Manchester United fans have started a protest outside the club’s megastore this morning against owners, the Glazers, that has forced the shop to close one minute after opening.
Fan protest. pic.twitter.com/PLECIgxAUa
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) June 27, 2023
The protesters have earmarked the club’s launch of the new 2023/24 season kit to register their dissent at the club’s owners, who plunged the club into millions of debt eighteen years ago by borrowing money using the club as collateral.
Fans have lined up outside the Megastore with banners saying “Glazers Out” and “Full sale only”.
And according to protest group The 1958, the protest has been successful, with the shop closing a minute after it opened at 10.01am.
10:00 Megastore opens.
10:01 Megastore shut! 👊🏻
DON’T FEED GLAZER GREED! 🇾🇪#GlazersFullSaleOnly pic.twitter.com/aKmP7zXX3n
— The 1958 (@The__1958) June 27, 2023
Shop is shut #BoycottAdidas #GlazersOut pic.twitter.com/0LZtOXOTPn
— 🇾🇪Wackydog🇾🇪 (@wackydog70) June 27, 2023
Your time is up Glazers#GlazersOut pic.twitter.com/dt5cwBNZuQ
— #GlazersOut (@YoungArab61) June 27, 2023
Some fans on social media have complained that targetting the kit launch is providing advertising for Adidas and the club, but whilst the old saying goes that “there is no such thing as bad publicity”, it seems unlikely that this is the sort of attention that the sponsors want.
Fans wishing to buy the brand new kit on day one will be left in no illusions as to the ramifications of their actions.
The Glazers announced in November their intention to “seek strategic alternatives” for the financing of the club, which has seen a protracted bidding war ensue that remains undecided.
Having originally promised the process would be completed in the first quarter of 2023, fans, players and staff still remain in the dark as to what the American owners’ intentions are.
Some still believe that despite receiving bids in excess of $5 billion for the club, which has a book value of around $2.5bn, Joel and Avram Glazer do not want to sell.
Reports have described the Glazer siblings to be at war with one another in a scenario like the one dramatised in the TV series “Succession”.
Qatari bidder Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani and British billionnaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe are the two main bidders remaining in the process.
Fans, who had been protesting Glazer ownership for years, are even more enraged that the delay in selling the club is having a catastrophic effect on Erik ten Hag’s summer transfer plans.