While Manchester United’s players prepare for their final Premier League match of the season, another major event is quietly brewing off the pitch.
Protest group The 1958 has announced plans to hold a march before the game against Aston Villa—marking a powerful statement aimed directly at the club’s controversial owners, the Glazer family.
This upcoming protest isn’t just any match-day demonstration.
It’s timed to hit hard, landing almost exactly 20 years after the Glazers’ highly criticized leveraged buyout of the club in May 2005.
For many fans, it was the moment the soul of Manchester United began to fade.
Remembering Two Decades of Discontent
In their official statement, The 1958 didn’t hold back.
Titled “A Legacy of Ruin,” the message painted a grim picture of what the Glazer ownership has meant for Manchester United.
The group called May 2005 “one of the darkest days” in the club’s history, blaming the Glazers for gutting the heart of the club and turning it into a corporate cash cow.
Even Sir Alex Ferguson, who brought trophies galore during the early years of the Glazers’ reign, was described as a temporary shield masking deeper damage.
According to the group, once Ferguson retired, the underlying issues—years of financial mismanagement and underinvestment—became impossible to ignore.
Stadium Neglected, Fans Divided, Debt Mounting
From mounting debt to the deteriorating condition of Old Trafford, fans argue that the Glazers’ rule has been all about taking rather than giving.
The statement pointed out that the club is still drowning in over a billion pounds of debt—yet the Glazer family continues to cash in through dividends, year after year, win or lose.
Old Trafford, once a global icon of footballing excellence, is now viewed by many supporters as a crumbling shell of what it once was.
Meanwhile, lifelong fans feel priced out and emotionally pushed away, watching the club’s community values slowly erode.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Arrival Comes with a Cost
Even
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