Match report: Aston Villa 1-3 Manchester United

Manchester United completed another second half comeback and kept alive slim hope of the Premier League title with a deserved victory at Aston Villa.

Defeat for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side would have handed the crown to neighbours Manchester City, but - after Bertrand Traore put Villa ahead - a Bruno Fernandes penalty levelled the tie before Mason Greenwood and substitute Edinson Cavani both continued their fine recent form with superb second finishes. Dean Smith's faltering Villains ended the tie with ten men after Ollie Watkins was perhaps harshly sent off when referee Chris Kavanagh ruled him guilty of simulation to earn a second booking. 

In the first of four games in eight days, the win makes sure of a top four finish and puts United to within one victory of the league's runners up spot ahead of upcoming home games with Leicester and Liverpool.
Solskjaer's United could be only four points off the top by the time Manchester City play again on Friday.

There were four changes from the XI following the midweek fixture with Roma in the Eternal City as Dean Henderson, Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay and Victor Lindelof came in for David de Gea, Cavani, Donny van de Beek and Eric Bailly.

Untied started strongly and went close inside the opening five minutes through Greenwood, when his effort flashed narrowly off target. Former Arsenal keeper Emi Martinez soon found himself a man under siege as he denied Luke Shaw, Pogba and then Fred, after the Brazilian tried his luck with a trademark effort from distance.

Traore went close with a deflected shot at the other end before Fernandes poked wide from a half chance inside the box after Rashford had cut the ball back.

United's no.10 then nearly put us ahead himself after Greenwood smashed the ball across the box, but Rashford was unable to turn the ball home and the chance went begging. 
Despite the Reds early dominance, there perhaps seemed a sense of inevitability when Villa struck the opening goal shortly before the half hour mark. Fred and Scott McTominay failed to cut out a through ball, Traore seized upon it, spun and burst clear. Victor Lindelof cut out the winger's initial move, but the Swede was caught napping as the ball deflected back to Traore and he made no mistake this time to thump home a powerful, well-taken drive high into the net beyond the helpless Henderson.

Fernandes almost threatened an instant riposte as he fired over from distance, before Martinez was twice called into action shortly before half-time.

The Villa keeper saved Rashford's 20-yarder and then Greenwood, dictating the pace and tempo of the game from out wide, stung the hands of the stopper, with Martinez forced to tip his shot wide at full stretch. 

Second half comebacks are becoming a welcome habit for this side and so it was to prove once again. Pogba went close with a deflected shot a few minutes after the restart and the same player was involved in United's leveller on 52 minutes. Douglas Luiz continually tugged the shirt of the enigmatic Frenchman inside the box, then booted him in the shin twice causing Pogba to go down and give referee Chris Kavanagh no option but to point to the spot.

The resultant penalty was never really in doubt as Fernandes stepped up to fire in beyond Martinez for his 27th goal of the campaign. 
But that was only the start of the comeback as United turned the game on its head four minutes further on.
Greenwood, superb throughout, shrugged off the half-hearted challenge of Tyrone Mings, rode another tackle and lashed in at the near post having been picked out by Aaron Wan - Bissaka. 

Maguire and Rashford both went close to a third, but Villa remained a threat and almost equalised - albeit inadvertently - when Maguire's accidental back-header had to clawed away by Henderson. Substitute Cavani, on for Greenwood, proved his prowess in both boxes as he denied Anwar El Ghazi with a brilliant defensive header.

Despite having little to play for, Villa did not diminish and came close again as Wan-Bissaka shut out Watkins and Henderson saved well to deny Traore.
Perhaps slightly against the run of play, the Reds grabbed a third goal to seal the win and the points three minutes from time when that man Cavani clinically headed beyond Martinez from close range after Rashford had picked him out.

Villa's day went from bad to worse as Watkins was sent off for a second bookable offence for simulation after throwing himself to the ground having skipped beyond Henderson.

That proved to be the final action of the game as the Reds completed the double to reach 70 points and remain on course for a second placed finish.

