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Manchester United Owner Avram Glazer Refuses To Apologise To Fans Over European Super League Plan

Manchester United Owner Avram Glazer Refuses To Apologise To Fans Over European Super League Plan

Man United's controversial owner turned down opportunity to speak directly to supporters.

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Manchester United owner Avram Glazer refused to address fan concerns when asked if he had any comment for the club's supporters in a new video.

Approached by Sky News in Florida, the club's owner was given the opportunity to address widespread fan discontent, renewed by the farcical and quickly aborted plan to form a European Super League.

Instead - in scenes which may be familiar to Man United fans, who have long complained that the Glazer family have never communicated with fans since their controversial 2005 takeover - Avram Glazer remained sullenly silent to several questions.

"Do you have anything you need to say to Manchester United fans, Mr Glazer?" began Sky's Sally Lockwood.

However the 60-year-old, sporting sunglasses, a face mask and his trademark skullet, strode past without acknowledging her presence.

The reporter followed up with questions about whether an apology was due to club's fans or if this was the right time to sell the club, but Glazer gave no sign of even hearing the questions as not even a "no comment" passed from his lips.

Unrest among the club's supporters culminated on Sunday with protests at Old Trafford before the scheduled Premier League game against Liverpool. After several hundred fans entered the ground and demonstrated on the pitch, kick-off was delayed before the match was eventually postponed.

The plan to form a European Super League with 11 other clubs has made the relationship with the fans even more toxic.

Avram Glazer's brother Joel issued a statement in which he "apologised unreservedly" to supporters following the Super League backlash. But there's a widespread belief among fans that the Americans are absentee owners who only care about money rather than the heritage or long-term future of the club.

The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) have published an open letter to co-chairman Joel Glazer, on Monday claiming: "Let's be very clear that no one wants what happened at Old Trafford yesterday to be a regular event.

"What happened was the culmination of 16 years in which your family's ownership of the club has driven us into debt and decline, and we have felt ever more sidelined and ignored.

"After 16 years not one member of the Glazer family has ever had so much as a conversation with us, the club's Supporters' Trust."

MUST's four-point plan calls for the club's owners to engage in the the government-initiated, fan-led review of football; to appoint independent directors to the board; to end of the two-tier share scheme; and to consult with season ticket holders over any future plans to join another competition such as the European Super League.

The Glazer family are yet to respond to the appeal.

Featured image credit: Sky Sports/Twitter

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Topics: European Super League, Manchester United, Premier League, Glazer family