As you might have seen, we took the unusual step of issuing a statement on Saturday evening after that utterly chaotic car-crash of a football match against Brentford.
MUST statement following Brentford 4-0 United
We don’t usually comment on on-field matters, but felt that we should make an exception on this occasion. After the disaster-zone of last season, and the tumbleweed of the transfer window (so far!), hopes were not exactly high entering into this term. But we don’t think many people expected things to be quite so humiliatingly bad as they were on Saturday evening.
As we’ve always said, a fish rots from the head. And the ultimate responsibility for the terrible state of our football club must lie with its owners, the Glazer family. It is now for them to explain to United fans just why we are in this state, and what they are going to do about it. We’ve had some difficult times in the last decade, but this really does feel like rock bottom.
We’re being asked a lot about protests at upcoming games (including Liverpool) and as we have always said we will publicise any credible, lawful and peaceful protest so that our members have the information and can make their own decision as to whether they wish to take part. We do not believe in patronising members by trying to tell them what they should do. These are individual decisions and it is essential that we all respect the decisions of fellow fans even if it differs from ours. Unity really is paramount above all else.
As we said in our statement on Saturday night, we as fans need to stick together. Unity is strength and one united voice directed to the club and owners is needed more than ever.
Aside from protests we will also be raising fans’ concerns directly with the club and demanding answers for supporters on issues including ownership, debt, dividends and team performance and the need for real change on all these fronts. We believe we should be using all means at our disposal to influence the club management and owners and there are different roles for different groups but we’d encourage individual fans to consider backing all different approaches. We all need to be tolerant of others views and choices even where they are not our own preferred option. It has always been our role to directly and frankly speak truth to power and we will never shirk from that responsibility.
Finally, the Full Members’ ballot on MUST involvement in the fan share scheme has now closed and we are now extending the consultation to our Lite and lapsed members and the wider supporter base. It is important to understand that as a membership organisation MUST is bound by the vote of our Full Members so that is why we carried out the formal ballot separately from the wider consultation. Whilst we understand for many that a long-term project like the FSS doesn’t feel as relevant when things are so bad on the pitch, but it remains important in the long term. The sorry state of United is in part the function of 17 years during which the fans’ voice has been too weak, and the FSS offers a route to begin to address that. We will announce the ballot result in the coming days and expand the consultation to ensure no fan is excluded from giving their views.
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