Overall team performance: 7/10
United Faithful Man of the Match: Mason Greenwood

Ten years on from Manchester United's last Champions League final..

Ten years ago this month, Manchester United were preparing for a major European final against Spanish opposition.
The tenth anniversary of that match - 28 May 2011 - comes two days after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United, circa 2021, take to the field in Gdansk for a major European final against, yep, Spanish opponents.

The difference being this time, of course, its not Barcelona at Wembley for the Champions League. Rather, Villarreal in Poland for the Europa League. The difference is striking. 

As United revved up to face Pep Guardiola's all-conquering Catalans in the capital, it came off the back of three finals in four seasons. We used to take such luxuries as an annual rite of passage the thought of going so long without scaling such heights again was unthinkable. Ten years without so much as a Champions League semi, never mind a final, would have seemed impossible to comprehend.

If someone had told you back then United would be in a Europa League final in ten years time almost to the day, you'd tell them to lay off the sauce.

Since that day, when even the genius of Sir Alex and his last great side (admittedly one already showing signs of rust) proved powerless to prevent the might of Barcelona winning the cup with the big ears, United have endured something of a love/hate relationship with the greatest and most prestigious competition in the club game.

There have been seven Champions League campaigns in the ten seasons since, but United have only made the quarter finals twice. We've failed to get out the group three times, with two exits at the round of 16 thrown in for good measure. David Moyes and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took the Reds further in the competition than their illustrious counterparts Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. For most clubs it would be considered indifferent, but for a club of United's size and stature it's a very disappointing recent record. One you could never have foreseen even in the aftermath of that chastening night at Wembley a decade ago. For the record, we don't expect to be winning the thing every season, but neither do we expect such a meek surrender when it comes to a competition held dear by everyone with Manchester United in their hearts. 

For context, several of United's biggest rivals have played in Champions League finals since we were last there, illustrating just how far the club have been allowed to slide. Guardiola had failed to shine in Europe since he so impressively put Sir Alex's men to the sword with that Barcelona side for the ages, but will look to do so again as our nearest and dearest painfully, but perhaps inevitability, broke their duck to go through to a first ever final. Chelsea, themselves looking to recapture the cup with big ears, stand in City's way in their second final since 2011 whilst Liverpool (twice) and even Spurs have all been present on the club game's biggest stage in the intervening years. As the blues of Manchester and west London lock horns in Istanbul on May 29th, it will be the third all-English final in the competition's history. 

The Europa League once seemed akin to a distant planet - alien territory and ground only trodden by the brave and intrepid. Yet the Reds have become unpalatably accustomed to the second tier competition with those seven seasons at the top table interspersed by time occasionally spent in the backwaters, like the time you drunkenly stumble across the smoking area out the back of the nightclub at 2am whilst searching for the exit.

Yet even that has failed to offer solace in these fallow times. We of course won it in 2017 under Mourinho to complete the set of all major honours, but there has been two round of 16 exits and last season's semi-final KO. As Solskjaer attempts to replicate the feat accomplished by his predecessor, you at least get the feeling that United have at least started the long climb back to the summit, looking to scale the heights of 2011.

Whether Solskjaer's United are good enough to exorcise recent demons as we have another crack at the Champions League next term, I'm not so sure. But, ten years on, we're certainly in our best shape than at any other point since we last faced the Spanish inquisition in a major continental final. 

Manchester United go through to Europa League final

Clear your diaries and get the champagne on ice - Manchester United are heading to Poland!

The Reds have made it all the way to Gdansk despite a 3-2 defeat on the night, as we conquered the Romans 8-5 on aggregate to complete the Italian job and set up a meeting with Unai Emery's Villarreal. 

After four successive losses at the semi-final stage, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has finally lifted the curse to take his Reds into a major final for the first time under his tutelage. It will be our eighth European final - six of them have been won - and will come twenty two years on from his most famous exploits as a player.

