MORE protests are planned for Thursday evening ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League game against Liverpool at Old Trafford.
You don’t have to look far to see the top-secret extra measures the club has introduced to prevent the same scenes as the last protest earlier in the month.
Just to reiterate, protesting outside the ground is fine.
But when you see supporters breaking onto the pitch, damaging things, pinching one of the corner flags before snorting a white substance from it – a line has been crossed and it becomes embarrassing.
What was interesting over the weekend was seeing United have missed out on a £200MILLION sponsorship deal due to the fall-out from their failed bid to join the European Super League.
Pressure from supporters has forced Manchester-based company The Hut Group to withdraw from an agreement to sponsor the club’s training kit.
The #notapennymore fan group launched a social media campaign targeting United’s main sponsors and it appears to be working.
Whether or not the other sponsors and the likes of Adidas will do the same, might be tricky, because they are already in a contract with the club.
But if the fans are to get their wish for the Glazer family to sell then the best way to do it is to disrupt the numerous ways the club receives money – and the biggest payers are the sponsors.
I do hope the protests on Thursday highlight again the point United fans are trying to make and hopefully it’s conducted without some of the things we saw last time.
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A weakened United lost to Leicester on Tuesday evening but manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will field a far stronger side against Liverpool.
A United win will significantly dent Liverpool’s hopes of finishing inside the top four.
And even though they beat Jurgen Klopp's side 3-2 at Old Trafford in the FA Cup earlier this campaign, they are winless in five against their opponents in the Premier League – drawing three and losing two since December 2018.
Liverpool’s record away from Anfield isn’t great though in the league, having have failed to win at Old Trafford since the 2013-14 season, with three of the last four top-flight encounters on Man Utd's turf ending all square.
It’s due to be the 235th meeting between the teams in all competitions, with the Merseysiders recording 77 wins, in comparison to United's 89.
Whether the game goes ahead or not, remains to be seen, but hopefully the supporters make their point outside the ground and continue to make a dent in the Glazers' wallets rather than disrupting the team ON the pitch.
It’ll be an interesting summer at both clubs and the outcome of the game will go a long way to deciding whether or not Liverpool qualify for the Champions League.
A long-term strategy must be devised among all teams to improve ownership, and a good start is to disrupt the sponsor/owner relationship.
Tom McDermott can be found on Twitter here.
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