Man Utd fans set to begin ‘constant, peaceful’ protests against Glazer ownership

Manchester United fans are planning to protest against the club’s Glazer ownership on Saturday.

A supporter group called The 1958 has organised a protest march that will end at Old Trafford before United’s Premier League game with Norwich kicks off.

The 1958 tweeted a rallying call to United fans – “The club’s a mess so we need to act and raise awareness again” – and said it would be the “start of the constant, relentless, peaceful and legal protests” against the owners rather than “another Liverpool”.

Some United fans stormed the club’s Carrington training base and many more then broke into Old Trafford before a behind-closed-doors Premier League game against Liverpool last April, forcing the fixture to be postponed.

“This isn’t another Liverpool,” The 1958 statement said in a statement. “We believe this was a one-off unique event.

“This is the start of the constant, relentless, peaceful and legal protests and actions against our owners.

“We know the challenges ahead of us and we will not waver or detract from these goals.”

The Florida-based Glazer family have owned United since 2005 and overseen a sharp decline in performances and results in recent years.

The record 20-time champions of England have not won a Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge in 2012-13 and no kind of any silverware for five years.

United have endured a campaign of turmoil, sacking manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November and slipping to seventh in the Premier League under interim boss Ralf Rangnick.

They are 23 points behind leaders Manchester City with seven games of the season remaining and out of all cup competitions.

A recent survey, conducted between October and December 2021 by the Manchester United Supporters Trust, found 78 per cent of respondents were “dissatisfied” with those at the Old Trafford helm over the past year.

More than three quarters (77 per cent) from the sample of 19,956 supporters also said they lacked confidence the club have “a clear strategy to return to the top”.

This represented a huge increase from the 36 per cent that said they lacked confidence the previous year.

The period reflects the 12 months in which the club were involved in the doomed European Super League project which resulted in an angry backlash against the Glazers.