Manchester United Fans Throw Tennis Balls Onto Old Trafford Pitch During Roma Clash In Protest Against Glazers And Jim Ratcliffe | Watch

· Free Press Journal

Manchester: Manchester United fans attempted to disrupt the Champions League match against Roma on Tuesday by throwing tennis balls onto the pitch at Old Trafford.

United was 2-0 down inside 18 minutes, but the protest had been pre-planned and flagged on social media earlier in the day.

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It ended up causing only a brief delay, with just a small number of balls being thrown from the Stretford End and quickly removed by players.

The protest was nothing like as disruptive as a similar demonstration by Celtic fans last year when trying to bring about a change in their club's hierarchy.

United supporters have long-tried to force regime change at their club with numerous protests against American owners the Glazer family.

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Minority owner British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe has also come in for criticism in the face of the club's on-field problems and increased ticket prices.

Ratcliffe, the owner of petrochemical giant INEOS, assumed control of the soccer operations after buying an initial 25% stake for $1.3 billion in 2024. Since then the 20-time English champion has fired two coaches, while Michael Carrick's position is under intense scrutiny after a troubled start to the season.

The Glazers have been unpopular among fans since their leveraged buyout of the club in 2005.

United went into Tuesday's game on a nine-game winless run and was quickly behind against Roma when Matias Soule struck after 11 minutes.

Seven minutes later, Donyell Malen made it 2-0 with a penalty. 

(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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