Man Utd fans' ownership protests intensify

To be clear, Manchester United 's fans have - to a greater or lesser degree - protested against the owners since the Glazer family landed £600m-worth of debt on to a previously debt-free club with their leveraged buy-out in 2005.

In their most recent accounts to 31 March, United had an overall debt of £1.3bn, including outstanding transfer fees.

Since then they have refinanced $425m (£314m) worth of bonds at a higher interest rate than they had been previously. They also took an additional $125m (£92.4m) but are yet to explain what the additional funds will be used for.

The club's current financial position will be revealed on 23 September when it publishes its full year accounts to 30 June 2026.

Ratcliffe's involvement promised to change the situation. Yet many fans argue that, if anything, things have got worse.

Ill feeling has spilled over since United launched a ticket-touting investigation in the summer.

Although they have admitted to underestimating the number of fans who shared their account details and toned down some of the threats around season ticket confiscation if supporters failed to respond as requested, United officials defended the investigation.

Last week, they revealed 685 fan accounts had been banned, with a further 464 either sanctioned or warned.

However, United added that "468 cases were resolved after supporters responded with the relevant information. No further action was taken, as the information provided satisfactorily explained the activity identified".

Huge numbers with flares gathered outside the ground, heeding a call from the 1958 Group, before making their way through the Munich tunnel under the stadium.

It was noticeable many songs were sung in direct protest against Ratcliffe, as well as the Glazers.

"We wanted the Glazers out and that will never change," said Steve Compton of the the 1958 Group.

"Ratcliffe came in and gave us a glimmer, but his idea of putting Manchester back in Man Utd couldn't be any further from the truth.

There were boos from the home fans at the final whistle, although it was not entirely clear whether the reaction was triggered by their team's performance or the officials over the controversial offside call that confirmed Erling Haaland 's second-half winner should stand.

Since Berrada spoke to staff, United have delivered their worst starts in three decades. Many United supporters feel an overall transfer spend of £148m this summer was not enough after Carrick's mid-season arrival led to an improvement that secured a third-place finish.

"I definitely appreciate the supporters," said Carrick.

"We want to try everything to make them happy. They're everything for this football club. I never take them for granted. I speak about that quite a lot, and it means a lot to me.

"I'm feeling for them today on the back of losing the game. We haven't got as many points as we would have liked at this point, for sure. There's no getting away from that."