Manchester United have confirmed their postponed home Premier League match against Liverpool, originally scheduled for Sunday, has been rearranged for Thursday, 13th May.
The match was postponed after United fans stormed Old Trafford in protest of the Glazer family’s continued ownership and their plans to involve the team in the disbanded Super League.
The decision means the Red Devils will play two games in the space of 50 hours as their home game against Leicester City has been moved forward a day to Tuesday, 11th May at Old Trafford.
Liverpool’s game at West Brom, which was thought might be moved to accommodate the fixture, will remain as scheduled on Sunday, 16th May.
Police said six officers were injured during the protests, which also saw around 200 fans break into the stadium.
Sunday’s game, which had been scheduled to kick-off between Manchester United and Liverpool in the famed Northwest Derby, became the first Premier League match to ever be postponed because of fan protests.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said, “it was a difficult day” for them, and added that fan protests must remain “civilised” in future.
Despite rumours of potential disruption to their travel plans, United arrived at the airport for their flight to Italy for Thursday’s Europa League semifinal with Roma without a problem.
The game in Rome kicks off what is now a busy schedule for United, who are second in the Premier League table and will have to play four games in eight days, including a trip to Aston Villa on Sunday.
- Thursday, 6th May: AS Roma vs Manchester United (Stadio Olimpico, Europa League semifinal second leg)
- Sunday, 9th May: Aston Villa vs Manchester United (Villa Park, Premier League)
- Tuesday, 11th May: Manchester United vs Leicester City (Old Trafford, Premier League)
- Thursday, 13th May: Manchester United vs Liverpool (Old Trafford, Premier League)
The Glazer family bought Manchester United in 2005 and transferred their debt onto the club and have taken over a billion pounds out of the club. (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)
Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers says he is not worried about the prospect of further protests by United fans and the potential for disruptions when they travel to Old Trafford next week: “We’ve got no concerns.
“Obviously we’ve seen the protest last weekend. We condemn any violence that was seen on the day, but certainly, for the Manchester United supporters there has clearly been a source of frustration for many, many years for them, and they come out to support the team and support their role within that.
“But for us, going there next week, we’ve got no concerns whatsoever. We look forward to going there and playing the game.”
The Foxes boss is right about the fact that his team has nothing to worry about. United fans have nothing against the away side or the players. This was a strong statement by the fans to stand up against the wrongdoings of the Glazer family that bought the club with a leveraged buyout to transfer their debt onto the club and have not invested any money into the team.
All the money spent has been from club earnings and nothing from their own pockets. The Glazers have led United into over 1 billion pounds of debt and also took out dividends from the club during this pandemic that saw the club record losses.
United fans are justified to be angry although their violent antics could have been avoided. However, you will always have some fans there who want to cause disruptions but one should not forget that most of the protests were peaceful and the underlying messaging was clear.
The LUHG Movement. (Photo: Leo Reynolds, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Manchester United fans want the #GlazersOut.
