“I was sat here before you were born!”
Michael Carney’s homemade placard aimed at Manchester United’s hierarchy during Sunday’s derby was blunt, impactful and certainly eye-catching.
“74 years of loyal support – for what?” was written on the other side.
Carney, 81, held his sign towards the Old Trafford directors’ box midway through the second-half of Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Manchester City.
At the end of the match, hundreds of United supporters made their feelings known about next season’s ticket price rises, the cutting of concessions and the amount of money paid to service United’s £1bn debt, with a wider ‘sit-in’ protest arranged by the 1958 fan group.
For Carney and those who sit around him in the lower section of the Sir Bobby Charlton stand, the issue is more personal.
At the bottom of their season ticket renewal letter this year, there was a note from the club.
“We have identified a small number of general admission tickets directly adjacent to the home and away dugouts that will be converted to hospitality seats this summer.
“This reflects the high value of this unique location and will help to raise hospitality revenue to keep general admission Season Ticket prices lower. Your current seat is included within this block, and we will therefore need to find you an alternative seat for next season.”
Carney has been sitting in the same seat since 1980. Before that, he was in what used to be known as the ‘United Road’, which is now the Sir Alex Ferguson stand.
Speaking to BBC Sport at his home in Northwich, 25 miles from Old Trafford, Carney reeled off the players he had seen in the flesh: the Busby Babes, the Holy Trinity of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, the 1980s team of Bryan Robson, the end of the 26-year wait for a league title in 1993, two Doubles, the 1999 Treble and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League-winning side.
Carney has kept newspapers from the day of the Munich air disaster, of Best’s phenomenal performance against Benfica in Lisbon in 1966 and the famous 3-3 with Real Madrid two years later on the way to winning the European Cup for the first time.
