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Man United fans plan opening day protest against Jim Ratcliffe

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A Manchester United supporters' group has announced a fresh protest against the Glazer family and, for the first time, Sir Jim Ratcliffe ahead of their Premier League opener against Arsenal.

The 1958 have organised numerous demonstrations in recent years calling for a change in ownership and will march to Old Trafford on Aug. 17, the group has confirmed.

Ratcliffe owns a 28.94% stake in United and has overseen wide, sometimes unpopular, changes since taking over day-to-day operational control from the Glazers in February 2024.

A spokesman for The 1958 said: "It's a new season but the same old ownership issues. Twenty years of the Glazers and their debt mountain is 20 years too long. Enough is enough.

"We won't allow some natural optimism and a couple of shiny new signings to deflect from the bigger off-field picture.

"Jim Ratcliffe chose to get into bed with the Glazers and in our opinion is helping keep them in charge.

"So on Aug. 17, we protest not just against the Glazers, but now also against Jim Ratcliffe -- a man once seen by many, including ourselves, as a possible saviour, a beacon of hope but now revealed as complicit in the ongoing erosion of everything that makes our club what it is.

"This is no longer just about ownership; this is about survival -- the survival of our identity, our community, and our values."

The 1958 spokesman said the protest is for "every fan who has been silenced, evicted, priced out and disregarded," adding "this is about the future of football."

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"Jim Ratcliffe, you have chosen your side and it is not ours. You now stand shoulder to shoulder with the Glazers. The mask has slipped. You are no saviour. You're like a [red] devil in disguise," the group said.

Ratcliffe suggested in March that he would walk away from United if he ever suffered abuse on the level of that directed at the Glazer family.

"It can be unpleasant," Ratcliffe told The Times. "And I've probably failed on the having fun front.

"I can put up with it for a while. I don't mind being unpopular because I get that nobody likes seeing Manchester United down where they are, and nobody likes the decisions we're having to make.

"Eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I'd have to say, 'look, that's enough guys, let somebody else do this.'"

United finished 15th in the Premier League last season -- their lowest top-flight finish since 1974 -- and missed out on European qualification after losing the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.