Lee Hearn

mufc home and away! liveforever and attack!

[Tyrone Marshall @TyMarshall_MEN]

The bill for hiring and firing managers and DoFs in the Ineos era is set to hit £50million this week.

To put that into context, the mistakes of Ratcliffe, Berrada and Wilcox are costing United around £50,000 A DAY since Ineos' investment was completed in Feb 2024.

#MUFC

https://t.co/sYEKAYPBvH

[PurelyFootball ℗ @PurelyFootball]

This Paul Scholes clip from 2021 could easily have been recorded last night. 🤯

United had just overturned a deficit to beat Atalanta 3-2, and history repeated itself against Roma yesterday evening.

[Doves @dovesmusicblog]

Released on this day in 2000, ‘The Man Who Told Everything’.

Andy: “Writing this was kind of an exercise in writing about somebody else rather than about ourselves. The lyrics are about a disgraced, corrupt politician who sells his story to the papers and then buggers off.”

[Simon Stone @sistoney67]

'Stick your new stadium up your arse' sing @ManUtd fans.

[Simon Stone @sistoney67]

Home game v Brentford on 28 Nov will be @ManUtd first Sat 3pm kick-off of the season.

[Melly Barnes @Ta1kingTurf]

A long read, but its the truth!
I genuinely think we are watching football loyalty slowly die and I don't know what replaces it.
I've followed Man United home and away for decades. Thousands and thousands of miles, trains, cars, coaches, hotels, stupid kick off times, days off work and an absolutely frightening amount of money.
But forget the money for a minute because you can always earn more money.
You can't get the time back.
Weekends away from your wife and kids, family things you've missed, holidays planned around fixtures, getting home at stupid o'clock then getting up for work a few hours later.
And none of us were forced to do it. We did it because we fucking loved it.
When the fixtures came out you didn't think do I fancy that game?
You thought right, how am I getting there?
That's the difference.
And lately I've noticed more and more people I've known through football for years saying the same thing.
"They can have my ticket."
That's not normal.
These aren't people who started supporting United because they won a trophy last year. These are lads who've been everywhere following them.
And before rival fans jump on with the glory hunter stuff, that doesn't really wash anymore either.
Yes, Manchester United were ridiculously successful. We were spoilt for years and I'll never pretend otherwise.
But we've been mediocre for the best part of 12 years now.
There are kids going to Old Trafford today who've never seen Manchester United win the league. For some of them, United being bang average is basically all they've ever known.
What glory are they hunting?
They're still going.
Their dads and mams are still taking them. They're still buying the shirts, travelling away and growing up supporting United.
So this isn't about demanding we win the league every year.
Football fans can handle losing. Fuck me, we've proved that.
It's everything else.
You can have a Saturday night kick off now where you're £100 for a train, £100 for a hotel, ticket, food, drink and you're basically writing off 24 hours of your life. Sometimes you're fucked for work the next day as well.
And increasingly you sit there thinking...
What am I actually getting back from this?
Not trophies. I don't mean that.
I mean from the relationship with the club.
Because it doesn't feel like a relationship anymore.
It feels like a transaction.
You're a membership number. A ticket account. A customer.
And if after 20, 30, 40 years you finally say fuck this, you can have my ticket, it doesn't really matter.
Someone else will take it.
Probably someone who'll spend more money while they're there.
They'll buy the shirt, go in the Megastore, buy the experience, take the photos and maybe pay hundreds more for something that used to simply be part of going to the football.
Financially that might make perfect sense.
But I think football is playing a very dangerous game.
Because the people you're slowly replacing aren't customers.
They're supporters.
They're the people who went when it was brilliant and went when it was shit.
The people who knew everyone around their seat.
The people whose dad took them and who now take their own kids.
The people who didn't need a "matchday experience" because the fucking match WAS the experience.
And I don't even think this is just Manchester United.
I'm hearing supporters from other clubs saying exactly the same things.
Maybe we're just further down the road than some.
Football is becoming an event.
A day out.
A product.
Something you experience once and stick on Instagram.
And maybe that's just the future. Maybe old fuckers like me need to accept it 😂
But here's the bit I'd worry about if I ran a football club.
People aren't as angry anymore. They're just losing interest.
There's a massive difference.
Angry supporters still care.
They protest. They complain. They sing about the owners. They demand change.
When someone who's arranged their entire life around football for 30 years suddenly says...
"Know what? I can't be arsed going."

[Lee Hearn @ericislee]

@AdamCrafton_ Spot on

[WG RumblePants @WG_RumblePants]

Why does the One Day Cup feel so much fun this year?

Well, for a start it’s not trying to be something it’s not. It’s developed its own character and fanbase organically over the last few years (with minimal promotion and backing from the ECB, I might add). County fans have taken it, run with it and made it their own.

It’s also revived “festival cricket”, with many matches being staged at picturesque outgrounds in a relaxed atmosphere — very much Cardus’s “field of tents and waving colours”.

Young players are getting genuine opportunities. Instead of carrying drinks, academy graduates — the stars of tomorrow — are batting in the top order and opening the bowling.

But it’s not simply a youth tournament. Established county stalwarts have been playing alongside younger teammates while still producing match-winning performances. That blend of emerging talent and seasoned county pros has been one of the competition’s greatest strengths.

And it’s proper 50-over cricket. Innings have time to develop. There’s time for momentum to swing several times before the finish, and spectators get to enjoy a full day watching a game. The ability to watch a full day of play and see a result is perfect for high summer.

And — here’s the key — at a time when people are carefully watching their budgets, it’s a relatively affordable day out. Tickets are generally inexpensive, children often get in very cheaply, and supporters can watch from smaller grounds where they are much closer to the action than at many major venues.

