OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER enraged a group of Manchester United protestors by claiming hated owner Joel Glazer ‘loves this club’.
A group descended on the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground yesterday morning in protest at the Glazer family’s ownership and their attempts to break-away into a European Super League.
And they refused to leave the doors to the main reception until boss Solskjaer came out and engaged with them.
He did and they questioned him as to how he could ever trust the club’s co-chairman Joel Glazer ever again.
But Solskjaer jumped to his defence saying ‘Joel loves this club’.
It was a statement met with derision with a number of protestors firing back saying ‘he doesn’t love this club he loves the money’.
Solskjaer, 48, was flanked by coach Michael Carrick and technical director Darren Fletcher as he spoke with the group. Midfielder Nemanja Matic was also close by.
During the exchanges, which lasted just over five minutes, it was pointed out to Solskjaer that back in 2005 he was a patron of protest group Shareholders United and voiced his opposition to the Glazers imminent takeover.
They asked why he could use his voice as a player then but not as the manager now. He struggled to answer that one.
But the Norwegian will be asked for his thoughts about the club’s bid to join the ESL at a press conference today.
Despite some reports of the interaction between Solskjaer and the group being cordial, it did become heated at times.
The protest group were bemused when at one point Solskjaer went on about the history of United and even made a reference to Wolves in the 1950s.
One fan reacted saying ‘you don’t need to give us a history lesson’.
Former player Fletcher then started asking the fans if they did not believe the team was playing good football now and going in the right direction.
It was pointed out to him that was not what the protest was about.
He then got angry when one fan claimed right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka was not up to it in any case.
During the discussion a police van arrived at the training-ground car park but a member of United’s staff told them to stay in the vehicle and said that everything was under control.
Initially the group were told by another staff member that Solskjaer would not address them because he found them intimidating.
He was mocked with the group pointing out that former player Solskjaer had walked out at Elland Road and Anfield so how could he find this situation with a group of 20 fans intimidating.
The invasion of the training ground began at 9am.
The group were pictured holding up banners saying ‘Glazers out’, ‘We decide when you play’ and another which read “51% MUFC 20” which refers to the German-style ownership of clubs where fans have a stake.
The group had blocked the back of the route into Carrington with a van and congested the front of the lane with their parked cars.
It left a number of United stars stuck trying to get to training.
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Although a couple of the players did signal their support to the protest group when they finally came back to move their vehicles after speaking to Solskjaer.
It was all a clear sign that Joel Glazer’s open letter of apology for trying to break away into the already-shattered ESL has had little effect.
Glazer’s address came a day after his executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward quit as the whole ESL project collapsed just 48 hours after it had been launched.
The intense pressure from fans, the UK parliament, Uefa and the remaining 14 Premier League clubs outside of the group of six involved in the Euro plot, saw the rebels crumble.
Even the club’s own managers like Solskjaer, Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and Manchester City gaffer Pep Guardiola had been kept in the dark by their employers.
Yet they have been the ones who have been forced to address it while the owners who tried to push the idea through hid behind statements although
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Anfield bigwig John W Henry did make a video apology.
Fans groups at all six clubs — United, City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea — have refused to accept apologies.
The cash grab that threatened the very fabric of English football has left a simmering anger which will not go away — as Solskjaer found out first hand at Carrington yesterday.
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