to give up now. As for a Chinese club shop tills ringing, why shouldn’t they? Selling shirts to a global fan base doesn’t have to be the same as selling out the game in its entirety to US bankers - that’s a completely false equivalence drawn for cheap points scoring,

I enjoyed pre 1992 thank you very much. Since then in my opinion it has slowly become a sterile crock of ****.

 

[Lycaon]

Fair play to the Mancs direct action the way forward

Not so sure it’ll make any difference to the owners, can’t see them giving up the cash cow that Utd have become, they’ll ride it out just like the previous protests which got basically nowhere.

 

[Rhoswolf]

I enjoyed pre 1992 thank you very much. Since then in my opinion it has slowly become a sterile crock of ****.

Me too, couldn't agree more

 

[Deleted member 11021Mcm]

There are hot rumours up here are that Man U fans will target the rearranged fixture too.

 

[Deleted member 11021Mcm]

Stupid idiot fans.....Glaziers made United football powerhouse and brought trophy after trophy ......glory after glory...

Stupid idiot fans?
It shows you know nothing about the English game.

 

[Bradmore Wolf]

I enjoyed pre 1992 thank you very much. Since then in my opinion it has slowly become a sterile crock of ****.

Hear hear

 

[SuperGran]

I enjoyed pre 1992 thank you very much. Since then in my opinion it has slowly become a sterile crock of ****.

Yep 100%

 

[Olivergoldblack]

I was all for these fan revolts at the big 6, but thinking about it now, we kinda need these owners to stiffle their spending.
Man U have spent about a billion on players since fergie left, but if the glazers let them spend what the club really makes it'd be more like 2 billion. Same for Arsenal. If those clubs really spend what they could, then all the other clubs defo wouldn't have any chance of competing with them.

I don't know what the answer is in terms of making the league competitive, but getting better owners might actually make things worse for the rest of us!

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

The hypocritical bleating and hand-wringing on here from the anti-lucre late adopters is enough to make you gag.

Don't remember you queuing to throw yourselves under the tracks when the corporate tanks came rolling into downtown Soccerville over two decades ago. Nor can I recall you taking up pitchforks and marching on the Zurichberg when Blatter and The Dirty Digger made it their life's work to hock this game's sorry backside to every frosty corner of the globe they could smell a fast buck in. Weren't too worried about commoditization when you were upgrading your Sky subscription and hand-washing your collection of sweat shop replica shirts I bet...

Doesn't seem that long ago since you were all creaming your Levis over the brand boosting prospects of world domination via a Sino-Portuguese powerhouse alliance that would see the Shanghai club shop tills ringing for eternity and a day.

And why should it be the Glazers left holding the blood-splattered candlestick in the boardroom? Serial human rights abusers and the Russian mafia get a free pass do they?

Football signed its own death warrant in 1992 and we've all been dancing on its grave in one way or another ever since.

Remember comrades, you insisted on Boursin before bedtime every night....now quit moaning about the ******* nightmares.

So you havent been to a game since 1992 or watched one on sky? Or indeed paid to watch a live game? No one could have predicted what would happen since 1992, things change and so do peoples beliefs.

Ultimately the protests at Old Trafford were about the state of their club not the global football world. Id wager if United were 10 points clear of the league currently there wouldnt have been a protest about the Glazer debt upon them.

Serial human rights abusers and russian mafia? Thank god we have good old British owners like the Oystons, Robert Maxwell and the Golds ay!

 

[WickedWolfie]

So you havent been to a game since 1992 or watched one on sky? Or indeed paid to watch a live game? No one could have predicted what would happen since 1992, things change and so do peoples beliefs.

Ultimately the protests at Old Trafford were about the state of their club not the global football world. Id wager if United were 10 points clear of the league currently there wouldnt have been a protest about the Glazer debt upon them.

Serial human rights abusers and russian mafia? Thank god we have good old British owners like the Oystons, Robert Maxwell and the Golds ay!

The clowns who destroyed Bury or the bloke who left Brighton homeless and nearly broke the club were British too...
Greedy and/or crap owners are nothing new either. Our worst ever owners, the Bhatti brothers, pre-dated the PL by about 10 years.

 

[Oliwolf44]

Ultimately the protests at Old Trafford were about the state of their club not the global football world. Id wager if United were 10 points clear of the league currently there wouldnt have been a protest about the Glazer debt upon them.

