Why United fans must remain just that at Old Trafford

Frank Scicluna from TrulyReds.com gives his opinion about the current situation at Old Trafford.

Despite the wonderful season being enjoyed by Manchester United thus far, the ongoing ownership saga continues to cast a dark shadow over the club for many supporters. The very thought that the vast debts inflicted on it by the Glazer family can eventually have unimaginable consequences has resulted in the possibility of a damaging division being created amongst those same fans.

Nothing is more essential in any war than unity – and without wishing to sound dramatic, it is nothing short of war that the club is going through. The very thought that  the owners may one day be legally forced to sell the iconic Old Trafford in order to meet their financial obligations fills every fiber of the body with absolute revulsion.

Granted the chances of that ever happening are slight, the likelihood highly improbable yet the very fact that a nuclear option such as that is even imaginable is totally unacceptable. The Glazers MUST go, it’s as simple as that and the vast majority fans are tightly united. The danger of division amongst them lies in the method of how to best achieve that objective.

To accept any person or group who may come along is tempting for some “Anyone is preferable to those sharks” is their thinking and it’s hard to blame them. Others insist that “The devil you know is sometimes better than the one you don’t” which is where the potential for damaging division can come in. Maybe the obvious answer is to get to know who that possible new “devil” really is.

The emergence of the appropriately self titled “Red Knights” have been questioned by some and generously welcomed by others. The group is after all the possible new saviors who may be able to succeed in exorcising the Glazers from Old Trafford. Those greetings however must be tempered with an acceptance that so much more needs to be discovered about their plans and indeed about themselves.

A major concern is that the Knights have been so readily accepted by so many at face value without any questions ever being asked! Can that be a sign of naïve trust borne out of desperation to rid the club of owners who are perceived as having no understanding nor feeling for the game? Offended that their highly leveraged ownership is only a vehicle capable of earning them vast amount of cash to fill their own coffers with?

One of the few, publicly revealed plans by the Knights which were eagerly endorsed by fans is their proposal to convert United into a so called community based football club on the same lines as that of Spanish giants Barcelona. While such a theory sounds like a wonderfully exciting concept, many more details of how such a club can operate in practice needs to be released.

United fans have got to retain their unity and patiently wait for the whole drama to be resolved in its own time. Make no mistake, the Glaziers WILL eventually sell the club, either on their own accord or by finding themselves with no other choice but to relinquish it. Until that time arrives neither the Red Knights nor anyone else can force the owners to sell if they are stubbornly determined not to.

Manchester United has been in existence for over one hundred years and it will still be here in another hundred, their worried fans can surely wait just a few more for it to have the sort of ownership that a club with its class and history deserves.

Read more Articles from Frank Scicluna at Truly Reds