Man United fans protest against Glazer family

Hundreds of Manchester United supporters gathered outside Old Trafford yesterday to protest against the club’s owners for their involvement in the European Super League (ESL).

United were one of the 12 founding members of the competition before withdrawing on Tuesday.

Protestors were calling for the Glazer family to leave the club.

It follows protests by Chelsea and Arsenal fans against respective owners Roman Abramovich and Stan Kroenke.

United fans also entered the club’s training ground at Carrington on Thursday to protest against the Glazer family’s ownership.

They carried banners saying ‘Glazers Out’ and ‘51 percent MUFC’.

Co-chairman Joel Glazer would have been a vice-chairman of the European Super League before United withdrew on Tuesday after a furious backlash.

On Wednesday, he issued a letter of apology admitting the club made a mistake joining the proposed breakaway competition.

Earlier on Saturday, there were also pockets of Liverpool supporters protesting outside Anfield against Fenway Sports Group, the club’s US-based owner, for its role in the ESL.

However, many Reds fans also lined the streets to applaud the team bus and show their support for manager Jurgen Klopp and his players.

Speaking to BBC Football Focus, former Arsenal co-owner David Dein said the ESL project was “immoral and abhorrent”.

“The Super League project is a lesson on how not to launch a campaign,” Dein told BBC One. “Every step of the way they got it wrong.

“All the way through there was no-one ever speaking up for them to defend them. In all my years in football I’ve never seen something so major start and finish so quickly.

“The project itself was immoral, abhorrent; it was awful and unedifying. The good news is that it did bond the whole nation, which is something very positive.

“The fans particularly, the managers, the players the media and even the prime minster and Prince William — everyone got together within 24 hours to stop it. I’ve never seen that in my life before and was quite remarkable.” — BBC Sport.