For as well as things are going for the football team owned by the Glazers, things currently aren’t going smoothly for the soccer club they own -- for reasons unrelated to the quality of the players.
And it apparently won’t be ending. According to the London Times (via Sports Business Daily), fans who stormed Old Stafford on Sunday and forced the postponement of a match against Liverpool intend to launch further attacks, with planning already underway.
Targets include the next home game, on May 12 against Leicester City, and the date on which Sunday’s scrapped Liverpool game will be played.
The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust published an open letter that accuses the Glazer family of “‘driving United into debt and decline,’” and demanding that fans receive a greater say in decisions made about the team. They want a response by Friday.
It remains to be seen whether any of this will work and, if it does, whether other fans of other teams in other countries will try to do the same thing. Usually, economic pressure is the only way to hold an owner accountable. The Manchester United fans are taking it to a new level, and owners of NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB teams should be paying attention and taking notes.