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Noisy Man U fans rally amid call for boycott

Resistance to Malcolm Glazer's takeover of the soccer team includes a proposal to boycott the club and its sponsors. Some diehard fans balk.

By PHIL DAVISON
Published May 31, 2005

MANCHESTER, England - The giant on-stage banner read Hasta la victoria, siempre (Until victory, always) although none of the noisy Manchester United soccer fans in the auditorium seemed to have any idea what it meant. They sang that they would "keep the red flag flying high" and handed out leaflets, also in Spanish, saying Viva la revolucion!

The revolution and victory they were calling for Monday was against Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer and his recent $1.4-billion takeover of their soccer club.

About 3,000 passionate, hard-core fans packed Manchester's Apollo Theatre, promising a war of attrition against Glazer and his family. This scheduled gathering was held on a national holiday, the spring bank holiday.

To a certain extent, the mood in this city, which gave the world the Hollies and the Bee Gees, is a shattered one. Manchester United fans are wandering in the rubble of their dreams, having watched their beloved team lose the FA Cup Final to archrivals Arsenal of London and fail to win a trophy this year.

At the rally there was talk of boycotting the club's sponsors, including Nike, Budweiser, Pepsi and Vodafone, and setting up their own brand-new soccer club, FC United - even though it would mean starting in the lowest of the amateur leagues and playing in public parks.

"Malcolm Glazer has bought stock in the company," said Andy Marsh, chairman of the Not For Sale coalition of fans. "He has not, and never will buy Manchester United football club." To wild applause, he continued: "Malcolm Glazer, you think we'll get tired, fed up, bitter and just go away? Well, you've got another thing coming."

Fighting words. It was difficult to gauge, however, how many of Manchester United's total fans - 60,000-plus who attend home games and 75-million more worldwide - would heed the call for a boycott of the club or its sponsors. Marsh said he would not renew his season ticket at the club's hallowed stadium, Old Trafford, next season. Others in the audience said they couldn't bring themselves to go that far.

"Glazer is an absolute disgrace," said 45-year-old Jimmy Waldron, a diehard fan born within a swerving free kick's distance from the stadium. "He bought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to "turn them around.' But we don't need turned around. We've been hugely successful. And I don't think he has any idea of the passion over here. Americans might watch a football game one night, a baseball game another night, but to us football (soccer) is a way of life. To give up watching the team to spite Glazer? I could never do that. It's in the blood."

Addressing both the fans and the club's sponsors, Marsh said, "Sponsors, be warned. Your relationship with Glazer won't be profitable. It will be a poisonous one."

It also was reported in Manchester Monday that Nike may consider an early ending to its lucrative sponsorship of Manchester United if the club's recent relative lack of success continues. The sportswear manufacturer is three years into a 13-year deal with the club, worth more than 300-million pounds (more than $540-million).

Longtime supporter Ying Soo, 57, raised the rally roof when he grabbed the microphone. He referred to Feb. 6, 1958 - a date people throughout the British Isles remember as clearly as the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. On that day, Manchester United's young team - known as "the Busby babes" after their manager, Matt Busby - was largely wiped out when their plane crashed at the Munich airport. Nationwide horror and sympathy turned Manchester United into Britain's favorite team.

Ying started reading out the names of the dead players . . . "Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards . . ." then turned to his fellow fans packing the auditorium: "What would they be thinking of all this now?"

[Last modified May 31, 2005, 00:45:11]