Expect more protests like this, says ex-star
RIO Ferdinand is expecting further fan protests and believes the tribal divisions between supporters are being set aside in a common cause – to force club owners to listen.
His old club Manchester United’s match against Liverpool was postponed on Sunday after a peaceful planned protest escalated into violence and an invasion of the Old Trafford pitch.
Ferdinand did not condone the violence which left police officers injured, but understood where the discontent has come from, and why it is likely such protests will be repeated.
“I’m with the fans,” he told Vibe with Five.
“We don’t want violence and I’m not condoning violence or any type of lawbreaking at all, but these fans have been shunted aside (and told) ‘you’re not a thought, you’re not a consideration.’
“(The protest) is the response you get when things like that happen, when you try and take over a club, and take it away from the fans and think the fans don’t mean a thing.”
The protests followed the aborted attempt by the Premier League’s ‘big six along’ with three clubs each from Italy and Spain to launch a European Super League on April 18.
The response of fans has been widely cited as one of the key factors in the ESL’S swift collapse, and Ferdinand believes there is now a realisation among fans of the power of working together.
“What you will see continuously is more and more football fans coming together on something like this,” he added.
“I don’t think it’s going to be tribal and that certain people are going to point the finger at Man United. People see that this was almost a criminal act on football fans.”
The Government’s response to the ESL news was to launch its fan-led review, which supporters’ groups hope will lead to changes in the governance of the game.
The purpose of United fans’ peaceful protests on Sunday was to speak out against the owners, the Glazer family, and try to hit them in the pocket.
However, football finance analyst
Dr Dan Plumley from the Sheffield Business School warns American owners have historically been very resilient to external pressure.
“One thing we know from history with American involvement in football clubs – and we’ve seen it at Arsenal – they do stand their ground, they are pretty stubborn,” he told the PA news agency.
“That is rooted in the way their sports are run. (Arsenal owner) Stan Kroenke picked up the Rams (NFL team) and moved them (from St Louis to Los Angeles) and nobody can tell you you can’t.
“You upset a full state by moving it, but if you’re prepared to do that then you can do it – you’re the owner. That’s just not the English model and that’s been the cause of the friction over the last few weeks.”
The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) has urged the Glazers to adopt a four-point plan, which includes the immediate appointment of independent directors to the board “whose sole purpose is to protect the interest of the club as a football club, not its shareholders”.
Plumley believes even the opening of communication lines between clubs and their supporters’ trusts would be a “first foot in the door” and does not believe the 50+1 model in German football could be “reverseengineered” into the English game.
He accepts it may be too late for even opening up communication to ease the situation at United now, and certainly a number of the protesters on Sunday made it clear they wanted the Glazers out of the club.
Forbes Magazine valued the club at $4.2billion (just over £3billion) last month, making it an asset within the reach of only the super-rich.
Plumley added: “There’s a potential for this sort of protest to cause damage to the valuation of the club. The angle is to hurt the Glazers in the pocket, but it won’t do too much, to be brutally honest.”
A fan-led review was launched in response to the attempted European Super League breakaway.
The review will look at the governance of the game and ways in which supporters can have a greater influence on the running of their clubs.