Manchester United are a mess, it is clear to see. There have been problems going on in the background for years but for a long time Sir Alex Ferguson and his teams were able to paper over the cracks. But since he left the issues have risen to the surface and have been impossible to ignore.
Non-Manchester United supporters feel that the fans are only showing anger and disappointment towards the club and ownership because they are no longer the dominant force in England, but it is so much more than that. And the current feeling amongst the Old Trafford faithful was summed up perfectly by Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol this week.
“It’s not a response to what happened Sunday, it’s a response to what has been happening at Old Trafford for a long time,” he said in a video clip which has since gone viral.
“Speaking to Manchester United supporters, they will say United is a club who has lost its soul. Manchester United have been through dark times before. I remember United in the 1980s, losing 5-0 at Everton, losing 5-1 against Manchester City. But you look at the players who they had in the 80s.
“For instance in that game against Everton they had Bryan Robson, Mark Hughes, Gordon Strachan, Remi Moses and Gordon McQueen. They still had players who knew what it meant to play for Manchester United, players who had a connection with the fans. That doesn’t exist at Old Trafford anymore.
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“And when you talk about the ownership situation at Manchester United, some people - especially people who support other clubs, say United fans are just complaining because they’re not winning at the moment, that if they were winning they wouldn’t be complaining.
“United fans were demonstrating before the Glazers took over. Some of the fans were so upset that they went off and set up their own club, FC United of Manchester, which is doing very well. David Beckham wore the green and gold scarf on the pitch at Old Trafford after Manchester United had beaten AC Milan in the Champions League 4-0.
“Manchester United fans were complaining from the start, they were complaining during the good times as well, so I don’t accept this argument that they’re only complaining because United aren’t doing well at the moment.
“And the other point a lot of people make is that what the Glazers have done is not illegal. You can use a leveraged buyout to buy any company you want in the UK. That may well be the case, but people who tried to buy Chelsea using leveraged buyout were not able to do so a couple of months ago. And the Football Association are talking to the Premier League and the EFL, and when we finally get an independent regulator in football, leveraged buyouts will be banned. So what the Glazers did 17 years ago will no longer be allowed.
“Unfortunately for Manchester United supporters, the Glazers borrowed £600 million when they bought the club, the debt is still £600m and has cost Manchester United somewhere between £1.5 billion to £2 billion. Fans of other clubs who say the Glazers have spent loads of money on players, they’ve spent £1 billion on players, but that’s not the Glazers’ money - that is money that Manchester United have generated.
“And the question I would ask to fans of other clubs is, would you be happy if the same thing happened to your club as has happened to Manchester United? If somebody borrowed £600m to buy your club then put that debt on your club, and then that takeover cost your club up to £2bn over 17 years. And after 17 years the debt is still £600m. Would other fans be happy with that?”
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