Manchester United fans told to wear black for visit of Arsenal in Premier League

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·4 March 2025

Manchester United fans told to wear black for visit of Arsenal in Premier League

Supporter group ‘The 1958’ are planning another protest

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Manchester United fans have been asked to wear black for Sunday's visit of Arsenal in the Premier League.

Supporter group 'The 1958' are organising another protest against the Glazers' ownership and Sir Jim Ratcliffe's running of the football operations, and will march to Old Trafford ahead of the Gunners clash.

Ratcliffe, the minority shareholder, has implemented a number of unpopular cost-cutting measures since taking control a little over a year ago, including up to hundreds of redundancies, the removal of worker perks like free lunches and the increase of ticket prices during the season.

Any changes have not helped on-field matters, with United at the weekend knocked out of the FA Cup to Fulham on penalties, meaning their hopes of silverware rest on the Europa League and they languish in 14th in the Premier League table.

“The club is slowly dying before our eyes, on and off the pitch and the blame lies squarely at the current ownership model,” The 1958’s spokesperson Steve Crompton said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The club is facing financial armageddon. Debt is the road to ruin. Sir Matt Busby would be turning in his grave at the current plight of one of the world’s greatest football institutions which is being brought to its knees and in many ways becoming a laughing stock.”

Crompton added: “The club is going backwards and it’s likely to get even worse. We urge fans to rise up, unite and join us at 3pm on Sunday as we march to the ground and protest against the despised Glazers and the club’s deliberate assault on fan culture.”

The protest will begin on Sunday at The Tollgate pub, will continue to the United Trinity statue and then down Old Trafford’s Munich Tunnel.

The request for fans to don black echoes the 2005 FA Cup final, held shortly after Malcolm Glazer’s £790million leverage takeover of the club. That day, inside Wembley Stadium, supporters wore black, along with black armbands with "RIP" written on them and black wristbands with the message "not for sale".