Manchester United fans turn to green and gold to protest against owners

Some Manchester United fans are wearing green and gold to protest against the club's owners, the Glazer family. Six fan groups have urged supporters to bring green and gold balloons, scarves and shirts to the home game against Aston Villa and the Champions League match against Roma. Their aim, BBC Sport reports, is to increase pressure on the owners.

The Glazers took over Manchester United in 2005. Their ownership has angered many supporters ever since, and the protests have been growing. Fans handed out around 4,000 balloons in the Stretford End, the stand behind one goal at Old Trafford, The Athletic reported on 3 November. Before a recent kick-off, green tennis balls were thrown onto the pitch amid the protests.

The colours carry a long history. Manchester United began in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR FC. LYR stands for Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. The team was formed by the carriage and wagon department of that railway company, based at the Newton Heath depot, which is a rail maintenance site. By 1902 the club had become Manchester United and adopted red shirts.

Green and gold were the colours of those early teams, and the club's 1992-94 away kit paid tribute to them. Manchester United say there is no definitive proof that the colours were chosen because they were railway company colours, although a long-told story says they were. The protest has made the old colours a symbol again, and the wider argument is about who the club belongs to.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a 27.7% stake in the club in 2024. A stake is a share of ownership, so Ratcliffe holds a sizeable minority interest, not control of the whole club.

Much of the organising comes from the Manchester United Supporters' Trust, known as MUST. The trust backed a similar green and gold campaign in 2015, when it asked fans to wear the colours of Newton Heath. Its shop sells a green and gold awareness ribbon linked to the supporter group "Love United Hate Glazer", or LUHG. One badge carries the words "GLAZERS OUT" on the tail of its ribbon.

Anyone can join MUST for free as a Lite Member. A Full Member pays £15 and gets a vote on how the trust is run and on its policies. Full members can also stand for election to the trust's committee and board. Fees can be reclaimed as shop credit once a member has spent £50 in the MUST shop.

Green and gold have appeared at protests before. Fans displayed the colours at Wembley in 2010 as part of the ownership protest. Each time, the message has stayed much the same: the people who support the club want a say in how it is run.