Latest news with #postseasonTour
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Manchester United's debacle in Asia boosts case against post-season tours
As the dust settles on Manchester United's post-season tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong, the question must be asked: was it worth it? United may have pocketed around £10m from their six-day, two-match visit to Asia but what they lost was arguably worse. And no, we're not just talking about their 1-0 defeat against the 'Asean All Stars' in Kuala Lumpur, a scratch, invitational side that had never previously played together. Omar Berrada, United's chief executive, had excitedly hailed the tour as an 'opportunity for us to collaborate with our valued commercial partners, and to deepen relationships with our fans'. That vision probably didn't include Amad Diallo sticking his middle finger up at supporters, a gesture for which he refused to apologise, the winger insisting he did it in response to insults about his mother. Nor did it allow for Alejandro Garnacho sulking and yawning through his various off-pitch duties. It remains to be seen how many key performance indicators were met by the Argentinian, who finished the tour by posting a one-word caption on the runway as United departed home to Europe: 'finally'. Advertisement Related: PFA chief Molango voices concern over effects of post-season tours on players At least Matthijs De Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee, Ayden Heaven and Patrick Dorgu put on a brave face, smiling and waving through the sparsely-attended open-top bus tour of Kuala Lumpur, as an accompanying PA system blared out 'Glory, Glory, Man United'. Hours later, United lost their first match of the tour, against the All Stars. Ruben Amorim did little to spin the defeat into anything positive. 'The boos from the fans, maybe it is something we need because every game that we lost in the Premier League they were always there,' the Portuguese manager said. 'We don't have it in us not to choke in every exercise, in every game – that is what happened. We should win these kind of games, no matter what.' United went 1-0 behind against Hong Kong on Friday but rallied to win the second match of the tour 3-1. Advertisement After a disastrous season in which United finished just above the relegation zone, this was meant to be a money-making charm offensive – the club promising 'a summer like no other' – but the tour seems to have done more harm than good. It ended up as another opportunity for defeat and derision, enforcing the idea that United are a spent force, and widening the gap between the team and their supporters. There were thousands of unsold tickets, while fans hoping to watch the first game in Kuala Lumpur on the club's YouTube channel were treated to extensive buildup and the first 35 seconds of the match before being redirected to a pay-per-view MUTV broadcast. Amid all the selfies and handshakes and suggestions of 'glory', there is a sordid and calculated underbelly here. Yes, money was made, but is £10m worth it to a team that is about to spent £62.5m on a new forward? The disastrous nature of United's jaunt to Asia brings into question the viability of post-season tours in general. In a world where elite clubs are all too vocal in complaining about fixture congestion and injuries, these tours add mental and physical fatigue to already exhausted bodies, not to mention needless air miles with adverse environmental impact. United's players left for Malaysia on 25 May, just hours after their final Premier League of the season, against Aston Villa. Having landed on Saturday, most of the senior squad will now report for international duty before World Cup qualifiers this weekend. United's senior players will not have any meaningful break until mid-June and are expected back for pre-season in early July, before the club's pre-season tour to Sweden and the US. United are not alone in these missteps. Tottenham and Newcastle embarked on post-season tours to Australia this time last year and played each other in Melbourne on 22 May 2024, three days after the final day of the 2023-24 season. Kieran Trippier, who captained Newcastle in that Melbourne fixture, admitted the trip was 'not ideal' before his commitments with England at Euro 2024, a tournament in which the right-back struggled for fitness. Advertisement Injuries and fatigue plagued Tottenham's start to the season, too. And if Spurs' post-season tour wasn't directly responsible for that it certainly didn't help, while Daniel Levy's comments at a Tottenham fans' forum in September that he 'would like to see less games, but higher-quality games' were subsequently difficult to stomach. It is difficult to determine exactly how big the environmental impact is for these tours. The pre-season before Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a stake in Manchester United, the club offset 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to cover the necessary air travel by players and staff to the US. