Due to corporate hospitality, an 81-year-old Manchester United supporter is being compelled to vacate his seat at Old Trafford. This narrative, which was stoked by recent demonstrations against the club’s poor management, has come to represent the growing divide between the club’s legendary customs and the contemporary, profit-driven reality that alienates a large portion of its fan base.
During Sunday’s Manchester derby, Michael Carney, who has occupied the same seat since 1980, displayed a moving banner that read, “I was sat here before you were born” and “74 years of loyal support – for what?” His silent protest, directed at the directors’ box, encapsulated the feelings of many people who feel marginalised in the service of profit.
Hundreds of United supporters remained in protest at full time, expressing their ire over the club’s £1 billion debt servicing costs, the elimination of concession rates, and the increase in ticket prices for the upcoming season. The 1958 fan club organised the “sit-in,” which many saw as an impassioned protest against a future in which devoted fans, even if they can afford it, may no longer be able to witness their team play live.
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“We have identified a small number of general admission tickets directly adjacent to the home and away dugouts that will be converted to hospitality seats this summer,” he said at the bottom of his letter about Man United’s season ticket renewal.
“This will help to increase hospitality revenue and maintain lower general admission season ticket prices, reflecting the high value of this unique location.” We will have to find you a different seat for the upcoming season because your existing seat is part of this block.”
“It is very sad after all these years,” Carney said in an interview with BBC Sport regarding the forced relocation. You won’t be able to protest much, and they could place you anywhere. Leave if you don’t like it.
He went on to say, “They are brilliant seats,” “My position is exactly in the middle, halfway between the directors’ box and the dugouts. You grow used to that, but one way to look at it is that we have been lucky to be sitting there for all those years. For a while now, it has been occurring on an individual basis. You receive an email before to each game informing you that you can refund your money if you are unable to attend.
“The boys will ask the person seated how much they paid for it if you haven’t been. Usually, it would be between £250 and £300. Taking everyone out in unison is a fantastic method to see what they want to do right now.
“I was going to do it in the second half because I didn’t want to risk being sent out [of the stadium by stewards] in the first half,” he added, holding his sign high (see below).
“By the sixty-minute mark, nothing had happened, but I was expecting an injury. I just got up and put my poster up. They turned around and faced the directors’ box. Everybody was applauding. It achieved my goals and attracted a lot of attention.
Carney remembers watching players in person, including the Busby Babes, the Holy Trinity of George Best, Bobby Charlton, and Denis Law, Bryan Robson’s team from the 1980s, the 1993 league title finish, two Doubles, the 1999 Treble, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League-winning team.
He also possesses newspapers from the day of the Munich air tragedy, Best’s amazing performance against Benfica in Lisbon in 1966, and the momentous 3-3 victory against Real Madrid two years later as they received their first European Cup.
However, he and many other supporters believe the club is abandoning them, even though they could never have imagined doing the same, despite the dismal performances in the post-Ferguson era that have them teetering perilously on the cusp of their worst-ever season.
