With the new Premiership season fast approaching, and the Glazer family still firmly in charge at Old Trafford, one question that Manchester United fans must ask themselves is: where does the Green and Gold campaign go from here?
The return of the football season marks a crossroads for the campaign, and it’ll be interesting to see the extent of its popularity once United kick off the season against Newcastle. When the campaign first came about during last season, it made for an impressive sight; a 75,000-seater stadium filled with fans all wearing alternate colours in protest at the financial treatment of their football club.
I guarantee that this is something the Glazers could ever come up against in the NFL, where teams are routinely moved to a different city without fan protest.
What did the campaign mean, though? The sight of thousands of Norwich fans turning up at Old Trafford is more likely to confuse them than get them to sell up. In the beginning, it represented the discontent of Manchester United fans; not a minority of radicals, but United fans as a collective entity.
It is only when you break down that entity into the individuals that make it up that the cracks in the campaign begin to appear. There are fans who come from Manchester, who go to European aways, who have an intangible passion for their football team: the Green and Gold campaign could not exist without these people – people who understand what’s happening to the club, people who care about the welfare of Manchester United.
And then there’s the other end of the scale. The United fan from Hampshire, having his big day out at Old Trafford. This fan wants to appear like the Proper United Fan he wishes to be, and as such, will associate himself with the campaign by buying a Green and Gold scarf outside the ground from some crook for six quid (you can, and should, buy them directly from MUST, ensuring your money goes towards helping the campaign).
Despite his new-found identity as a Proper United Fan, he will not want to waste his big day by coming home empty-handed, so he will go to the Megastore, stock up on as much official merch as possible (pens, mugs, blenders, condoms, surgical equipment etc) and wander round shamelessly clutching his bag of goodies whilst proudly sporting his fashionable scarf. This is what the campaign has descended to: lining the pockets of the Glazers whilst pretending to oppose them.
So what needs to be done? There is one thing that was touted as an idea for much of last season, but never formally organised: boycotting Old Trafford.
It’s a controversial idea, admittedly, and to some will represent the antithesis of what it means to be a football fan. But it needs to be done. Match day revenue is Manchester United’s primary source of income: if fans can convince the Glazers that they would be prepared to deny them this, then this is where they must be hit. The Glazers are on the ropes, after an almost unprecedented price freeze for the upcoming season. But United fans cannot rest on their laurels from here.
The only problem here is: this is Manchester United. The biggest football club in the world. If you get every die-hard United fan going to boycott a certain game, there’s still a million and one idiots ready and willing to take their place. Such a boycott would have to extremely well-publicised and generate a lot of support beforehand in order for it to go ahead. A badly supported boycott would only serve to highlight the division between United fans, and portray a campaign that people have worked passionately and tirelessly on as half-hearted. But the Green and Golders need to at least have a crack at it. Otherwise it’ll be just another season of waving trendy scarves.
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yea i will as i will be there with all the real fans who also dont want to protest, there isnt a massive pull on the protesters side mate, about 2% of our fanbase is protesting, naturally that aint an accurate note, but with 333m+ fans and only 161k protesters you do the maths and dont give me this the protesters are all local because their not, hundred of thousands of manutd mancs are not protesters. i do hate the glazers, but i wont protest and there never be a boyott. if you want to protest than fine.
and yes i do understand why you protest, i dont protest but i have listened to the protesters and why you do it so dont act like i’m some fool backing the glazers because im not. the glazers are trash but with no buyer the protest will lose steam and to what i hear the glazers are laughing anyway. you want to protest than fine, knock yourself out. i chose not to and i have the rights no to, all i want to do i support my club and oh yea, we will be challenging trophies for decades to come.
@AJ Let me clarify a few points you write in your post’s.And possibly explain so you can understand.
“Protest whores are still running there clueless mouths” Helpfull, then you go on to say!”Now we are stuck with these f*cking Glazers and there debt”That sounds like you are fooly backing the ownership doesn’t it.A “Money machine” you are not wrong there.For financing a Albatross of a debt around the clubs future.
You go onto say”we all hate the Glazer” and on”I will never protest” You mean in truth just bury your head in the sand. Expect other people to do the work for you to rid the Club of the things you hate.Is that correct?
If you new anything about how the Club is funded and the fine margin’s these people are working with I dont think you would be so confident.
This is my final post on this article because you clearly are just arguementative and are not willing to read digest and study the facts.
You continue “we will be at the top winning trophies for decades to come, debt can not stop us”
Let me just explain.Last years Champion’s league competition.We were put out bye Bayern Munich if you recall.They gave us a roasting in Munich, if you recall.Edwin van der Sar kept us in the tie if you again recall.Ok a unfortunate result at Old Trafford with Rafael unfortunately sent off, a error bye CarricK allowing Bayern to score.
The point is this we were eliminated fairly comfortably over the two legs.
A team that was defeated twice in its qualifying group and beaten in Fiorentina and got through on away goals in Munich.
So its not that simple just to type we will not stop winning trophies.
As I said do some research you will find the Glazer buisness model is based on champions league success.Thats does not mean qualification it means at a minimum reaching the quarter’s year after year after year.AT THE VERY MINIMUM.
The budgeting the have made is based on this.
As I have pointed out can you see how close and dangerous there policy is.
If you think we are in a stronger postion this year than last.I think you are deluding yourself.
But continue to decieve yourself and hide behind people who are actually trying to do something about the Cancer at Manchester united.
RedScot,
Well done for spelling it out.
redscot, the need to try and insult me, my intelligence and my loyalty have failed. i understant the situation pretty well, and by the sounds of it i understand it more than you do. i think your trying to fool yourself into believeing we are screwed, or are you another who has simply been brainwashed by illinformed people elsewhere. last yr we was screwed by those germans and thats a fact. only because you want to protest and i dont, you feel the need to attack, why?