Bitter rivals united in strife

MANCHESTER UNITED and Liverpool may always be divided on the pitch – but according to worried anti-Glazer Red Devils fans the north-west giants are welded together off it.

After watching their great rivals get plunged into turmoil by financial strife encountered under American owners, United appear to be in a worryingly similar position themselves.

While sources close to the Malcolm Glazer family continue to insist there is no cause for alarm, the mere mention of United’s Carrington training complex, or the iconic Old Trafford having to be sold off and leased back, as highlighted in the documents championing the launch of a £500 million (€566m) bond issue, has been enough to set alarm bells ringing.

The perceived ring leaders of an anti-Glazer demonstration inside Old Trafford on Saturday were ruthlessly ejected by stewards towards the end of a 3-0 win over Burnley.

“All these years we wanted to get that 18th title to move level with Liverpool,” said Mark Longden, chairman of the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association.

“Now I wonder what the chances are of either of us getting to 19 in my lifetime, given the level of debt that is saddled around the club.’’

And, while the Glazer family at Old Trafford and Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Anfield bear the brunt of the ire among supporters, Longden feels England’s biggest clubs, and some of those underneath, have been let down by the authorities.

“When he was Sports Minister, Richard Carbon had the Glazers in his office,” said Longden.

“He gave them tea and biscuits and said he was happy with their assurances. They weren’t going to put the ticket prices up. They weren’t going to put the club in financial jeopardy.

“What is he saying now? The people who have the power could have done something – and they didn’t.”

Those words will strike a chord, not just at Anfield, but also at Portsmouth and West Ham, the other obvious troubled cases in a league former Birmingham owner David Sullivan fears will see someone eventually go to the wall.

The more militant members of United’s massive fan-base, the ones who filtered into O’Briens pub in Stretford on Saturday lunchtime to make their opinions known, have always been aware of that.

But the rank and file are getting their hackles raised as well, judging by the “We want the Glazers out” chant that emerged from the Stretford End on Saturday.

“A lot of people have been in the wait and see camp,” said Longden. “On the pitch, United have done well. Three titles on the trot and two Champions Leagues. Alex Ferguson deserves a huge amount of credit for that.

“But the figures are now there in black and white. Those people have waited and now they can see. And they are desperate for a solution.”