The protest at Anfield

There is no better setting to scream than a game Anfieldand even more if it is the effervescent duel of the highest rivalry between two great clubs in the northwest of Englandthe most successful and the most hated. This time, however, on a frosty and unpleasant Sunday afternoon, after heavy snowfall across the north, the English ‘classic’ between Liverpool and Manchester United took on a different atmosphere. of unity and solidarity between the two fans, who defied the cold in simultaneous protest and together, around the stadium of Merseysidedue to the high ticket prices charged by Premier clubs.

The historic on-field rivalry was put aside minutes before Sunday’s game Spirit of Shankly, Liverpool animation group, and FC58, supporters of unitedthey chanted together in protest at the current cost of the seats. It was a powerful show of solidarity with the campaign ‘Stop Loyalty Exploitation’, sponsored by the Football Supporters Association (FSA) of English football. Demonstrations took place before the start of the match, around Anfieldand also inside the stadium, where a large banner was displayed where the home and away sections meet.

Both groups of supporters share a desire for football to remain accessible, with passionate fans in the stands, and to protect the culture and spirit of English football. Their protest has to do with the inertia of the clubs to remove the rights of subscribers and historic members in favor of bigger and more expensive offers for tourist groups and companies with strong purchasing power. They give as an example the decision of Jim Ratcliffe and his new team of leaders in Manchester United to introduce a fixed price of £66 for members mid-term, without any prior consultation. The commercialization of English football is at the heart of all these complaints. These groups feel increasingly marginalized and relegated to major decisions. Therefore, the fight is to preserve the tradition.

With increasing ownership by American investment groups taking over the clubs of premier -the latter is Evertonupon the arrival of Friedkin Group-, the followers of Liverpool and Manchester United They made it clear that their movement was towards “protecting the future of the clubs as a community” in the face of what they saw as greed and the Americanization of English football. On this occasion, the party with the greatest rivalry in English had, therefore, a demanding element of unusual unity, and had the strength to premier and clubs cannot and should not be ignored.

As it happened before in the stadiums of Tottenham, Everton or West Hamwhere black balloons are launched at every game at the London Stadium as a sign of protest, this front against the clubs is very worrying, given the expenditure requirements and the costs of their squads, which are increasingly expensive to maintain to balance the balance sheets and comply with the rules of financial sustainability, thus raising the prices of tickets and season tickets, hurting the pockets of their supporters. This general tone in England and the clamor for a response is a serious warning of the wave of discontent that has been building for months and which, if not stopped, could become a tsunami in English stadiums.