The Carabao Cup semifinals, usually an afterthought in England, has some unusual excitement with a two-legged Manchester Derby on the docket.
Unfortunately, some fans may find themselves ejected from Old Trafford even with a legally purchased ticket.
In the lead up to Tuesday’s Manchester Derby, United issued a statement saying anyone “visibly or audibly” supporting City outside of allocated visitor’s sections will be ejected from the grounds.
So fans who pay good money to attend the Carabao Cup semifinals could be expelled just for the club they choose to root for; even a United fan who is caught praising Pep Guardiola’s side could be thrown out.
Gross.
It's derby day in the #CarabaoCup! #MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 7, 2020
About 70,000 fans are expected in the 74,879-seat Old Trafford for the Manchester Derby first leg on Tuesday. Because it’s not a sell-out, United is worried City fans will buy up the remaining tickets.
So instead of having City blue dotted around the stadium, United will kick these fans out.
Manchester United claims it’s doing this under the guise of security issues.
“We have a series of measures in place to minimize any risks and anyone visibly or audibly supporting the away team in home areas will be denied entry to the ground or ejected during the game,” United said.
It is shocking that in the year 2020 humans can’t be trusted to sit next to each other and not murder each other. Yes, City and United are rivals, but that doesn’t mean the fans, who coexist in the same city, want to cause harm to the others. (To that small minority of asshats who do want to fight rival fans, please crawl into a hole and never come out; no one likes you and throwing a punch won’t change that.)
In America, home and away fans almost always sit next to each other. It’s part of the pageantry and fun of it all, especially in college sports.
We saw a couple years ago in the Europa League that Arsenal and Cologne fans intermingled without any problems. But United doesn’t think its fans can sit next to City fans without attacking them?
It’s a sad statement on humanity when soccer continues to be ruled by the fear that some people will cause harm instead of treating football fans as adults who can control their emotions.
But let’s be real here, if this was a match against, say, Wolverhampton, United wouldn’t be making these statements. The Red Devils just don’t want to be embarrassed on their home pitch by their noisy neighbors.
It’s a weak move from a weak club.
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