Jamie from the fanzine United We Stand was among the fans who stormed the pitch. Brilliant is how he explains the day. Sunday was the greatest possible result. It was always the hope to get the game postponed or canceled – at least, it was the goal of a large number of us.
This is all because of the Glazers. It has taken a long time since we protested in 2005 [when they purchased the club] and again in 2010. I can imagine people thinking, "It's only that you're no longer winning anything." But that isn't the point; this is about a football team and the culture that supports it.
DON'T MISS:
My day began when I met up with some colleagues, had a drink outside the Tollgate bar, and then walked to the ground, where there were people shouting with banners and flares.
We also understood what was going on at the Lowry [the team's hotel] because we had contact with people there and knew they were attempting to stall the coach. If the coach did quit the Lowry, we planned to attempt to disrupt it at Old Trafford.
People began to make their way down to the Munich Tunnel. A gate was erected over it, and several citizens were able to get through it. What occurred next is unknown, but it appeared that someone opened an access gate from inside the ground.
I'd say 500 to 1,000 people got in, and this resulted in quite a number of us on the presentation. This was surprisingly calm: there was some vitriol directed at the Sky Sports platform, where the presenters were, but nothing too severe.
A flare was launched, but it stopped well short of the goal, and overall it was reasonably calm. This lasted around 15, 20 minutes, and everybody left fairly peacefully.
The impression was that the argument had been created, and we reconvened on the forecourt. More citizens entered the field – I was not among them – and when time passed, the police mobilized and began clearing the forecourt. Things became a bit tense. From what I could see, there were problems on both sides: bottles were hurled at the cops, they drew batons, and that was the end of it.
DON'T MISS:
Of course, we would have loved to have had a Manchester United-Liverpool match, but this is way greater than that. We don't mind if we lose points because this is our chance because the government is allegedly listening to us [following the failure of the European Super League]. Still, since I don't believe it would last in the long run, we need to catch this energy and ride it.
The decision to reach the ground was made on the spur of the moment. It has been discussed by many individuals, but you can find that no one is taking credit for the demonstrations and no one wants to get in trouble.
Will there be more demonstrations? Real. Maybe not on the size again since it was United-Liverpool in front of a global audience on a bank holiday Sunday, but there will be more.
I understand why others argue that a boundary was crossed when [entering Old Trafford] was unconstitutional, but there is just so much passive opposition can do. You can post "#Glazersout," but what good will that do?
I've seen photos of a police officer with a cut scalp – nobody condones that – but with a crowd of 10,000 people, you're likely to get a bunch of idiots. What was surprising was how many stewards said they were on our side.
There were a lot of young lads and lasses there, which was also encouraging. Will the Glazers really see us? So that's what we can manage. The only other choice, as many of us have recently discussed, is to remove your money completely by ceasing to play sports.
That does not go well with me. That's what I did for a couple of years in 2005, and it didn't make a difference. “I'm going to quit doing what I like that has been a part of my life for 40 years – am I going to let them win?” you ask. No way.”
The general outpouring of indignation about the Super League has given impetus: it's now or never. I've seen a lot of Liverpool supporters on social media who support what we've achieved. There had been discussions in the last few weeks of them joining us on Sunday, but it would have been too difficult to arrange. It would have made rather a joke.
Some also speculated that if United should have won the league on Sunday, they must have done so. It's a great issue. Hand on core, I believe some of us did, but I doubt you'd have had 10,000 people there.
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