Three arrested as Man Utd fans throw tennis balls onto pitch in anti-Glazer protest

Three people were arrested for throwing objects onto the pitch as Manchester United fans staged a co-ordinated anti-ownership protest during Tuesday’s Champions League match against Roma at Old Trafford, with Greater Manchester Police confirming 11 arrests in total connected to the fixture.

In the 20th minute of what would become a dramatic 3-2 United victory, supporters in the Stretford End hurled green tennis balls onto the pitch, forcing play to be halted while United players cleared them. At the time of the stoppage, Roma led 2-0.

Beyond the three arrests for throwing items, police confirmed four further arrests for assault offences — including the assault of an emergency worker — two for public order offences, one for fraud and one for a drugs offence.

The protest had begun before kick-off, with hundreds of green and gold balloons — the colours historically associated with opposition to the Glazer family’s ownership — bounced around the Stretford End. Chants directed at the Glazers and minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe were audible throughout the opening stages.

Despite the toxic atmosphere early on, United supporters were in a markedly different mood by full-time after Michael Carrick’s side ended a miserable nine-game winless run. Carrick has since called for greater consistency from his players, with the club at risk of entering the international break inside the relegation zone.

“We’ve just got to do things better for longer,” Carrick said on Friday. “Periods and times in certain games when you look back and you think what could we improve, what do we need to improve on, what have we lacked. It’s been certain moments, little moments in games that we maybe haven’t been quite ready for, we haven’t made good decisions. That’s part of football. But we can do that. We can be consistent with it.”