Manchester United bosses face being branded cowards or worse if they fail to show up at Leeds United on Sunday when there are sure to be more protests.
Despite the conception and collapse of The Super League in the space of two days this week, anger remains across the football landscape, especially with the founding clubs.
Despite apologies, some slower than others, from the clubs in the hours after the house of cards crumbled, fan bases remain disillusioned and furious with what was attempted.
The blockade put in place by fans at the Manchester club’s Carrington training base on Thursday morning underlines the ill feeling which continues to burn brightly.
The Glazer ownership over the Pennines has long been acrimonious and their biggest critics see this as the ideal opportunity to strike while the iron is hot, as reported by our sister title Manchester Evening News.
Fear and pessimism of an imminent breakaway shrouded Monday night’s match at Elland Road with Liverpool, another of the devious six, and though that threat has lifted, anger and frustration remains.
The height of the protests from football hit Elland Road and Stamford Bridge hardest at the start of the week, while the breakaway remained a possibility, but Sunday will be the first chance for the Manchester side’s fan base to have their say at a match.
A fan presence of some description has to be expected at LS11 on Sunday, especially given it’s barely an hour from Old Trafford, and police would be wise to bulk up their operation.
Fans are right to have their voice heard, but will the away team’s directors be there to face it? Will they front up and break cover to show their faces a few feet away from Victor Orta?
Ed Woodward, their executive vice-chairman, has already agreed to step down at the end of the calendar year, but will he front up, in the predictable absence of the Glazers, on Sunday?
Fans of all clubs, not just the Manchester Reds, will expect him to take his medicine, even if it’s with the luxury of a security escort and before an empty stadium.
