Manchester U 3 Burnley 0:THINGS YOU never expect to hear at the home of Manchester United: Burnley fans singing, "We've got more money than you." Old Trafford stewed for a few moments. Then the rumble began, a visceral chant passing up from the gut and around the ground. It was the day the supporters of England's biggest club released their pent-up frustration, louder and angrier than before, a Doppler effect of dissent to record their revulsion for the ruling Glazer family.
It felt like a stadium trying to find its voice and demanding to be heard. A banner was draped over the Stretford End hoardings. It read: “Love United, hate the Glazers”, and a posse of slack-jawed heavies in fluorescent orange jackets rushed to remove it. The volume turned up again.
Whether it will register in Florida is debatable but the supporters can at least say they are standing up for what they believe is right at a time when Alex Ferguson, the old streetfighter who once described himself as the “bridge” between the club and supporters, has decided this is one scrap in which he would rather melt into the shadows. Ferguson once said he could never be the boss’s man, that it would be a “heinous crime”. Now he cosies up to the Glazers and hides behind a statement saying he cannot comment about the club’s perilous financial position because of “regulatory requirements”.
He could: Old Trafford is not the Stock Exchange, and United are no longer a plc. But Ferguson’s only post-match interview these days is with MUTV and the issue was obediently ignored.
This is a match report, of course, and should focus on the events on the pitch rather than off it. But on Saturday it felt as though the two were intrinsically linked. The score tells a deceptive story when you consider that Burnley created as many chances as any other side at Old Trafford this season, striking the post twice as well as squandering two one-on-ones with the game goalless. It was strange to see United labour so badly against the worst travellers in the Premier League, a side with one away point all season. And the performance did little to appease the sense of frustration in the stands.
Ferguson admitted United could have been “embarrassed” and acknowledged the margin of victory was unjust for their opponents and Brian Laws, taking charge of his first Burnley game after replacing Owen Coyle.
It was another United performance that never got above six out of 10 and Laws must have been encouraged by his first assignment. For more than an hour, the game was delicately poised. His only criticism was they had actually been “too cavalier”, too encouraged by United’s shortcomings. “Their fans were nervous. They always want that first goal. They want it after five minutes. The longer it goes the more restless they get. And I felt they were very restless until that first goal came,” Laws said.
It was scored by Dimitar Berbatov in the midst of an otherwise listless performance from the Bulgarian in which he complained once more of pain in his knee and may now have to undergo surgery.
Ferguson complained of “frivolous” finishing, and seemed incredulous about the number of chances Berbatov and Wayne Rooney spurned. But Berbatov’s shot took a small yet decisive deflection to deceive the leaden Brian Jensen and an air of inevitability descended on a game in which Chris Eagles, a United cast-off, was the most impressive player and poor old Gary Neville made the moderately paced David Nugent resemble Usain Bolt.
Rooney finally managed to find some accuracy for the second goal, turning in the rebound after Berbatov’s shot had come back off Jensen, and the substitute Mame Biram Diouf then scored on his home debut, running on to Antonio Valencia’s long pass and heading over the goalkeeper.
This will not be remembered as the day, however, that a relative unknown signing from a Norwegian club announced himself to the Old Trafford crowd. There was no banter and little levity. Old Trafford felt like a place of rebellion.
