Manchester United fans announce opening day protest against Jim Ratcliffe | OneFootball

A Manchester United supporters’ group has announced a fresh protest against the Glazer family and, for the first time, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, ahead of their Premier League opener against Arsenal.

The 1958, a fan collective, will march to Old Trafford on 17 August.

They will carry banners reading ‘Jim Can’t Fix This’.

Ratcliffe, who acquired a 28.94 per cent stake and took day-to-day operational control from the Glazers in February 2024, has overseen wide, often unpopular, changes.

The group has previously protested for ownership change through numerous demonstrations.

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The Manchester United fan group The 1958 will protest at the Arsenal game (PA Wire)

“It’s a new season but the same old ownership issues. Twenty years of the Glazers and their debt mountain is 20 years too long. Enough is enough,” a spokesman for The 1958 said.

“We won’t allow some natural optimism and a couple of shiny new signings to deflect from the bigger off-field picture.

“Jim Ratcliffe chose to get into bed with the Glazers and in our opinion is helping keep them in charge.”

The spokesman said Ratcliffe had once been seen as “a possible saviour, a beacon of hope”, but had since been revealed as “complicit in the ongoing erosion of everything that makes our club what it is”.

“This is no longer just about ownership; this is about survival – the survival of our identity, our community, and our values.”

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe took day-to-day operational control from the Glazers in February 2024 (PA Wire)

Ratcliffe suggested in March that he would walk away from United if he ever suffered abuse on the level of that directed at the Glazer family.

“It can be unpleasant,” Ratcliffe said in the Times. “And I’ve probably failed on the having fun front.

“I can put up with it for a while. I don’t mind being unpopular because I get that nobody likes seeing Manchester United down where they are, and nobody likes the decisions we’re having to make.

“Eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say, ‘look, that’s enough guys, let somebody else do this’.”

United finished 15th in the Premier League last season – their lowest top-flight finish since 1974 – and missed out on European qualification after losing the Europa League final to Tottenham.