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a club that is now part-owned by a company with interests in everything from petrochemicals to mass plastic production, there has been no mention of offsetting emissions for the trip to Malaysia and Hong Kong, which included 14,000 air miles for the team alone. The Professional Footballers' Association's sustainability champion, David Wheeler, has spoken of the harm caused by such tours. 'It's not only irresponsible from a climate point of view, but from a player care point of view, physically and mentally,' Wheeler said. 'They are human beings. They get paid very well, as we know, but they have a limit to what their bodies can take and how they cope with it from a mental health point of view'. The organisation's chief executive, Maheta Molango, has also 'expressed concern about these post-season tours'. Despite the arguments to the contrary, post-season tours look here to stay, part of a new footballing landscape almost nobody asked for. And there will be plenty of other clubs that plead poverty and set sail for distant lands in the future. For now, we have to find something else to watch before the start of the Club World Cup in a couple of weeks' time – a month-long tournament absurdly relaunched by Fifa, with a $1bn (£775m) prize pot. Manchester United must wish they had an invite.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Man United's kids salvage a turnaround win in Hong Kong on miserable post-season tour after players pushed and swore at fans, No 1 striker target said no... and Bruno Fernandes could leave for Saudi
Ruben Amorim tried to brush away suggestion that Bruno Fernandes had played his last game for Manchester United after they stumbled to an unconvincing win over Hong Kong to finish a nightmare post-season tour. It provided a tiny bit of respite for United fans after what has been a torrid week for the club. When the Red Devils embarked on their post-season tour, just hours after succumbing to a 15th place Premier League finish - their lowest since relegation in 1974, it was thought there was little to lose. Despite controversy surrounding post-season tours in an increasingly hectic schedule, the lucrative trip was set to earn the club around £8million - a welcome bonus given they had missed out on the Champions League and a £100m windfall after their defeat to Tottenham in the Europa League final last week. Amorim had defended the tour, calling it a 'small sacrifice' which lets the club 'make contact with our fans around the world', And the club's chief executive, Omar Berrada, had even appeared optimistic about the summer ahead. 'I can't talk about specifics, but I can say that we've been planning for many months now,' Berrarda told MUTV. 'We were ready for all the different scenarios, so now we know what we need to do. But fast forward one week and United were left relying on 17-year-old Obi, who just last season was turning out for Arsenal's under-18 sides, to spare their blushes and prevent a second consecutive loss in three days to significantly weaker opposition. Hong Kong striker Juninho had given the hosts the lead in heavy rain at the Hong Kong Stadium after calamatous goalkeeping from 39-year-old goalkeeper Tom Heaton. It took until the 82nd minute for United to go ahead, with Obi scoring his first goals at senior level, despite fielding a strong starting line-up including Bruno Fernandes, Alejanro Garnacho, Casemiro and Rasmus Hojlund. Fernandes, who has been linked with a move to Al-Hilal, was left red faced after attempting a rabona while through one-on-one with the goalkeeper with United behind. Another former Arsenal star, Ayden Heaven, eventually grabbed his first goal to seal the win in stoppage time. Just two days earlier, United had suffered a humiliating defeat 1-0 at the hands of an exhibition side. Amorim's side limply lost in Malaysia against ASEAN All-Stars, with fans who had paid up to £260 jeering at the 84,00 seater Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. ASEAN All-Stars lifted the Maybank Challenge Cup meaning United watched their opposition get their hands on a trophy for the second time in a week. Despite wretched