It was the spring uprising of 2021. Festering discontent over the Glazer family’s ownership of Manchester United erupted in fury over the club’s role in the failed European Super League.
A planned protest at Old Trafford turned into a riot, leading to the unprecedented step of calling off United’s game against Liverpool.
There was a climate of fear at the club. United chief Ed Woodward’s house had been attacked, masked fans had confronted Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and players at the training ground, and even sponsors were being targeted.
‘It was a really turbulent time and events were unfolding very quickly,’ recalls a senior source. ‘We were like, “f***ing hell, no-one signed up for this!”. You didn’t know what was going to happen next.
‘Every club faced opposition after the European Super League, but at United it was merged with a resurgence of anti-Glazer feeling, Covid and lockdown. It was a febrile mix.
‘A lot of employees are fans as well, and it put them in a very difficult position; 99 per cent of them didn’t know about the ESL and were also blindsided by it.
An increasingly rowdy protest soon escalated into a major security operation at Old Trafford when Man United vs Liverpool was cancelled in 2021
Festering discontent over the Glazer family’s ownership of Manchester United erupted in fury over the club’s role in the failed European Super League
‘Employees in a high-profile organisation coming under attack like that takes its toll. The resilience of the staff was extraordinary.’
Five years on, as United prepare to meet Liverpool at Old Trafford on the same weekend of the season, Daily Mail Sport has spoken to club sources and some of the protesters to find out the inside story of what really happened.
To this day, there is dispute over how an entrance close to the Munich Tunnel at Old Trafford was opened, causing an increasingly rowdy protest to escalate into a major security operation.
United sources maintain that suggestions it was opened from within by a member of staff are ‘nonsense’. They say that fans got through a side access door and then doubled back to open the entrance.
A video showing demonstrators streaming into the stadium is inconclusive, but one of the 200 who got inside and made their way out on to the pitch tells a different story.
‘No-one broke in, the stewards opened the doors,’ he insists. ‘The door opened and it stayed open.
‘We got onto the pitch and Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were in a studio on the scaffolding platform in the corner of the Stretford End near the tunnel. The abuse was mainly aimed at Carragher.’
Suddenly Sky Sports were beaming extraordinary footage around the world of protesters loose on the pitch at Old Trafford at a time in the Covid pandemic when they weren’t even allowed to watch from the stands.
Violent scenes erupted outside the stadium where police struggled to maintain crowd order
Some had a kickaround with the match balls, which disappeared along with the corner flags. A TV camera by the side of the pitch was damaged, and a flare was thrown close to the outside studio where the Sky Sports pundits were working.
‘A village idiot could have killed someone here today,’ said Graeme Souness at the time.
Roy Keane and Neville were more understanding of the fans’ feelings, which caused concern among the United hierarchy as they watched the events unfold.
‘Senior club people felt the live reporting blurred facts and blame,’ says an insider.
‘Neville and Keane’s general tone was that their opinion aligned with the demonstration. That was reflected in their coverage and one of the things that United felt incited fans to take it further. It was unusual for broadcasters to allow that to be said on air.’
One protester found his way up the players’ tunnel and into the United dressing-room where nine of the backroom staff had sought refuge.
‘We were trapped in there,’ one of the staff members tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘He charged in, ready to go crazy. Everyone just looked at him and he turned around and left.’
Another source points out: ‘Don’t forget, the Liverpool staff were at the ground – kit men, technical staff, the communications team – and they had to be protected too.’
Some had a kickaround with the match balls, which disappeared along with the corner flags
Protests against the Super League and the Glazer ownership ensured a febrile atmosphere
No sooner had the demonstrators been cleared off the pitch than another group of about 25 broke in by smashing a glass door to a disabled access lift which took them up to the concourse for away fans in the East Stand.
‘There was a shout of “they’re coming up” as the lift door opened and they all spilled out,’ recalls one of the staff who were working in the offices there.
A member of the hospitality and events team was punched as he tried to placate the group. Some employees used their staff cards to escape behind pass-protected doors while others dived behind anti-terrorist shutters just in time before they closed.
Looking down from the offices there onto the main forecourt in front of the megastore where thousands of fans had been massing for several hours around the Trinity Statue for the planned 2pm protest, one employee remembers seeing that the ‘demonstration had turned into a riot’.
Many of them had been drinking, but a fan who witnessed the protest turn ugly insists that the police were to blame.
‘They instigated it 100 per cent,’ he says. ‘They were barging people over and the violence started with police picking up a 10-year-old lad and launching him. Until then there was no trouble at all, but people saw that and had already had a few drinks.’
Greater Manchester Police had now taken operational control of the situation, working with United’s head of security and operations. He was updating the club’s leadership team on the ground as the Glazers watched the drama unfolding on TV in the US.
A decision had been taken not to risk inflaming the situation with a heavy-handed security operation, so even officers from the Tactical Aid Unit who rushed in weren’t wearing riot gear as they faced a barrage of missiles.
No smoke without fire… the distinctive green and gold smoke was a nod to the club’s roots
Greater Manchester Police had now gradually taken operational control of the situation
A total of 35 assaults against officers and stewards were recorded, injuring six of them. By far the worst was PC Jonathan Gallagher of the TAU who was hit in the face by a bottle and admitted later in the court case of a protester who received a two-year suspended sentence that he was terrified he had lost the sight in his left eye. Since then, safety spectacles are visible on all police on duty at football matches.
The police marched in two lines into the middle of the crowd with batons and shields and then separated, dispersing protesters by forcing them in opposite directions down Sir Matt Busby Way.
United and Liverpool had both submitted their team line-ups but neither had left their hotels before the game was called off at just after 5.35pm, little over an hour after it was due to start.
Solskjaer and the United players were following events from their base at the Lowry Hotel where hundreds of demonstrators had gathered to prevent the team bus from leaving.
More were waiting at the rear entrance to Old Trafford where the buses arrive, and where referee Anthony Taylor and his team of assistants were parked up waiting to be allowed in.
‘We were parked there for an hour and a half waiting for something to happen before we were told the game was being postponed,’ said one club insider who was with them.
‘I got out and there was Anthony Taylor and his assistants. I chatted to one of the linesmen and he had a meal booked in Manchester that night. He said, “I hope this gets sorted out or the wife is going to kill me!”.