United will play the Spanish club on the 26th May, a date forever associated with the greatest feat ever achieved by an English club. It was on that day in 1999, of course, when United defied logic and rewrote history as Solskjaer flicked the ball high into the Bayern Munich net to seal a never-to-be-repeated treble.

Surely its fate on the anniversary that the man so intrinsically linked with that unforgettable season gets this particular monkey off his back and delivers United's first piece of silverware in four years. If he does, Solskjaer will become the first man ever to win a major European trophy as both United player and Reds manager. As United fight a civil war against the absent men in the corridors of power, the hierarchy can at least point to their show of faith in sticking with Solskjaer when the going got tough - faith that's now one step away from being rewarded. Patricio Mochettino was primed, available and reportedly wanted the job, but the board stuck with Ole despite what, at times, seemed to be overwhelming evidence to the contrary. For that, despite their criminal negligence and abhorrent running of our beloved club, there must be a modicum of credit.

The Europa League isn't where we want to be, and is it a trophy I'm bothered about? No, and it does feel a little underwhelming, almost as if we shouldn't be in it. I'm perhaps not as happy as I should be but it's important for Solskjaer and we're in the final of a major competition after a four year absence so it's definitely not to be sniffed at - particularly seeing as it's been far too long since Manchester United won silverware. 

 Jose Mourinho, the new manager of Thursday night's opponents Roma, was the last man to do it when we won this very same competition in 2017. 

Thoughts of a European final at the end of this strangest of seasons seemed a long way off when the 2020-21 got underway - even in the Champions League, never mind the Europa. 

Drawn in the former competition's group of death, the Reds made a strong start with wins over PSG and RB Leipzig before a shock defeat in Istanbul. United recovered to thump the whipping boys at Old Trafford, but the loss would prove costly when PSG and Leipzig took victory - the latter fatally - to inflict a painful and stunning early elimination on Solskjaer's side. 

That, of course, saw us drop into the Europa League as the group's third placed side and United have cut a swathe through the field en route to Gdansk. Whether you agree with the notion of failure effectively being rewarded or not, there can be few arguments United deserve to be in the final. 

United have been mightily impressive en route to Gdansk as we brushed aside Real Sociedad (4-0 agg), edged Milan (2-1), 4-0 over two legs against Granada in the last eight before we conquered the Romans  8-5 over the two games.

It all adds up to this moment - whilst an all-English final was widely predicted, Emery's team failed to read the script and sent Arsenal packing having held his former side to a goalless draw at the Emirates, going through on aggregate after their 2-1 victory in Spain. 

There will be no repeat of 2018 when there were two all-English European finals but Villarreal will present their own challenge - the Reds and the "Yellow Submarines" have met four times with each tie ending 0-0.

Something has to give and with the two sides leading the way at the top of the competition's scoring charts, another boring stalemate appears unlikely. 

There will be fans at the final with capacity expected to be around 8,000, so dust off your passports, get yourselves jabbed and let's get out there - Manchester United are on the cusp of European glory again.

Match report: AS Roma 3-2 Man United (Agg: 5-8)

Manchester United are through to the Europa League final in Gdansk despite a second leg loss to Roma in the Eternal City. 
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Reds will face Villarreal on May 23rd after Unai Emery's La Liga side knocked Arsenal out with a narrow 2-1 win and prevented the chance of two all-English finals.

In a thrilling, 13-goal semi-final, Edinson Cavani continued his fine recent run of form with a magnificent brace but Edin Dzeko, Crisante and a late own goal from substitute Alex Telles gave outgoing manager Paulo Fonseca a momento from the night, despite the fact his side were distinctly second best over the two legs having gone down 6-2 at Old Trafford last week.

Solskjaer - bidding to reach his first final in the United dugout after four semi final losses - named a strong side despite holding an almost unassailable lead. There were three changes from the first leg as Eric Bailly, Donny van de Beek and Mason Greenwood came into the XI in place of Victor Lindelof, Scott McTominay and Marcus Rashford.

