Green & Gold update - New Season - Same Goal
Wearing Green & Gold is a highly visible and effective way for United supporters to demonstrate our opposition to the Glazer regime whilst still showing our undying love and loyalty for the team.
NEW POSTER IN CENTRAL MANCHESTER - NEW SEASON - SAME GOAL
Last season it was amazing wasn’t it? Nothing like it has been seen in the history of our club - perhaps in football. Supporters of other clubs may have come to mock it but we all know why - because underneath they were green with envy at the spectacular movement built by United supporters. They secretly wished their fans could do something like that. The reason the Green & Gold movement exploded last season has not gone away, and so neither has the strength of feeling amongst supporters.
So why should the single most powerful symbol of opposition to the Glazers abusive ownership disappear? (Apart from the summer weather of the early season meaning less people will wear scarves of any colour of course). The Glazers are still plunging our club further and further into debt. They’re still taking vast sums of United’s cash out of the club coffers. They’re still treating loyal supporters as mere customers, good for nothing but relentless exploitation. And they’re still failing to invest properly in strengthening the squad adequately enough to face the tough challenges that lie ahead.
Some might question ”What’s the point of Green & Gold this season - the Glazers don’t care” - but the important thing to ask ourselves is “What would the Glazers’ reaction be if there was no Green & Gold at all next season?” They’d be delighted, wouldn’t they? They’d take that as an indication that United supporters are weak willed and that we would give up our opposition at the first hurdle. We’re not - are we?
Ask yourself, too, what last season would have been like without the Green & Gold? Would the Glazers have been forced to freeze ticket prices for the very first time since their 2005 takeover brought astronomical year-on-year price hikes? Would they have been forced to delay taking out the Ronaldo money for themselves? Of course not. These are significant achievements, which show that the Green & Gold protest had an impact - supporters really do have substantial collective power. We’ve made some major gains - why take the pressure off now?
The mantra accompanying the birth of G&G was “Green & Gold ‘til the club is sold”. There will be some who saw it as a fashion statement - “G&G - that is so last season!” but for those who understood its true meaning and true power it will remain the single most powerful visual statement that supporters can make - particularly those inside Old Trafford.
The important thing now is not to let all that effort go to waste. We must continue to build on that success and go forward from a position of strength. Your Supporters Trust now has over 160,000 members, and we all want to see a change for the better at Old Trafford.
We have to ensure that we can soon be in a position to free our club from the Glazers’ grip so we can start talking about not merely freezing ticket prices, but bringing them back down to fairer and more sustainable levels. So we can start talking about not simply delaying the drain of money from our club, but of re-investing that money in better facilities and a stronger squad.
Some people have chosen not to renew their tickets while others have renewed theirs or will attend on a match-by-match basis. Some people didn’t want to wear Green & Gold last season while others did but are debating whether they should continue. Others still committed to wear Green & Gold until the club is sold. All these different positions should be respected. What unites us as Manchester United supporters is far more important than differences in the way we choose to express our support for the team or our opposition to the current owners.
We believe the Green & Gold should and will live on this season, in the spirit of our club’s original foundation as Newton Heath in 1878 - but we should all be relaxed about it. This isn’t a time to panic. The levels of G&G will no doubt fluctuate as events dictate the mood. It remains as that fantastic symbol of opposition for people to take up if/when they choose to do so.
This will be our movement’s most important season so far, but we’re confident that - as ever - United supporters will rise to the challenge.
Have you read these items too?
[1] The Red Knights - update
[2] Green & Gold - New Season. Same Goal
[3] United We Stand - Divided We Fall
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