Hundreds of Manchester United supporters stormed the pitch at Old Trafford ahead of their game against Liverpool in protest at the club’s American owners, the Glazer family.
It came after many more blockaded the entrance to the Lowry Hotel where the United players and staff are staying.
This afternoon’s Premier League fixture, set to kick off at 4.30pm, will be delayed. Representatives from the two teams and the Premier League are set to convene and discuss the situation at 4pm.
Both teams have been held back at their team hotel by Greater Manchester Police, while match referee Michael Oliver was also delayed in accessing the ground.
Officials at Old Trafford convened an emergency meeting to determine whether any Covid-19 protocols had been breached following the stadium invasion. Fans were not due to be in attendance at the game.
There were clashes as fans tried to break police lines outside, with officers drawing batons to keep the crowds back and bottles and other projectiles thrown. A line of riot police, backed by horses, pushed the crowds back from the area where the players will enter the stadium.
Just after what should have been the scheduled kick-off time, police succeeded in pushing back the crowds and clearing the Old Trafford forecourt.
Hundreds of Manchester United fans have stormed the pitch at Old Trafford in protest at the club’s American owners ahead of Sunday afternoon’s match with Liverpool
These were the extraordinary scenes inside the stadium as protesters breached security to get onto the turf just two hours ahead of the Liverpool game
One fan among those who stormed Old Trafford grabbed the corner flag as they stormed the pitch ahead of the match
The crowd that breached Old Trafford perimeter gathered in front of the south stand, lighting smoke flares and chanting
THE GLAZERS AND THE EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE
Playing a huge role in the doomed European Super League was just the latest in a long line of actions which has irked the United fanbase, leaving thousands disillusioned with their football club.
The Glazer family, along with Liverpool’s America owner John W. Henry, were said to be the driving force behind the plan which also brought in Arsenal, Tottenham and belatedly Manchester City and Chelsea. The latter pair were understood to be reluctant to put their names to the plan, and swiftly pulled out once the backlash was felt.
A photograph, taken in October 2017, showed United co-owners Avi Glazer and Joel Glazer dining around a table at a fancy New York restaurant, along with the fellow ‘Big Six’ owners.
(L-R) Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis, Man United co-owners Avi Glazer and Joel Glazer and Liverpool principal owner John W Henry met up for dinner in New York in October 2017. Was this the day the Super League took a giant step towards being created?
At the time, Sportsmail reported how television rights could well have been on the agenda of their meeting because the three sides had been agitating for a greater slice of the pie. But now experts believe the project that has sparked a ‘nuclear war’ in world football may have been on the menu.
Instead of splitting the income equally between 20 Premier League teams, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United wanted a model similar to Spain, where Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid – coincidentally also founder members of the Super League get more of the cash. All six are part of the ‘dirty dozen’ of clubs now signed up.
The extraordinary meeting re-emerged as UEFA’s boss has slammed the billionaire ‘snakes’ and ‘liars’ behind the European Super League as it was revealed Boris Johnson will meet the FA, Premier League, the PFA and fans today and vowed to give the £4.3billion breakaway competition ‘the red card’ even though rebel clubs are signed up until 2046.
A section of the United fanbase opposed Glazer’s initial takeover of the club back in 2005, particularly once they realised the level of debt that the club would have to take on after having been debt-free for so many years.
The much-maligned Glazer family have failed to get the fans onboard since buying the club as supporters continue to demand change
The way the Americans have been running the club has led to constant fury regarding United being used as cash cow
In their anger, fans launched a breakaway football club F.C. United of Manchester in 2005, which entered the North West Counties Football League and played in the sixth tier National League North from 2015 to 2019.
Since 2005, the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust has been working on a way of wrestling control away from the Glazer family and returning ownership of the club to supporters. In 2010, the fan organisation met with a group of wealthy United fans – dubbed the ‘Red Knights’ – to discuss a billion-pound takeover bid. However, the bid fell through when the Red Knights refused to meet the Glazers’ valuation of the club.
On 29 June 2005, on their first visit to Old Trafford after the takeover was completed, Joel, Bryan and Avram Glazer were met with protests by around 300 Manchester United fans who opposed the club’s new ownership.
Around 100 members of Greater Manchester Police were called to the stadium in an attempt to quell any violence, but there were reports of missiles being thrown at the police vans and strong, impassioned chants against the Americans; two people were arrested.
The vice-chairman of Shareholders United, Sean Bones, declared that ‘the Glazer family are the enemies of Manchester United.’ Club director and former player Bobby Charlton issued a public apology to the Glazers for the reception they received.
The debt taken on by the Glazers to finance the takeover was split between the club and the family; between £265 million and £275 million was secured against Manchester United’s assets, putting the club into debt for the first time since James Gibson saved them in 1931.
In total the Glazers have taken an estimated £200million from the club in dividends since they loaded £540m of borrowings on what had been a debt-free club when they launched their takeover in 2005.
United initially joining the European Super League has led to a wave of fans calling for change and caused the mass protest
Earlier, a section of the crowd shouted ‘we want Glazers out’ and ‘United, United’ as they ran onto the pitch. Outside the Lowry, others chanted ‘we decide when you play’.