The Reds, in their black and whit third kit, were immediately put under pressure by the hosts, not vowed by their almost impossible position in the tie. Gianluca Mancini was denied by a superb David de Gea save, before former City forward Dzeko headed inches wide having been picked out by ex Red Henrikh Mkhitaryan. 

The Giallorossi's strong start ultimately subsided as United took control. Cavani hit the bar with a lob after a defence-splitting pass from Fred with stand-in stopper Antonio Mirante beaten. 

The 34-year-old hitman went close again soon afterwards after Bruno Fernandes played him through with a gorgeous through ball. One on one with Mirante, you'd have expected the Uruguayan to hit the net but his strike produced a good save from the Italian keeper and fellow veteran. 

Roma, already depleted after a spate of injuries in the first leg, then suffered a further blow on the half hour mark when another former United man, Chris Smalling, had to be replaced by teenage midfielder  Ebrima Darboe, with Crisante dropping into a rejigged back three. 

Mkhitaryan went close with a diving header but Roma kept their foot on the pedal and almost went ahead on the night when De Gea tipped wide from Lorenzo Pellegrini and then held Mancini's follow-up effort, although had he scored the goal would have been disallowed for an offside infringement.

Five minute before the break, Cavani showed his immense predatory quality with yet another goal against the Romans - they must be sick of the sight of him.
Cavani started and ultimately finished a wonderful sweeping move as his delightful touch saw the ball moved on to Fernandes and he, in turn, played it to Fred. The Brazilian found his South American colleague with a perfect, precise pass and Cavani, eight yards out, was never going to err for a third time. The striker slammed the ball home high beyond Mirante to extend our aggregate lead to 7-2 for his sixth in as many games, his fourth in the Europa League and thirteenth of an increasingly impressive campaign.

Mason Greenwood, the youngest player to reach 100 games for United, flashed a shot wide before De Gea was called into action again, this time to keep out Mkhitaryan. Fernandes failed to connect having attempted a spectacular scorpion effort, and the Portuguese magnifico saw another effort narrowly off target in the final moments of the half.

Brandon Williams and Telles replaced Aaron Wan - Bissaka (who was on a booking) and Luke Shaw for the second 45 minutes with the tie over as a contest.
De Gea had become increasingly busy and denied Dzeko with another impressive stop, but there was little the Spaniard could do to prevent the 57th-minute equaliser. Almost inevitably, it was the Bosnian, so often the scourge of the Reds, whom got it as former Chelsea man Pedro's volleyed cross picked out the lurking Dzeko for a simple headed finish.

Three minutes further on and Roma had snatched the lead on the night as Pellegrini dispossessed Fred and found Crisante to smash in from distance.

The Reds suddenly and unexpectedly found themselves a side under siege. Out of nothing, United looked as if they could dramatically collapse only for De Gea to rescue us with a string of fine saves to deny first Pedro, then Dzeko and - most impressively of all - Mkhitaryan, all within the space of two minutes.

Another Roma goal would have set nerves jangling but United rediscovered their equilibrium and equalised through Cavani, yet again, on 68 minutes. Greenwood had fired wide moments before another perfect cross from Fernandes dropped to the man who simply cannot miss and his thumping header made it 2-2 and 8-4 on aggregate.

Mkhitaryan hit a post after Marcus Rashford's introduction with Cavani replaced having picked up a booking as tempers briefly flared. Roma substitute Nicola Zalewski restored his side's advantage with a volley which deflected off Telles and under De Gea. But United were never realistically in trouble and had long since done enough to seal our place in Gdansk for the final on Wednesday 23 May. 

Overall team performance: 6/10
United Faithful Man of the Match: David de Gea 

United facing fixture pile up in frantic fight to the finish

With the postponement of the Liverpool tie after a seismic weekend at Old Trafford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Reds face an exhausting finish to the 2020-21 season.