performances on the pitch, it only seemed to be getting worse for United off it. While a £65m deal for Matheus Cunha appears to be nearing completion, on Thursday they were snubbed by another key target Liam Delap. Just a fortnight ago the Red Devils seemed to be in pole position to sign the Ipswich forward, but on Thursday Chelsea, who will compete in next season's Champions League, triggered his £30m release clause. Amorim has also been forced to answer questions about the future of Fernandes. The Portuguese midfielder, one of the few players to have escaped a miserable season with any credit, is said to be 'seriously' contemplating leaving the club in the upcoming transfer window, as interest from Al-Hilal intensifies. Mail Sport reported on Thursday that Fernandes' agent had held face-to-face talks with the Saudi Arabian club at a hotel in Riyadh over a mega-money deal for the Portuguese midfielder's services. Talks at the Four Seasons hotel are believed to have continued late into the night and sources describe the discussions as positive. Al-Hilal are prepared to effectively quadruple Fernandes' salary of £280,000-a-week by increasing it to £700,000 tax-free as part of a package worth up to £200million over three years including bonuses. BBC Sport reported that Fernandes has not completely committed his future to the team and is considering leaving Old Trafford. Asked if it was Fernandes' final United appearance after they scraped past Hong Kong, Amorim admitted 'you never know'. 'I don't think so. I don't know for sure. I think he wants to stay,' he said. 'He is saying no to a lot of things. The club can find other ways to make money. The feeling I get is that he wants to continue for sure with Man United, you never know.' One player who almost certainly won't be staying in Manchester is academy graduate Garnacho. Tension between the Garnacho and Amorim skyrocketed after the Argentine hit out at his boss for benching him in their Europa League final defeat to Spurs. Garnacho only played for 20 minutes after coming on from the bench and the 20-year-old failed to hide his frustration with Amorim as he admitted it had been a 's***' season for the club. His agent brother then added fuel to the fire by posting on Instagram that the winger had been 'thrown under the bus' by the Portuguese boss. Mail Sport exclusively revealed that Garnacho was then brutally warned by Amorim that he needs to 'pray' he can find a new club in front of team-mates. Despite their feud, Garnacho was included in the squad which jetted to Asia, but the club now may be regretting that decision. On Friday, a video emerged of the youngster involved in an altercation with a fan in Kuala Lumpur. A moody Garnacho, sporting sunglasses and a golden chain, appeared to 'push' a fan as he was asked if he prefered Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Bro, you pushed me,' the shocked supporter then exclaims. with the forward walking off. It is unclear from the footage whether or not the fan is in fact pushed by Garnacho. It came just one day after Amad Diallo went viral for swearing at fans. The Ivorian was seen raising his middle fingers as the team left their hotel. The 22-year-old rushed to social media to admit he did not regret making the gesture and that it was in response to someone who shouted personal abuse relating to his mother. 'I have respect for people but not for the one who insults my mom…' he said on X. 'I shouldn't have reacted like that but I don't regret what I did. 'We had a great time in Malaysia with good people.' A number of other bizarre events also took place on the ill-fated tour. Andre Onana, Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot popped up in India for a meet and greet on Thursday while United stars were ruthlessly mocked by fans online after being seen on open-top bus parade - before suffering defeat to ASEAN All-Stars. A clip of four first-team stars - Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt, Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven - atop the bus in Kuala Lumpur went viral with the caption: 'Manchester United parading in Malaysia. What a joke of a club'. It was a far cry from the victory parade taking place throughout England this week as Tottenham, Crystal Palace, and Liverpool all showed off their domestic trophies to their fans. There is little break for United's stars, with Fernandes and Dalot likely involved for Portugal in their Nations League semi-final against Germany on 4 June. Just over a month later United's pre-season tour begins in Sweden, and it surely can't go any worse than the past week.