One protester was filmed picking up a camera tripod from a pitchside media position inside the stadium and hurling it onto the pitch.
Others tried to get down the tunnel, while another took a corner flag and some swung from the crossbar of one of the goals. Many were clutching beer bottles.
Later, television footage from inside the ground showed a smaller number of fans still inside the stadium. Some clambered over the seating to taunt stewards before police moved in.
Thousands had assembled at an organised protest outside Old Trafford against the Glazer family and their efforts to sign United up to the European Super League.
Tensions escalated when police moved in to move the protestors away from the Old Trafford forecourt with batons drawn
Some fans lifted red barriers to hurl at the police lines as efforts were made to clear the Old Trafford exterior
Police attempted to clear the crowds from away from the player entrance and tunnel area at Old Trafford
Bottles and other projectiles were hurled at the riot officers from the protesting fans as tensions escalated
Riot police did manage to clear the area around Old Trafford at around 4.30pm – when the game should have started
A red flare is let off inside Old Trafford as Manchester United fans protest on Sunday after they breached security lines
The scale of the numbers protesting outside Old Trafford can be seen in this picture taken outside the east stand corner
Protesting fans set off smoke flares outside Old Trafford as they make their feelings known before some got inside
Flares in the club’s original colours of green and yellow were set off outside Old Trafford as fans made themselves heard
The Glazer family, United’s owners, signed the club up to the European Super League before making a u-turn 48 hours later amid a furious backlash
Thousands of United fans protested outside and inside Old Trafford against the Glazer family, who bought the club in 2005
Some demanded the installation of Germany’s 50+1 ownership model at the protest, which ensured voting right for the fans
Security personnel battled in vain to keep the protesters outside the stadium but barriers were kicked down
United were one of six Premier League clubs who initially signed up to the doomed Super League project last month. They all withdrew 48 hours later following a furious backlash from the wider football community.
Joel Glazer made an apology to supporters for signing up to the doomed Super League project but many United fans carried placards at the protest reading ‘apology not accepted’.
The departure of the team bus on the short journey from the Lowry Hotel in central Manchester to Old Trafford was delayed as police tried to force back the crowds and restore order.
A ring of riot police surrounded the steps leading up to the hotel entrance to allow the players to board the team coach safely but the United squad remained at the hotel an hour before kick-off.
Players were spotted looking out of windows on the third and fourth floors of the hotel as they awaited news as to whether the match would go ahead as planned.
Smoke bombs were set off both outside the Lowry and outside Old Trafford. Dozens of police in riot gear lined up to keep protesters at a safe distance from the entrance to the upmarket hotel.
A police officer deals with a smoke flare thrown through a glass window inside Old Trafford after fans breached the ground
Angry fans make their feeling known outside Old Trafford as part of Sunday’s protests against the unpopular Glazer family
Fans light coloured smoke flares in front of the ‘United Trinity’ statue of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton
Fans told the glazer family their apology over joining the breakaway European Super League wasn’t accepted
Fans in green and gold protest scarves chant outside Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon ahead of the match with Liverpool
At Old Trafford, it is believed those who gained access to the ground did so via the Munich Tunnel, after pushing down barriers, despite the attempts of security guards to prevent that happening.
Once inside, they kicked footballs laid out for the pre-match warm-ups. Many of the fans wore green and gold scarves – the colours of Newton Heath, the predecessor of Man United – which have become emblematic of the anti-Glazer movement.
But the crowd did quickly disperse back outside the stadium after a few minutes at around 2.20pm, just over two hours before kick-off.
However, TV footage did later show a small pocket of protesters still in the stands in a corner of the stadium an hour later.
Some were filmed climbing over seats to goad security personnel in one corner of the stadium before police managed to move the group out through the tunnel area by the Stretford End.
The match carries great significance to the Premier League title race as Manchester City will be confirmed as champions if Liverpool beat United.
Speaking on Sky Sports, former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher said: ‘The feeling of Manchester United and Arsenal fans towards their owners was a lot bigger than the Super League. I think that’s why they’ve protested so much.
‘This is not just about the Super League for Manchester United – this goes back 10 or 15 years ago when they were taking money out of the bank and charging season ticket holders if they didn’t want to go to a Carling Cup game, or maybe a Europa League game and just taking money off fans.
United were one of six Premier League teams signed up to the European Super League project – before being forced to u-turn
A masked supporter in a green and gold scarf with a smoke flare outside Old Trafford during Sunday afternoon’s protests
‘I totally get the frustration of Manchester United fans, and Arsenal fans, I think they’re in a similar situation with their owners. Every football fan in some way should stand with them.
‘We don’t want to see games called off, no-one wants to see that, but supporters are frustrated with the ownership of their own clubs. What we spoke about with the Super League, and supporters stopping that – we saw the scenes at Chelsea as well – supporters coming together is powerful.
‘Me even as a Liverpool fan, being part of those six clubs that tried to move away, I cannot criticise Manchester United fans for how they’ve gone about things basically.
‘An ownership running their club for the last 15 years has had no thought whatsoever for them. They do spend a lot of money, but I go back to what they did with the season tickets and they state of the club now compared to when they first came in.’