The hastily re-arranged home game with the men from Merseyside will now take on Thursday, 13 May, in other words a week from now. It comes a mere 50 hours after Leicester visit Old Trafford, with the fixture against the third-placed Foxes moved back a day to the Tuesday (11 May) with a 6pm kick off, in order to squeeze in the Liverpool match. Liverpool's game at West Brom - which was thought might be moved to a midweek slot to accomodate the United fixture - will remain on Sunday 16 May as scheduled. 

An already packed and heavily congested schedule has been further rejigged in order to fit in United's five remaining league games, plus the Europa League final which is scheduled three days after the culmination of the Premier League campaign, on Wednesday 26 May in Gdansk, Poland. 

As United head to the Eternal City to complete the job against AS Roma in the Europa League, it kicks off a frantic schedule for Solskjaer's United which will see us play four games in the space of a week, and three in five. Our revised fixture list is as follows:

Thursday 6 May (tonight) - AS Roma (A) - 8pm
Sunday 9 May - Aston Villa (A) - 2.05pm
Tuesday 11 May - Leicester City (H) - 6pm
Thursday 13 May - Liverpool (H) - 8.15pm

United's penultimate game of the league season will see relegation-threatened Fulham - Scott Parker's Cottagers could already be down by then - as the last visitors to M16 in 2020-21 on Tuesday 18 May with a 6pm kick off. If the Government's planned roadmap out of lockdown remains on track, a limited number of fans could return to Old Trafford in time for the Fulham tie, with more information expected on 10 May over whether restrictions can be eased further by this date. 

The Reds travel to Molineux and face Wolves in league match no.38 on Sunday 23 May where Solskjaer will surely have one eye on that impending European final, rounding off our domestic schedule at the end of a season like no other. 

With United already secure in the top four and with little chance of catching City for the title, these league  fixtures are effectively dead rubbers which should allow Solskjaer more room to manoeuvre when it comes to his team selections.
Squad rotation and management will be key as there's no way he can put out our strongest XI for every game. Every player in the squad will need to be utilised to his maximum otherwise the team will suffer from burnout and could go into Gdansk heavily overcooked - with the risk of fatigue, injury or burnout. 

Two wins against Villa and Leicester should make sure of second spot - where Solskjaer says he wants us to finish - so that means, in theory, a weaker XI against Liverpool. But despite the fact there is little riding on it from our point of view, the Liverpool game always means something as the biggest fixture in the English calendar as the country's two biggest, most successful and widely supported clubs go toe-to-toe. Solskjaer will want a strong side to go full throttle for that one, so he may opt to rotate against Leicester - four points and a place below us - saving his key men for the visit of Jurgen Klopp's deposed champions. With no rest and only a day between these two matches, Solskjaer's selections for both will be intruiging.

Football is a squad game and never has that old adage been truer here: the likes of Donny van de Beek, Juan Mata, Brandon Williams, Dan James, Eric Bailly and Alex Telles can expect more involvement in these fixtures as Solskjaer will be forced to shuffle his pack to cater for the rapid turnaround. 

Inside the protests that would become chaotic mayhem

Ironically, it all began at the very place Malcolm Glazer tried to airbrush from history.

Shortly before 2.30pm, they got in through an entrance in the shadows of the Munich tunnel - a symbol of our club's tragic yet everlasting bond with the European Cup. 
The Glazer family's criminal attempts to sever that tie with the preposterous European Super League was the cause of all this as a trickle - then a torrent - of fans smashed through Old Trafford's security defences to get on to the pitch - which is more that can be said for the players of United and Liverpool.

A planned protest which was supervised by a heavy presence of stewards and police ended up with fans on the playing surface kicking match balls amongst themselves, stealing corners flags, hurling flares at the Sky Sports TV gantry and ultimately saw clashes with police outside the ground. 
There must have been more than a thousand, gathered in front of Old Trafford in time for the 2pm protests with the eyes of the world on this small corner of Salford ahead of the most high profile game on the English football calendar.
There was nowhere near the 10,000 that had been predicted, but there was still a significant number and, ultimately it was enough to force an unprecedented postponement. 
Fans arrived from both ends of Sir Matt Busby Way, past the now obligatory anti-Glazer banners and the men adorned in the gold and green - the colours of United's original incarnation - Newton Heath.
Some came with young children - a strong message that here was a protest for all ages but one that would seem very inappropriate come the end of the carnage.

