Today marks 10 years since Manchester United beat AC Milan 4-0 at Old Trafford.
The game is perhaps best remembered as a moment when Old Trafford was draped in Green and Gold, and David Beckham wrapped a scarf with those colours around him after the match as a show of solidarity with the fans.
Beckham had been part of the Milan squad that day, which was defeated by two goals from Wayne Rooney, and one each from Park Ji-Sung and Darren Fletcher. United had won the first leg 3-2 at the San Siro previously.
It was a moment where there was genuine hope that the ownership of Manchester United may change hands, five years after the Glazers bought the club.
A consortium referred to as the Red Knights, made up of City bankers and United fans, as reported by the Guardian, had made plans to try and buy the club.
The Green and Gold protest was eye-catching, and designed to add pressure on the American owners.
As reported by BBC Sport, United co-owner Joel Glazer said after the AC Milan victory: “To hate us when the club has been so successful, it’s extraordinary,” as revealed by a former advisor.
It’s important to remember the context of this. United were 18 months removed from winning the Champions League in Moscow, and had just lost the following year’s final to Barcelona.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s side had just won three Premier League titles in a row and hoped to add a fourth, ultimately falling just short.
Despite this success, United supporters always had the club’s best interests at heart, and were not fooled by the way Sir Alex Ferguson’s genius was able to paper over the cracks caused by the club’s debts.
Perhaps Joel Glazer gets it now?
The cracks at United caused by the Glazers takeover have become chasms over the past decade.
Ferguson finally retired three years later, and United have not won a Premier League title since.
There was no plan, no strategy, and the transition was terribly handled. The Glazers were asleep at the wheel. And let’s face it, they were never properly qualified to drive Manchester United anyway, a true Ferrari of a club, now owned by wheeler dealers.
Ed Woodward took over from David Gill and has looked like a total amateur, acting on the Glazers’ behest to treat fans as customers, and focus on commercial success.
The Glazers in 2020 seem more disinterested than ever. There’s no communication with supporters, and the latest set of financial figures made grim reading.
The Guardian reported two weeks ago that revenues are down 19.3 per cent in the last quarter, and that the club’s debt has spiralled to £391.3 million.
The club’s financial improvement is centred around qualifying for the Champions League, after missing out last season.
A recent Soccerex report valued United as the 16th most powerful club in the world, dropping eight places from last season, Sky Sports reported.
At this rate, United’s decay risks having the club fall back to total mediocrity, and at times it has felt like that this season.
Hope is despite the Glazers
It has a taken a more radical approach to put United back on track, a ‘strip it back and start again’ model.
Right now after a win over rivals City, there is hope that United are moving in the right direction again. The ‘rebuild’ could also unravel very quickly. There are big questions as to whether the Glazers care at all beyond what financial impact success may have.
The MEN reported last month that the Glazer family shared a majority of £11.4 million between them in dividends, a quarterly payout to shareholders.
They are taking money out of the club and profiting, while the club’s debt rises and has suffered on the pitch, in a stadium which also needs improvement.
Protests from fans have never reached the scale attempted back in 2010, which showed promise.
Plans for a recent walkout at Old Trafford had the right intentions, but didn’t have the desired impact, and the team’s recent good run of form has distracted from bigger problems.
10 years ago the team’s success was a big factor in the focus staying on the football, along with the Red Knights consortium failing to materialise into anything substantial. Right now there do not appear to be any credible buyers on the horizon despite loose talk of Saudi interest.
It sadly looks like we are stuck with the Glazers for the time being. Until an interested buyer goes public, or protests take a new, properly organised lease of life.
Remember that win over Milan. Remember how far we have fallen since. It really is sad.
In the meantime we can take some solace in that 10 years on, Joel Glazer must finally understand at this point why he and his co-owner family are hated by Manchester United supporters.
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