New York Times
30-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Manchester United's other post-season tours – ‘Tottman', parachutist, and an armed robber
Manchester United are on a post-season tour for the first time since 1986 when the team also ended up in Hong Kong and played in front of a mere 4,575. Sir Alex Ferguson became manager six months later and put a stop to them — though he always accepted the commercial need for United tours. Before that, post-season tours were semi-regular from the end of the Second World War and United visited places unimaginable today, away for weeks and in conditions that would do more than raise eyebrows. As the current team continue a tour that began with defeat, boos and an open-top bus, Andy Mitten looks back at United's previous post-season tours, including an armed robber, an offer to move to Colombia, and the time they joined up with Spurs as 'Tottman'. Following victory in the 1948 FA Cup final, Sir Matt Busby took his team on a mini-tour where they played a Bohemians XI (which included six Blackpool players who had taken on and lost to United in the cup final) at Dublin's Dalymount Park in front of 37,500, with my great-uncle, winger Charlie Mitten, scoring the only goal in a 2-1 defeat. Advertisement United stayed in Dublin to play a Shelbourne XI, which included several guesting English Football League footballers, four days later, winning 4-3 in front of 25,000. United played Linfield at Belfast's Windsor Park on the same tour, a 4-3 win. My grandfather gave me a copy of the match programme, which is worth hundreds. United went back to Ireland after the following season. The club have always been popular in Ireland and have played several post-season games there over the years. United have toured the U.S. multiple times, playing to huge crowds. The training facilities, security, opposition, match fees and organisation appeal and the team will return in July, but it's a far cry from United's first visit in 1950. The players sailed to New York on the Queen Mary for a mammoth post-season tour, travelling tourist class and causing excitement among admiring passengers. However, the glamour faded soon after the team docked in Manhattan. Results were poor and the travelling, mostly by train, wore the team out. Expenses of $5 a day had to be spent on meals, denying the players the opportunity to spend their hard-earned money in this consumer paradise. United played in Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, St. Louis, Massachusetts, Randall's Island in New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles. There were highlights, notably meeting actor Clark Gable in Hollywood's MGM studios. The night before the team were due to sail back to Southampton, Great-Uncle Charlie received a call from Neil Franklin, England's centre-half who had just left Stoke City for Colombia along with George Mountford — two stars of English football causing a huge stir by moving to cash-rich Colombia. Franklin was with Luis Robledo, the main man at Sante Fe who offered to fly Mitten to Bogota to see if he wanted to make a similar move. Advertisement Mitten was on £10 per week at United and the offer from Colombia was a £5,000 signing-on fee and £5,000 per year, plus bonuses. Mitten told Robledo he had like to visit Colombia, then went to speak to manager Matt Busby. 'He was angry and upset,' recalled my great-uncle, who died in 2002, in a 1995 interview. His contract was due to expire, but Busby said United were going to re-sign him. 'There was an assumption we would sign as usual,' said Mitten. 'They took us for granted. I said to Matt: 'Listen, I'm 29 and it's about time we started getting something out of life now'. Matt quietened down. When I told him the salary, he said: 'Do they want a manager?'. We had a good chat. I was always one of his favourites. I went back to what I'd told him before the (1948) FA Cup final, that if we were to finish right now, we'd have nothing, you couldn't even buy a house.' My great-uncle opted to go to Colombia and eventually spent a year playing there before returning to England, but he never played for United again. On the day he left Manchester for South America by ship, there was only one person to see him and his family off from the old Manchester London Road (now Piccadilly) train station: Billy Meredith, a past United and City legend and stalwart of players' rights. He told Charlie that if he'd had a chance to go to Bogota on that money, he would've walked. 'We viewed those huge post-season tours like an end-of-season holiday and we visited amazing places,' midfielder Paddy Crerand recalled to me in his 2007 autobiography Never Turn the Other Cheek. 'We played a series of exhibition games and United were billed as 'the champions of England'. It was our job to advertise the English game and all its virtues to the world. Over 250,000 paid to see us play over the dozen matches.' Advertisement United visited New Zealand and Australia on the same tour. While on tour in Sydney, Crerand recalls an incredible situation in the Coogee Bay Hotel overlooking the Pacific. Having spoken to his wife back in the UK on the phone, Crerand decided to head to the other players' room one night for a drink. 'When I got there, the door was half open. I thought, 'That's funny'. I crept in on tiptoe. Then a man leapt out from behind the door. It gave me the fright of my life, he brushed past me and rushed down the corridor. 'Thief!', I shouted, waking everyone up. 'He's a f****** robber'.' Crerand chased after the man and caught up with him. ''Come here, you bastard!', I shouted. 'And I'll f****** kill you!'