Fans congregated around United's Holy Trinity - George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law - immortalised in bronze in front of the Megastore. Old Trafford had sat dormant and silent for over a year with fans watching the matches from home amidst the Covid pandemic, but had now come alive again.

The first chants went up with more than a hint of menace but - still - everything remained peaceful.

"Joel Glazer's gonna die" went up as red smoke from the flares drifted across the forecourt to the thin cordon of police stationed in front of the entrances.
"How we kill him I don't know, how we kill him I don't care, all I know is Glazer's gonna die". 

A smattering of camera crews filming the protests were showered with beer (now that I don't condone - what a waste) - as the numbers grew and emotions began to run high. 
A couple of loud bangs signalled the official start of the protest and fans immediately began moving towards the stadium, edging towards the steel gates of the Munich tunnel and just a matter of yards from where United's hierarchy would normally file through to their seats.

More flares and further chanting as those at the front pulled and wrestled with the locked gates, eventually smashing down a door in the south-west corner - a door normally used for medical reasons. 
There seemed little resistance from the army of police and stewards, indeed so easy was it to outmuscle them and get through their defences that it made you wonder if they were in on it or, indeed, happy to assist.

Many fans got on the pitch through the disabled section whilst others slid down the tarpaulin and climbed over seats to get on the pitch. Some jumped on the goalposts and one man was knocked clean off the bar by another protester curling an inch perfect 20-yarder into the top corner.
By now things were turning increasingly ugly with a flare launched in the direction of Sky's outdoor studio housing TV pundits Micah Richards, Roy Keane and Graeme Souness.
At a time when Covid-free bubbles around footballers and coaching staff have been vital to the Premier League playing on throughout the pandemic, it had now become a nightmare for both clubs and the authorities.
A major security breach had put the match in serious jeopardy. 
Half an hour later, the pitch invaders emerged victorious at the rear exit to Old Trafford, hurried on their way by security and applauded every step of the way by fans who had gathered there to try and block the team buses from getting in.
Some more returned to the hallowed turf after kicking in the glass door to the disabled access lift, returning to a hero's welcome, serenaded as they marched back through the gates 40 minutes further on.

A police van and eight more officers were deployed there to ensure the safe arrival of the team buses that would never arrive as the United players watched the drama a short distance away from the sanctuary of their hotel rooms at the Lowry.

By now, things had invariably turned nasty. You always get idiots and, at the front entrance to Old Trafford, demonstrators had been drinking for several hours and started to hurl bottles and even metal security barriers at the police whom - up until then - had been very restrained.

Perhaps too much so. A police helicopter only appeared halfway through the protests and, despite the large number of Tactical Aid Unit vans, the officers were not wearing body armour or helmets. Faced with an increasingly unruly mob and a force under siege, the police advanced in two lines with batons drawn to split the protesting throng in half and forcing them back down Sir Matt Busby Way in opposite directions. 

The fans reacted angrily while others - including members of the assembled media - were caught in the carnage. More bottles were thrown and skirmishes broke out at both ends of the road as two separate stand-offs developed.

The only person left behind by police was a one man band ploughing a lone furrow in front of the Holy Trinity statue.
Undeterred by the chaos from all sides, the man played You are my Sunshine - in homage to United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer  - on a saxophone even if he had to compete with the noise of the helicopter overhead and hundreds of empty bottles and cans blowing the wind in front of him.

It was a bizarre image - perhaps only matched by one of United's corner flags being carried off down the road - to end the strangest of days. 

Power to the people after extraordinary day at Old Trafford

 Today was supposed to be the biggest match of the season but instead it ended with Manchester United and its fans hitting the headlines for an entirely different reason.

Fans initially gathered outside the ground with green and gold scarves - the colour of United's first kit from their Newton Heath days - with flares let off and chants in protest of the Glazers. A large protest had been planned and indeed expected before the heavyweight clash with the men from Merseyside - but no one could have predicted what would follow. 

Things began peacefully enough but quickly began to escalate as a 200-strong throng smashed through security defences to raid the pitch whilst there were reports of clashes with police on the stadium forecourt. Smoke bombs and more flares were let off with barriers and bottles thrown - sadly you always get a few idiots - as more fans gathered outside the Lowry Hotel where the players were staying in preparation for the hotly anticipated fixture. 

Eventually, the game was postponed on safety grounds shortly after 5.30pm - just over an hour after the scheduled kick-off. Both sides had submitted their team line ups but remained stranded at the hotel as the anti-Glazer movement took hold. My personal highlight was the sight of one of United's corner flags disappearing down Sir Matt Busby Way en route to its perch on top of a roof midway down the Warwick Road! 

Let that sink in for a moment. Manchester United's fans got one of the biggest fixtures in world football called off because of our hatred for the owners. What a statement. On a seismic day for fan power, the banner held aloft at Carrington a few weeks ago had it right: We decide when you play. It cannot be ignored any more. Power to the people. 

United were on the stock market before the Glazers took over in 2005, but we were debt free until the American owners arrived and landed the club with an enormous deficit in order to complete their eye-watering £790m takeover. They should have used their own money but instead borrowed it from the club. 
The debt currently sits at £455.5m as the Glazers take 200m dividends out each year having stolen 1bn over the past 16 years. By contrast, City's owners have put 1bn in since they arrived in 2010. 

They've treated the club as a cash cow, taking money out the profits while the interest repayment on the debt they forced on our club has been steadily growing all the time. A lack of investment into the team and the sight of a crumbling, ageing Old Trafford edifice is proof - if it were needed - of the sorry state of affairs. 

The lazy narrative has been United are only protesting now because there has been a relative dearth of success. But this is about more than simply silverware. This is about greed, money and betraying the most loyal and passionate fanbase in the world. These men have dragged United through the gutter in the name of a few extra pound signs. We protested in 2010 - shortly after United had won three successive titles and won the Champions League. The green and gold was out in force. There have been protests and anger for sixteen years, but the anti-hierarchy tensions have only strengthened with the grubby mitts of the Glazers the driving force behind the ill-fated and short lived European Super League. Enough is enough. Whilst the inception of the ESL may have come as a surprise to everyone else - for us, it really wasn't a shock at all. For us, it merely underlines the view that the owners of the greatest football club in the world - our club - only care about money and they have no affinity or affection for the world-famous 149-year old institution they are residing over. 

The sentiment never diminished - even as United surged to a final flourish with Sir Alex Ferguson's last great side. There has been consistent and increasingly vocal disenchantment with the Glazer stewardship with every passing year, not just because a relatively fallow era only exacerbated the failings, but in the shape of the tens of millions wittered out the coffers either directly into their pockets or because of the way they run this club. A protest of this size and of this power only seemed a matter of time. The ESL debacle forced our hands and proved the tipping point. 

What a time to do it - on the day of the Liverpool game, with the cameras poised and the eyes of the world on Old Trafford. No one will be talking of anything else. Sadly it's unlikely to make the smallest iota of difference - that will likely only happen when their pockets are started to get hit. But I'm not criticising anyone for making their voices heard, for taking action and standing up for what you believe in. I am proud of every single one of those fans in that protest today - we've proved again what a bloody amazing set of supporters we are. I'd have been there myself if I'd been able to. We don't yet know what the repercussions will be - if any - but I'll happily take anything the authorities can throw at us if it helps spark change. 

We can only hope this is the beginning of the end for the poisonous, parasitic, toxic and cancerous leeches in the boardroom. Somehow I doubt it but surely we cannot be ignored. 
This is only the beginning of the biggest fight Manchester United's fans - us - have faced in centuries.
#Glazersout