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The 1958 are set to hold another “anti-Glazers protest” as the vocal Manchester United fan group shows no sign of quieting their campaign against the club’s American owners.
The group have held multiple protests this season after publicly declaring they believed their club is “slowly dying before our eyes” ahead of a planned demonstrated in April.
The statement, released before United’s match against Arsenal at Old Trafford, read: “The club is slowly dying before our eyes, on and off the pitch, and blame lies squarely at the current ownership model.
“In many ways, this is the biggest crisis United has faced since the Munich air disaster which inspires our name. The club is facing financial Armageddon. Debt is the road to ruin. Sir Matt Busby would be turning in his grave at the current plight of one of the world’s greatest football institutions which is being brought to its knees and in many ways becoming a laughing stock.”
The situation has not improved on the pitch for the Red Devils since this point and the vitriol towards the club’s owners off it has only strengthened.
INEOS gained full control of the football operation at Old Trafford after Sir Jim Ratcliffe was ratified as the club’s new co-owner last February.
There was initial hope this new structure would help right a ship which had appeared on the verge of capsizing under the Glazers, but this has quickly soured with United on course for their worst season in Premier League history.
A series of deeply unpopular cost-cutting measures have also been implemented, including widespread redundancies to the non-football operation at the club, as well as raised ticket prices. It’s a combination which produces a potent overlap between despair on the pitch and fury off it.
And it’s this which will have driven The 1958 to announce their next planned protest – against Aston Villa at Old Trafford on the final day of the season on May 25, 20 years after the Glazers were confirmed as the club’s new owners after a hostile takeover.
The statement explaining the protest states:
“May 2005 marked one of the darkest days in the history of Manchester United Football Club. The Glazer family became majority shareholders, triggering a compulsory takeover that was completed on 29th June 2005.
“That moment signalled the beginning of the end for the soul and community of our once-great club — sacrificed at the altar of corporate greed.
“Sir Alex Ferguson, a staunch supporter of the Glazers then and now, masked the damage with unprecedented success on the pitch. Since his retirement, the rot beneath has been laid bare for all to see — the true cost of 20 years of financial exploitation and mismanagement.
The club is drowning in over a billion pounds of debt (down to Glazer greed and betrayal)
Our fanbase is fractured and divided (down to Glazer greed and betrayal)
Our stadium neglected (down to Glazer greed and betrayal)
“Hundreds of millions have been siphoned off to service that debt — not by the Glazers, but by our club. All while the Glazers continue to pocket dividends, year after year, regardless of failure on the pitch.
“We want the Glazers out of our club. They were never welcome. They are not welcome now. They will never be welcome. We protest once again at Villa, more details to follow.”
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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