. He suddenly stopped and turned. He looked at me. Rather than jump on him, I stopped too, because he was holding a revolver and pointing it at me. ''If you come any closer, I'm going to kill you', he said. I didn't back off, but turned and sprinted. I ran straight back to the lads' room. John Fitzpatrick had been robbed of a few dollars, but nothing else was missing.' Unthinkable now, but in 1975 United travelled to pre-revolution Iran to commence a global summer tour. Unlike some, defender Arthur Albiston remembered it fondly, as quoted in my book We're the Famous Man United. 'We were away for 38 days, although a lot of the older players didn't like it one bit. They were away from their families for 38 days and played 10 matches.' There were 14 flights and 32,000 miles to fly for United as the team went to Iran, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Bangkok, and Australia. Tommy Docherty, the manager, had to come on as a sub in one of the games — and he got sent off. Jim Holton and Alex Forsyth, two of the players, missed the births of their kids. 'It would never happen now. But for the younger lads who were shielded from the arguments, it was a great adventure and we loved the trip. I saw the world at 17,' said Albiston. United drew 1-1 against Persepolis in front of 40,000 and Tony Veys, one of a handful of travelling fans, tells me: 'Tehran was a sprawling, dusty, hot city. The Iranian people were very hospitable. Few others travelled, although four lads from Swindon got a train. It took them eight days.' Veys, who still sells merchandise near Old Trafford, drove from Manchester to Iran. From Iran, United went on to Bangkok (where Docherty was sent off), Hong Kong, Jakarta, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Los Angeles. Their reward, a week after their return, was to begin pre-season training. United's players had barely finished celebrating the 1983 FA Cup win before they flew to Swaziland for a post-season tour. The tiny landlocked country in southern Africa — now called Eswatini — was used because political sanctions prevented United from playing in neighbouring South Africa. Ticket prices were more expensive than the FA Cup final. Advertisement 'The stadium was full of wealthy South Africans,' Andy Markely, one of the few travelling fans, tells me. He reached his destination via Madrid, Nairobi and Johannesburg. United played Tottenham Hotspur twice in the Lobamba National Stadium, winning one and losing one. The crowds were 6,000 and 8,000. In between those games, United and Spurs combined to form a single team: 'Tottman'. This bizarre entity beat a Swaziland XI 6-1. 'After the tour, (manager) Ron Atkinson went to Mauritius,' former defender Albiston recalled to me. 'And we were unable to get back to Johannesburg for flights home because fans had booked them up. The Tottenham lads had flights, so Glenn Hoddle rented us his hire car — after some hard bargaining. I drove Gordon McQueen, John Gidman and Kevin Moran 400 miles to Johannesburg, where we had a few days enjoying ourselves.' United played post-season in Hong Kong, Sydney and Melbourne in May 1984 and a year later, the day after parading the FA Cup in Manchester's Albert Square, the victorious United team left for Montego Bay in Jamaica as a treat from the United chairman Martin Edwards. 'Everyone was happy, not just because we had won the cup but because we were loaded with bonus money, and money from selling tickets too,' recalled full-back John Gidman in We're the Famous Man United. The games would be against Southampton in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where United lost 1-0 in front of 19,000 fans, and against a Jamaica XI, who United beat 3-1 in Kingston, watched by 15,000. 'Me and Arthur Albiston were injured, so we got a few beers and sat on the bench,' said Gidman. 'The Jamaican Air Force were putting a show on and one of their top men stood in the centre of the pitch by a giant cross that had been marked out. 'He proudly told the crowd the match ball was going to be delivered to the centre circle by a parachutist, who would land on the cross. I bet Arthur £100 that he couldn't land in the centre circle. This bloke seemed like he was going to make the stadium until a gust of wind blew him off course. We could already see a second parachutist above him. Arthur said, 'Double or quits', but he landed far away. A third and final parachutist was coming in and we went double or quits again, agreeing that all he had to do was land inside the stadium. Advertisement 'The bloke came closest, but became tangled in the roof. He was injured, yet all we could do was argue about the technicality of whether he'd landed inside the stadium or not. The game started, only to be stopped 10 minutes in when the fire brigade turned to cut the bloke free. I won the £400.'
Times
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Man Utd stars to end post-season tour 48 hours before international break
Manchester United will take a full-strength squad to southeast Asia for their post-season tour — even though it means that they will return to the UK less than 48 hours before the beginning of the international break. Ruben Amorim said it was important that all the United squad, including senior players such as the captain Bruno Fernandes, make the seven-day, 14,000-mile round trip to the Far East, where the team will play a southeast Asian all-star side in Kuala Lumpur on May 28, before taking on a Hong Kong XI in Hong Kong two days later. Players have complained of burnout in the past, but Amorim said that the tour will be beneficial to the club financially — United are expected to pocket £8million —
