Bottles, bricks, baton charges, snarling police dogs and arrests -
short of seeing an actual soccerball match, new MU Rowdies owner
Malcolm Glazer's three American sons couldn't have received a better grounding in the arcane delights of English football when they paid their first visit to the Old Trafford ballpark last night. The
behaviour of the fans will surely have puzzled the brothers Glazer -
having spent months fruitlessly trying to keep the Americans out of
their club, the hapless protestors spent yesterday building
barricades across several exits in an equally fruitless attempt to
prevent them from leaving it.
Today, a Manchester police chief defended the actions of officers who charged the Malcolmtents and denied claims that officers had been heavy-handed in using batons against the protestors. "In our view this was a violent demonstration that had the potential to become even more violent. We believe officers used the batons quite lawfully and quite justifiably," allo, allo, alloed assistant chief constable Steve Thomas. "Some of our dogs did bite United fans, but have been given tetanus and rabies shots as a precautionary measure," he could have continued but didn't.
This morning saw Hughie, Louis and Dewey Glazer pay a more leisurely visit around Old Trafford where they took time out to stock up on expensive tat from the club Megastore, before settling down to listen to some of club director Sir Bobby Charlton's interesting stories over lunch. "They know all about the history of the club, about Munich and what happened there. I think the club is bigger than the Glazer family, the players or the directors that have been here before. I am happy with what they had to say and feel better for hearing them," explained Charlton, as what sounded like the snoring of three portly yanks in the background threatened to drown him out.