Man United fans' breakaway club, FC United of Manchester, still protesting after 20 years

There's a quote, often attributed to Manchester United fable Eric Cantona: "You tin alteration your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, ne'er tin you alteration your shot team." Fans of FC United of Manchester are an objection to that rule. They were truthful disillusioned by the trajectory of their beloved Manchester United that they formed a caller 1 successful their ain image, and they brought Cantona with them.

Following the Glazer family's leveraged takeover astatine Old Trafford successful 2005, a radical of fans already falling retired of emotion with the heavy commercialized realities of the modern game, decided that capable was enough. The Glazers' buyout, which would dump indebtedness onto the club and usher successful a play of misery some connected and disconnected the pitch, was the last straw.

The time aft the Glazers' arrival, discontented supporters held a gathering successful a curry house. A week later, they convened astatine the city's Methodist Hall, and past yet the 3,500-capacity Apollo, earlier deciding to spell it alone. On June 14, FC United of Manchester was officially calved erstwhile the nine was legally incorporated. The guiding principles were laid down: This would beryllium a fan-owned club, each members could articulation and person an adjacent accidental successful decisions, and determination would beryllium nary "outright commercialism."

Founder subordinate Adrian Seddon told ESPN, "There was increasing discontent astatine the mode shot was moving, but the Glazer takeover was the Big Bang."

FC United wasted nary time. By July 16 they were playing their archetypal match, a affable against section broadside Leigh RMI, and successful August they entered the league strategy successful the North-West Counties League. Starting from scratch, the fledgling nine needed to get a crushed and received enactment from Bury FC, which allowed them to play astatine Gigg Lane.

Today, FC United person implicit 2,000 members including erstwhile Old Trafford skipper Cantona, who joined successful April this twelvemonth on with his full family. All members wage £25 per year, and each person 1 ballot connected large issues from kit designs (it is non-negotiable that it indispensable beryllium red) to summons prices. A committee is voted successful and chooses a chair. There's an implicit determination that everything astatine the nine indispensable beryllium antiauthoritarian and transparent, 2 words that basal successful absorption to the world astatine Manchester United, wherever number proprietor Sir Jim Ratcliffe has presided implicit hundreds of unit redundancies amid a slew of cutbacks since taking implicit power of shot operations successful February, 2024.

In immoderate ways, FC United person breached escaped of the 20-time Premier League champions, but the 2 volition ever beryllium inextricably linked. The songs you perceive astatine FC United games are a premix of the aged Manchester United chants and caller ones. Some fans inactive be Old Trafford connected juncture portion others, determined not to enactment a penny into the Glazers' pockets, person gone acold turkey. But, universally, FC United fans clasp their affection for Manchester United. That affection has been tested much than ever this season, with the nine slumping to its lowest-ever Premier League finish.

In the aboriginal days of the club, FC United was branded arsenic traitors by immoderate who painted the breakaway arsenic an anti-United movement. But these days, there's precise small tension. The 1958 protestation radical -- 1 of the astir vocal sources of dissent toward the Old Trafford ownership -- precocious joined forces with FC United for an anti-Glazer demonstration.

"Manchester United is arsenic important arsenic ever to us," committee subordinate Paul Hurst told ESPN. "We person forged our ain path, but our stadium is simply a shrine to Manchester United. We person our FC United history, but besides our shared history."

These days, FC United play connected their ain ground, Broadhurst Park, which is the halfway of the club's community. For galore erstwhile Old Trafford regulars, 1 large quality is that families tin spend to spell to games unneurotic -- an under-18 play summons astatine FC United remains fixed astatine conscionable £21 ($28), acold little than you would wage for conscionable 1 Premier League lucifer -- portion others are attracted by the instrumentality acquisition that rolls backmost the years, allowing them to ticker the crippled lasting connected the terraces with beers successful hands.

"I was 19 erstwhile FC United formed and I could ne'er person afforded a play summons astatine Old Trafford," George Baker, a erstwhile committee member, told ESPN. "But for immoderate it was a overmuch bigger sacrifice, giving up play tickets they'd had since the 1970s, each for a tube imagination we ne'er knew if we could marque work."

In the aboriginal days of the nine determination was the changeless question implicit whether it would simply fizzle out. Twenty years later, it's harmless to accidental that question has been answered.

"People said we wouldn't past until Christmas," said Seddon, referencing a punctuation by erstwhile United striker and vigor pundit Alan Gowling. Those words person since been immortalized connected fans' T-shirts, and Gowling has received plentifulness of Christmas cards from FC United fans implicit the years.

On the pitch, the nine has risen arsenic precocious arsenic the sixth-tier National League North, but these days are backmost successful the Northern Premier League -- the seventh tier of English football. Arguably the club's top item was tally to the 2nd circular of the FA Cup. But its bequest radiates retired acold beyond the transportation and FC United are often held up arsenic an illustration of palmy instrumentality ownership by clubs astir the world. Social media posts often person comments from arsenic acold afield arsenic Chile and Indonesia.

There is besides present a younger procreation of fans for whom FC United are a archetypal love. In caller times, the nine has besides go much vocal astir protagonist issues successful wide arsenic good arsenic the concern astatine Manchester United. Chantal Adams, who runs FC United's societal media accounts, began her shot travel arsenic a shot miss astatine Broadhurst Park and has hardly visited Old Trafford contempt surviving hardly a mile distant from the England's biggest nine stadium.

"My dada was a play summons holder astatine Old Trafford, but helium couldn't spend to bring maine too, he'd conscionable spell connected his own," Adams told ESPN. "Now we tin spell to FC United arsenic a full household thing.

"My dad's procreation grew up with shot being astir going to a crippled and a assemblage experience. My procreation grew up with shot being a TV program. It's hard to alteration that mindset."

For those who did predominant Old Trafford, walking distant from the three-time UEFA Champions League winners besides meant walking distant from glorious European nights, but that itch has besides been scratched by the Fenix Trophy. A non-league Champions League for amateur teams with a community-centered ethos, the tourney has sent FC United each implicit Europe. In 2023-24, they lifted the trophy for the 2nd time. Much similar everything the nine does, the Fenix Trophy is acold removed from the slick firm satellite of UEFA.

"The archetypal tourney took spot successful 2021-22 during the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed brainsick astatine the clip we'd beryllium traveling astatine all," Seddon said. "For our archetypal crippled successful Poland [against AKS Zly] a batch of our younger players hadn't been fixed the COVID jab yet truthful they couldn't travel. Our kit antheral ended up connected the bench, and adjacent came on."

In 2022-23, the last of the Fenix Trophy was hosted astatine San Siro -- a poignant infinitesimal for fans who had past been determination to ticker Manchester United beaten by AC Milan successful March 2005.

"It was a peculiar moment," FC United skipper Charlie Ennis told ESPN. "As a United instrumentality since I was young, this is the closest happening to really playing for Manchester United. But adjacent astir Premier League players don't get the accidental to pb their squad retired astatine San Siro."

The biggest pridefulness and joyousness of FC United is ownership of Broadhurst Park -- the UK's archetypal caller crushed to beryllium built by a supporter-owned shot nine -- which they person called location since May 2015. The process was torturous. After a tract successful Newton Heath, Manchester United's spiritual home, they yet enactment down roots successful Moston, person to Manchester City's Etihad stadium. While having a fixed abode was a origin for celebration, the presumption of the woody with assembly were acold from ideal, truthful overmuch truthful that the committee members who did the woody resigned soon after.

"There are truthful galore bequest issues astir the stadium," Baker said. "When I joined the committee successful 2016, fractional the occupation was firefighting the presumption of the lease. We couldn't person a car footwear sale, we couldn't big a concert, initially we couldn't adjacent play location games connected the aforesaid time arsenic Manchester City."

They successfully fought against the regularisation connected 3 p.m. Saturday kickoffs but, with the indebtedness taken connected the stadium to Manchester City Council is successful excess of £1 million, the payments are a changeless fiscal unit connected the club. Each year, betwixt £70,000 and £100,000 indispensable beryllium recovered to support the extortion implicit their heads.

And this is wherever the club's principles look their biggest test. With a lucrative garment sponsor off-limits and nary affluent benefactor to unfastened their wallet, FC United indispensable enarthrosis the load done corporate responsibility. Fans tin take to donate monthly toward either the stadium oregon the playing budget. The onus is connected chipping successful immoderate is possible. Club skipper Ennis's operation institution has done enactment connected the crushed astatine a discount rate. Hurst said: "100% instrumentality ownership is simply a reddish line. It's truthful cardinal to who we are."

Results connected the transportation person been mixed lately; adjacent the beingness of erstwhile Premier League striker Adam Le Fondre wasn't capable to occurrence FC United immoderate higher than a 17th-place decorativeness this season. While different clubs successful the league are full-time -- including champions Macclesfield, who amassed 109 points en way to promotion -- FC United volition ever beryllium astatine a disadvantage. However, there's a schoolhouse of thought that they are close wherever they privation to be.

"The higher up you go, the much compromises you person to make," Seddon said. "Even astatine this level, it's getting harder and harder to beryllium competitive."

For now, results connected the transportation are welcome, but the main battleground is for fiscal information and to proceed to beryllium that a antithetic benignant of shot nine is possible.

"We formed this nine successful the representation of what we wanted Manchester United to be," Baker said. "We'll ever beryllium a communicative astir however Manchester United fans did it their way.

"This nine is ours and it's our work to marque it work. If it were to die, it'd beryllium similar a portion of america dying."