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One of Manchester United’s most significant supporters groups has urged match-going fans to wear black to Sunday’s clash with Arsenal at Old Trafford in protest over the Glazer family’s ownership and direction of the club.
“The 1958” issued a statement on Tuesday asking supporters to join a march before kick-off as the club deals with growing financial uncertainty and a historically bad Premier League season.
Last September, the club posted a net loss of $144 million in their accounts for 2023-24, while the latest figures shared in February showed they paid a compensation bill of £14.5 million ($18.2m) to Erik ten Hag, his coaching team and former sporting director Dan Ashworth after their respective dismissals this season.
The numbers also showed that United’s debt interest payments in the last six months summed to £18.8m.
Meanwhile, a number of cost-cutting and fundraising measures have been introduced since Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group completed a minority share purchase of 27.7% on Feb. 20 last year. The policies include the recent decision to make all tickets £66 regardless of age and two waves of redundancies.
Ruben Amorim replaced Ten Hag in October but there has been no upturn in form, the latest blow coming in a penalty-shootout defeat to Fulham in the FA Cup on Sunday.
“The club is slowly dying before our eyes, on and off the pitch and the blame lies squarely at the current ownership model,” The 1958’s Steve Crompton said in the release.
“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 club is going backwards and it’s likely to get even worse,” the statement added. “We urge fans to rise up, unite and join us at 3 p.m. on Sunday as we march to the ground and protest against the despised Glazers and the club’s deliberate assault on fan culture.”
United have been under the control of the Glazers, who also own the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, since a leveraged buyout in May 2005 that handed United more than £500m worth of debt.
Even before the Glazers bought United, they encountered hostility from the club’s supporters who were angered by the prospect of the previously debt-free and prosperous team being forced into taking on a huge level of debt.
It will mark the second successive week of fan protest at Old Trafford after United fans joined the Football Supporters Association’s “Stop Exploiting Loyalty” campaign over ticket prices against Fulham.
