Ferguson looks over his shoulder as the unrest mounts
Posted in News on Sunday October 23rd, 2005 9:31pm
The Guardian:
Sir Alex Ferguson quickly changed the subject when he was asked about the empty seats and funereal atmosphere at Old Trafford, but he will know it may not be long before Malcolm Glazer is asking the same questions.
Manchester United’s week thus far has seen one player arrested on suspicion of rape, another in hospital with a smashed cheekbone and the team booed off for the second time in three home games, but as Glazer scans the newspaper cuttings in his in-tray, nothing is likely to trouble him more than the first signs of supporter apathy affecting his profits.
United are in a privileged position when they can be aggrieved by a crowd of 60,000. The fact is, however, that England’s biggest club were genuinely taken aback by the swathes of empty red seats that were visible during Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Lille. It certainly did not feel like a competition that, to quote United’s manager, is “bigger than the World Cup” and if Ferguson were to flick through the supporters’ own publications before today’s match against Tottenham he might realise that his problems are worse than he realises. Far worse.
If the fanzines represent the view of the ordinary fan then United’s come across as cynical, disillusioned and rapidly falling out of love with the man who once had the league title returning to Old Trafford as if it were a homing pigeon. The criticism of Ferguson and his increasingly prominent assistant Carlos Queiroz is unrelenting, and the latest Red Issue argues that mutiny could have broken out long before the manager was verbally abused during the defeat by Blackburn.
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