It has been the soundtrack to Manchester United’s matches ever since the Glazer family took ownership of the club.
Every game, the chants of “we want Glazers out” can be heard loud and clear. No matter what the score, or where the team stands in the league, the songbook has been this way since 2005.
All of which has led to some awkward questions for United amid allegations that they may have been seeking to turn down the volume on the protest songs and, in some cases, edit them out of their match coverage.
The 1958, a fans’ organisation that has been choreographing the anti-Glazer protests, claims it is deliberate censorship and evidence that United are “stealing our history, dignity and integrity with the way they act and constantly deceive the fanbase”.
United say there is no policy of censorship unless the chants are deemed offensive. But they also accept that, yes, there have been times when “we want Glazers out” has been heard in the stands but is not audible on clips used by the club’s social media accounts.
The Athletic has asked about three examples over the last year when there has been a clear disparity between what the fans have recorded with their own footage and how the club have presented it.
Example 1: August 26, 2023
Erik ten Hag’s team have won 3-2 against Nottingham Forest and the manager is walking off the pitch at a time when United’s fans are starting a sit-in protest against the club’s owners.
As banners are unfurled, thousands of fans can be heard singing “We want Glazers out” before a brief lapse to applaud some of the players as they head down the tunnel.
Numerous clips on social media show the Stretford End in full voice.
On the video that United released through their official TikTok account, Lisandro Martinez can be seen clapping back at the crowd and Casemiro does likewise when his name is sung. The next scene cuts to Ten Hag leaving the pitch while the Casemiro song can still be heard.
@manutd You helped us over the line, Reds 👏 #MUFC #ManUtd #OldTrafford #PremierLeague #TeamViewer #BringingYouCloser ♬ original sound – Manchester United
One problem: this was not what really happened at the time — and United now recognise that.
Ten Hag had left the pitch before the players, not afterwards, and it was a minute or so after he disappeared from view that the Casemiro song started.
So why did United choose not to use the real crowd noise? Was it, as alleged, an attempt to present a happier scene than it really was?
“Anybody who was in the stadium after the final whistle would have seen and heard exactly what happened,” says Matt, from the 1958, a group that decided in its infancy not to use full names. “United fans went straight into protest mode with loud ‘Glazers Out’ chants as the team left the field.“
The evidence is clear, he says, that “the club’s PR team have been overlaying their own audio to footage so the millions watching around the world think everything is rosy in the United garden. It’s nothing but a facade.”
United’s explanation is that they continued with the Casemiro song during the Ten Hag footage because it made for better continuity in the editing process. The audio was used that way, according to United, to prevent the 16-second TikTok clip sounding disjointed — not for censorship.
“We respect fans’ opinions and their right to express them peacefully,” said a United spokesman. “We do not have a policy of censoring audio, other than to remove offensive language to protect younger fans.”
Example 2: August 25, 2022
“A special unveiling for a special player,” read United’s Twitter account, posting a clip for its 36 million followers to see Casemiro being introduced to the Old Trafford crowd after his signing from Real Madrid.
A special unveiling for a special player 🌟
👋🏟 @Casemiro #MUFC pic.twitter.com/gWBDPCgU7V
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 25, 2022
However, it just needs a look through the comments to see the number of fans who were convinced that something fishy was going on.
Republik of Mancunia, one of United’s largest fan sites, is among those taking issue with the tweet — “What’s the original audio, lads?” — and so is the filmmaker John Warrington, a long-time United supporter, who was at Old Trafford for the relevant game against Liverpool three days earlier.
“Wow,” he writes, “The sound edit is right out of the Putin rule book! I was there and he (Casemiro) arrived out of the tunnel to a thunderous chant of ‘Glazers Out’.”
The fan footage appears to confirm the two clips have different audio.
#GlazersOut pic.twitter.com/WehiyjMfXO
— 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 (@McgintyPower79) August 25, 2022
This time, United’s explanation is that it is likely to be a production issue related to where the microphones inside Old Trafford pick up noise.
“Where a discrepancy occurs between our content and what is heard in the stands will usually be due to the positioning of microphones,” said a club spokesman. “What microphones pick up from around the pitch can sound different to what is experienced by fans.”
The club say they were aware of the social-media backlash at the time and it was reiterated to production staff that they were not to remove or obscure protest chants unless they were deemed offensive.
Example 3: September 5, 2022
Another post from United’s Twitter account: “The noise at Old Trafford was something else on Sunday!”
The accompanying clip showed the players coming out for their game against Arsenal the previous day. United won 3-1, with Antony, newly signed from Ajax, scoring on his debut.
“You can hear what it means to this capacity crowd at Old Trafford,” says the television commentator, as the players emerge from the tunnel. “Antony, experiencing this for the first time. What must be going through his head?”
🔊 The noise at Old Trafford was something else on Sunday! 👏#MUFC #MUNARS — Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 5, 2022
Compare that to the mobile footage filmed from the Stretford End, where United’s singing section is based, during the same moments.
@man_utd220
Just at kick off and after vs Arsenal #chant #manutd #fans #player #glazersout #glazer #win #victory #losers #cry
♬ original sound – Man Utd
Clearly, there is a disparity between what can be heard in the stands and what is presented on United’s social media clips.
United say the most likely explanation again is the positioning of microphones. However, the club have not entirely ruled out the possibility that, at times, there may have been some editing to this effect. If that is the case, United’s position is that it was not an official edict and the people at the top of the club would have known nothing about it.
What is known is that Sky Sports also received a number of complaints from United fans accusing the broadcaster of dubbing over protest songs.
Sky responded, via its viewer relations department, by stating that there was “no directive nor any editorial decision to mask specific chanting relating to Manchester United’s ownership”.
The broadcaster explained there were times when it had to “limit the audio” because of media regulator Ofcom guidelines to “provide adequate protection to audiences from harmful and offensive material”.
So who can solve the mystery of why the chants of “we want Glazers out” were not heard?
Sky says nothing was censored during the United-Arsenal fixture: “There are a number of microphones surrounding the pitch and the audio mix will focus on those closest to the play. This can make the sound on TV different to that which an individual fan might experience live in a particular section of a stadium.”
United say they do not consider “We want Glazers out” to be offensive, but that some of the protest songs do cross the line. The club’s in-house channel, MUTV, had a live post-match show after the Forest match and it showed the sit-in protest.
The 1958 organisers, however, remain highly suspicious because of what, in their eyes, seems like a deliberate attempt to distort what they are doing.
The relevant people also say there have been complaints of stewards standing in the way of anti-Glazer banners, allegedly to prevent them being seen properly on television.
“We have had numerous challenges with the club and their censorship of fan protests,” says Matt. “They (the Glazers) are the supposed custodians of our football club but treat the fanbase with complete contempt, all for commercial gain. They don’t care about any Manchester United fan.”
(Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)