Think Graeme Souness said the same thing on sky and was rightly trashed for it.

United fans even started a new club in protest in 2005, they had their biggest campaign in 2010 (the year between them reaching Champions League Finals in 2009 & 2011.
Yes they are using the momentum of super league reaction to push anti glazer message, but why not? Fan voice hasnt been this acknowledged possibly ever and so are using it to their advantage. But to say they are only protesting because they aint winning is absolutely nonsensical.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Think Graeme Souness said the same thing on sky and was rightly trashed for it.

United fans even started a new club in protest in 2005, they had their biggest campaign in 2010 (the year between them reaching Champions League Finals in 2009 & 2011.
Yes they are using the momentum of super league reaction to push anti glazer message, but why not? Fan voice hasnt been this acknowledged possibly ever and so are using it to their advantage. But to say they are only protesting because they aint winning is absolutely nonsensical.

They had it cushy for years, they were the first real benefactors of the Sky money.

You arent surely naive enough to think if they had beat Liverpool to the title last year, city to the title this year they would have been out protesting?

You mention the forming of a new club, where was the support for that after the first couple of years? United fans are as fickle as they come.

 

[Oliwolf44]

They had it cushy for years, they were the first real benefactors of the Sky money.

You arent surely naive enough to think if they had beat Liverpool to the title last year, city to the title this year they would have been out protesting?

You mention the forming of a new club, where was the support for that after the first couple of years? United fans are as fickle as they come.

I dont get how you cant see this is bigger than winning trophies. Its about them making mugs of Manchester United fans. The only reason there isnt a protest at liverpool is because the club CEO has reached out to spirit of shankly for constructive talks in fan involvement. And they won a title last year and are generally well run. So how can that be about being successful?

As for FC united, still have 5000 members and is the largest fan owned club in the country.

Ive said it before the fan tribalism is so petty and will probably be the reason behind the failure to capitalize on the momentum we have.
Dortmund and Bayern despise each other but their fans still put out joint messages together for the good of the game.
I cant see how people think these protests at united are a bad thing or that its because their fans are fickle

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Man U vs Liverpool moved to 48 hours after Man U vs Leicester .

shame it wasn’t 24 hours

 

[Titch]

Man U vs Liverpool moved to 48 hours after Man U vs Leicester .

shame it wasn’t 24 hours

It was 24 hours, they've moved the Leicester game forward 1 day.

Guess they'll be resting a few against us!!

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

I dont get how you cant see this is bigger than winning trophies. Its about them making mugs of Manchester United fans. The only reason there isnt a protest at liverpool is because the club CEO has reached out to spirit of shankly for constructive talks in fan involvement. And they won a title last year and are generally well run. So how can that be about being successful?

As for FC united, still have 5000 members and is the largest fan owned club in the country.

Ive said it before the fan tribalism is so petty and will probably be the reason behind the failure to capitalize on the momentum we have.
Dortmund and Bayern despise each other but their fans still put out joint messages together for the good of the game.
I cant see how people think these protests at united are a bad thing or that its because their fans are fickle

Liverpool fans were annoyed about super League, not the state of their owners. The super League isn't happening so everyone has calmed down apart from united fans. If they were top of the league do you really honestly think that happens on Sunday? Not a chance

As for tribalism, how does that possibly stop our momentum?

 

[Wonder Boyo]

Liverpool fans were annoyed about super League, not the state of their owners. The super League isn't happening so everyone has calmed down apart from united fans. If they were top of the league do you really honestly think that happens on Sunday? Not a chance

As for tribalism, how does that possibly stop our momentum?

Think Liverpool fans have been unhappy about FSG for a number years over a number of issues. They protested by walking out of a game at Anfield in 2016 about ticket prices and there have been a number of issues since they have been unhappy about, mainly with prices, merchandising, sponsorship, and a lack of regard of fan views (slips my mind now but they listed them all on Liverpool's forum the other week). The Super League has really irked them but they haven't liked their owners for a while.

Ticket price protest and apology:

Liverpool owners scrap £77 ticket

Liverpool's owners scrap their controversial £77 ticket and apologise for the "distress caused" by last week's pricing announcement.

www.bbc.com