Manchester United is commonly known as one of the largest brand names in soccer. Not only have they won a staggering number of Premier League Titles in the years since the current version of the English Premier League started took (11). They have also won two Champions League trophies under Sir Alex Ferguson and won the treble in the 1998-1999 season. Their red jerseys are instantly recognizable to just about anyone and they have had some of the biggest and best players in their side to grace the famous Old Trafford Stadium. However more recently, Manchester United has come under a bit of an odd protest.

Scarves are a commonplace sighting at many EPL games, be it the modern versions with the names of the clubs or grounds on them, or the more classic bar versions with just two colors you can see in lack and white at Newcastle matches or blue and white at Everton’s Goodison Park. However for all the brand recognition that is the Red Devils of Manchester, you’ll often find fans holding up green and yellow scarves, not the red and white you’d expect. Why green and yellow? Why the protest?

Well like most things in the world, that is the fault of the United States of America (read: irony). From a period of time beginning in October of 2004 and ending in June of 2008, Malcom Glazer, owner of the American Football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers, went about the formal acquisition of the entirety of Manchester United for what ended up being approximately $1.5 billion. This would be the beginning of a fightback by a number of fans that wanted nothing to do with this American billionaire. Firstly, on June 14th, 2005 a group of Manchester United supporters left the club to form FC United of Manchester and begin as a non league side nine levels below the Premier League.

For the first few years of Glazer’s control of Manchester United the club flourished, but like most football clubs in the Premier League, debt was soon acquired and Malcom Glazer took the value of the club against it’s debt, leaving them in a fairly unfortunate position. They went through a number of restructurings in the next years providing opponents to Glazer’s time with the club more ammunition. In early 2010, supporters of the club hoping to protest Malcom Glazer, took to a non-violent protest of wearing Green and Yellow, colors of the precursory club to Manchester United, Newton Heath. This group became known as the Red Knights and began formulating plans to take over the club by financial methods. By 2009 the clubs debt was valued at 507.5 million pounds and any takeover bid was valued by Malcom Glazer at 2 billion pounds, to cover both his evaluation of the clubs value as well as the amount necessary to eliminate the debt. Recently there has also been talk of a Qatari Holding company placing a 1.5 billion pound bid for the club.

I am not a Manchester United fan, I don’t like Alex Ferguson, and I don’t care what happens to Malcom Glazer. However, I do care about the manner in which fans uphold themselves. And honestly I shouldn’t be surprised by the terrible pathway in which most Manchester United fans have taken in their so called protest. I have no issues with fans trying to buy their club, more power to you, and I definitely don’t have a problem with fans starting their own breakaway club. The thing that annoys me is fans who stand at Old Trafford, having already paid an exorbitant amount of money to get in the turnstiles, which goes straight into Malcom Glazer’s pocket, or fans who sit there in their brand new replicate jerseys, of which the money goes right to Malcom Glazer. If you spend your money in this way, then you have no right to sit there and pay what probably amounts to 15 pounds for a green and yellow bar scarf all to say you are protesting an American’s running of your beloved English Football club. The way in which you are spending your money is more supportive then protesting Manchester United in it’s current form. If you have a problem, don’t go, watch the match at a pub or at home (it’s cheaper) don’t buy a new jersey, jacket and beanie. Just support your team without supporting their owner monetarily. I guarantee that not selling out Old Trafford hurts Malcom Glazer much more then wearing a simple scarf.