I‘ll wait with any sorts of conclusions until more facts are on the table but let’s say that I’m not exactly surprised.
United have millions of followers, in UK alone probably hundreds of thousands. In greater Manchester area you will probably find thousands of die hard supporters and among those I expect at least a few hundreds to not be afraid of using violence if necessary.
With that in mind I’m not even the slightest surprised that a few of them let their passion and anger take the best, or should I say the worst out of them. That they used “only” graffiti and some bengals is in my world a light protest in comparison. Mix alcohol and a little bit of drugs together with a bunch a testosterone filled young men and things can go must worse.
Edwards Woodward’s family is totally innocent and shouldn’t be anywhere near these protests but in the real world total consideration of any outside consequences isn’t always on top of these men’s priority list. Not to mention a proper consequence analyze before going into “action”.
Regarding the man himself I wrote yesterday on this place that he should sell his house and move far away from Manchester if I would have been in his clothes. Twelve hours later the timing of my “advice” was maybe a little bit to good to make me comfortable but the signs where on the wall to put it mildly.
It could be argued that protests are counter productive and maybe so but on the other hand let’s just say that the United hierarchy are aware of some supporters “feelings”. Good or bad is probably a matter of taste but the message is out there for all to see in case some of them wasn't paying attention of the atmosphere among us “negative” Ole/Woody/Glazers out supporters. (the last part was a joke just to make that clear)
In many other cultures these sorts of “actions“ isn’t exactly unheard off. Bitter rivalries, jealous dramas, collecting depths, drugs, mental illness, losing job or just losing face is often things that trigger the “right/wrong“ kind of peoples. Not to mention religious or political fanatics.
In United States and sadly many other countries massacres or shootings with innocent casualties is almost weekly news in today’s world so maybe this “soft” demonstration was preferable in the grand scheme of things. Anyway. I’m not surprised.
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