The One Day Cup has become a celebration of county cricket for those who feel disenfranchised: festival grounds, emerging talent, experienced campaigners and a format that rewards patience and skill. It has a charm and an authenticity all of its own.

The Metro Bank Fever is strong and it appears to be spreading 🔥

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Catch the touts, don’t alienate the innocents. Manchester United are a great club but they can go about handling sensitive situations naively and, in this case, aggressively. On the way to a works do but needed to address this issue. Work with fans, not seemingly against them.

[Busby @Busbyx4]

You’re quick to call us the best! You’re quick to show us off! You’re quick to post videos of Crystal Palace away when we got hammered 4-0 on Wednesday night and we stayed for 30 mins after the game singing with a 4 hour trip home! You want to ban these fans!

[Mark Rogerson @MarkyRodge]

Competitive Mexico wins at Azteca since 2000, the teams they’ve beat:

Honduras x5
Panama x5
Trinidad x5
El Salvador x4
C.Rica x4
Jamaica x3
USA x2
Canada x2
Guatemala x2
S.Korea x1
Czechia x1
Ecuador x1
N.Zealand x1
St Kitts x1
St. Vincent x1
https://t.co/lKNVr3kV3A x1
Guyana x1

[Cheeses Of Nazareth @OhCheesesChrist]

"We are committed to building a world-class stadium with our supporters, not just for them, with atmosphere, affordability and accessibility at the heart of our thinking."

Collette Roche

When Collette says "with our supporters", I'd genuinely like to know which supporters she's referring to. Everything I've fed back through fan surveys, and everyone I know who regularly attends matches, whether they've been going for a few years or a few decades, wants to stay where we are. Spend five minutes on social media, and you'll find plenty of others expressing the same view.

If the club insists that the majority of supporters favour a new stadium, it should publish the data supporting that claim and break that data down appropriately.

The club can separate responses from match-going supporters, season-ticket holders, executive members and regular members from those who may never have attended a game at Old Trafford. If the evidence genuinely shows overwhelming support for a new stadium, then I don't see any issue with being transparent and sharing the results.

At the moment, we're simply being asked to accept the narrative. If the majority of supporters really are behind the project, then show us the proof. Transparency would only strengthen the club's position.

It often feels as though the strongest voices pushing for a new stadium are those who rarely, if ever, attend games. Without data to prove otherwise, it appears the drive for a new stadium isn't coming from match-going supporters; it's coming from owners who still haven't properly explained how they'll fund it. Prove us wrong.

No doubt a lucrative naming rights deal will contribute, but what about the rest? Personal Seat Licences? That's hardly a solution that improves affordability. Then there's the proposal for at least 25% of the stadium to be made up of hospitality seating. As per this post, match-day pricing of tickets is spiralling out of reach for many supporters (https://t.co/zMxUgcypIs)

Let's be honest: we're not even going to sell out a 100,000-capacity stadium week in, week out, especially at current pricing levels. The club has already priced out many of the supporters it will need to fill those seats. I'm sure the business model has accounted for these scenarios, but I'd question the credibility of those projections when so many loyal supporters are already being pushed away from regular attendance simply due to affordability.

There's little value in Supporter Groups approaching this from different angles. The decision on relocation and the new build is, in all likelihood, beyond the point of being reversed. What's important now is ensuring that, as Collette said, the club genuinely listens to all supporters, but also recognises the difference between those who attend regularly, those who attend occasionally, and those who never attend but still have strong opinions on what match-going fans should want.

What we need now is a united approach from supporter groups: a coalition with a clear, consistent message. Rather than working against one another, they need to be organised and aligned, ensuring that before any key decisions are finalised, supporters have meaningful input and the club is compelled to listen, learn and implement in a way that keeps as many regular match-going supporters on board as possible. Risking that, loses so much of what Manchester United Football Club is about.

[Cheeses Of Nazareth @OhCheesesChrist]

"Your tickets are secure, are you f**king sure"

​Despite Manchester United’s assurances that digital NFC tickets are fully secure, a major flaw in the @SeatGeek ticketing platform leaves supporters highly vulnerable to unauthorised access. By knowing a fan's Supporter ID and just their surname or postcode, anyone can unauthorisedly view, download, and use their tickets without the owners knowledge.

This has already resulted in legitimate ticket holders being turned away at both home and away matches because their tickets had already been scanned.

​The issue was deliberately kept quiet during the season to minimise disruption, but with the Premier League aiming for fully digital tickets next season, it must be prioritised over the summer. The risk is exacerbated by a club culture where fans have widely shared their Supporter IDs for ticket-forwarding purposes, and instances where Manchester United emails have inadvertently exposed this information. The author urges @SeatGeek and the club to implement a secure, user-led authorizlsation process rather than relying on flawed off-the-shelf solutions.

​To read more click here: https://t.co/exJIFmqQMC

Please repost, this is important for all clubs now digital ticket is the future, not just #MUFC

[Dan Whiting @TheMiddleStump]

Wow. Huge call here...

[Doves @dovesmusicblog]

Lost Souls. Released on this day in 2000.

Thank you for listening.

[Lee Hearn @ericislee]

@90sfootball Rumbelows cup final 1992 Man Utd 1-0 forest .

[Lee Hearn @ericislee]

That’s better

[Lee Hearn @ericislee]

@Luke_McDon15 🤣🤣

[Lee Hearn @ericislee]

Just listed to the latest Manchester is red podcast @TyMarshall_MEN @StevenRailston thanks for the shout out 👍🏻🔴⚪️⚫️ @ManUtdMEN

[Samuel Luckhurst @samuelluckhurst]

Former #mufc assistant Rui Faria: