Manchester United's Irish fans fuming with Alex Ferguson for damaging both his 'legacy and the club'
by Garry Doyle · Irish MirrorUnacceptable. Destroyers of a club. Creators of a malaise.
That is the view of two of Ireland’s most passionate Manchester United fans, men who have followed the club for over 50 years, but who spent yesterday following the march of 5,000 disgruntled United fans from Manchester city centre to Old Trafford.
Their protest was over the way the Glazer family and Jim Ratcliffe have run the club.
Yet if you think this is just a local dispute, well, think again.
This unhappiness goes across the Irish Sea.
Francis Carroll’s family were friends with Matt Busby. His father grew up on the same road as Liam Whelan, the Busby Babe who died in the Munich Air disaster.
Movingly, the protest movement who marched to Old Trafford yesterday called themselves the 1958 group.
Carroll says: “This all goes back to the Alex Ferguson feud with Coolmore over the Rock of Gibraltar stud rites. That led to the club being sold, the Glazers coming in and Ferguson accepting that family with open arms.
“Look at the club now. The Glazers have destroyed it. And Ferguson has been happy to sit back over the 12 years since he retired and watch his legacy be destroyed.
“The amount of money the Glazers took out of the club - reportedly £1 billion - is ridiculous.
“I would boycott United games altogether but I know that if I did, there would be five or six others who would take my seat.
“It is shocking to see. Success goes in cycles but there is a malaise within Manchester United and it stems from the owners. The cost cutting measures, where long-time staffers are losing their jobs, is obscene, especially as so much is being squandered on agents and over the hill players.
“No fan minds their team losing, so long as their players are trying. United’s players aren’t, especially when Marcus Rashford was there. Like, I watched the Italy v France rugby game a couple of weeks ago. France destroyed them. But the Italians never stopped trying.
“Those players get paid a hell of a lot less than United’s players. But they try.
“Do United’s players try? All of them?
“Do our owners care? If they did, they wouldn’t have allowed Old Trafford deteriorate the way it has, they would treat staff better, they would not allow a situation where we have a team that plays puke football. I have been going to Manchester United games since 1972. I cannot justify it anymore.
‘So are us fans allowed to protest? Is that acceptable? Too right it is. The Glazers are unfit to run the place. They have to go. The club used to be a community club. It is just dysfunctional now.”
Richie Fagan agrees.
His background story is different to Carroll’s in that he was born 15 minutes away from Old Trafford before moving home to Coole, County Westmeath in 2000, the town his father was from.
Like Carroll, his father was a friend of Busby’s. His father worked for United as did his wife, Marie, so the sight of job losses distresses him.
Fagan says: “I don’t agree with the Glazers being there at all because I remember when it was better. We used to be a community club. Now it is like being on Casino Royale except the Glazers hold all the chips and they refuse to spend them.
“I hate the fact they have upped prices, taken away concessions, taken away people’s jobs. My dad worked at United. Wy wife worked there. I helped lay the concrete on the Stretford End when it was being rebuilt. I hate what has happened to my community club. They’ve ruined it. We have to protest. We have to let everyone know we still have our pride, even if we don’t have our club.”
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