Whatever happened to Man Utd fans’ boycott?
Posted in News on Saturday October 1st, 2005 1:55pm
Iain Hollingshead in The Guardian:
Yet despite all the sound and fury, season-ticket sales have not suffered significantly. Average attendance has enjoyed a slight rise, while the rest of the Premiership has been suffering a stark decline. Fans even queued for autographs when Glazer’s sons attended their first match at Old Trafford, although one complains: “It took me longer to get out of the car park while they were smuggled on to a private helicopter.”
“We all felt that the focus would return to the team once the season had got under way,” says an Old Trafford spokesman. For the most part, so it has proved, with loyal supporters resorting to a very British sense of irony. “Rooney’s scored a touchdown,” they sang after the potato-faced striker put United 2-0 up at Goodison Park. The Mirror has had fun, too, with a regular column called Malcolm Glazer Talks Soccer. “Yo, Sir Alec,” it asked on August 29. “How many dollars will it cost me to buy this pitcher Flintoff?”
Not everyone has been so forgiving. Now playing nine levels below the Premiership in the North West Counties Second Division is FC United of Manchester (FCUM), formed in June this year by disenchanted Manchester United fans. “This is not just a reaction to Malcolm Glazer,” said one member of the steering committee. “It is about taking a stand for the vast number of ordinary fans who have been priced out of the game in recent years.”
Season ticket holders at FCUM are certainly enjoying excellent value for money on their £112 investment (compared with £684 for a season ticket at Old Trafford). Their team is currently top of the league and attracting crowds in excess of 2,000 in a division which averaged only 71 a game last season.
“There is a brilliant atmosphere on the terraces,” says club secretary Luke Zentar. Favourite chants include “Stand up cos you’ve got no seats”; “FC United, the only club in Manchester not in debt”; and “Marginson’s fruit & veg army” (Karl Marginson, the team’s manager, gets up at 3am every day to deliver groceries).
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