Happy Saturdays: FCUM — Terrace Edition

Words: Tom Reed

Images: Ian Parker

Supporting Images: Tom Reed

Glazer’s Man Utd are up for sale but merry FC United are content they’ve long since had the answer for the Megastore melancholy on the red side of Manchester.

FC United of Manchester (FCUM) have moved from a protest club into a sweetly content community institution where there’s more smiles per head than Megastore purchases from Old Trafford tourists.

You won’t hear any “I told you so’s” on the Glazer business at Manchester United, that’s old news at FCUM, who broke away as early as 2005, after being ground down by the commercialisation at Old Trafford.

The debt leveraged purchase of Man Utd by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers owners was just the last squirt of piss on an unsavoury soccer sundae, that a section of supporters could no longer stomach.

FCUM fans, at the atmospheric Broadhurst Park, that fans helped pay for themselves, are too busy having a craic, drinking reasonably priced pints, standing behind the goal and breathing new life into a terrace culture that Manchester once led the world in. That and thanking their lucky stars they got out when they did.

There’s an old gag about clubs like Manchester United being no more than mega-brands now, with their supporters bumbling around Old Trafford like tech geeks do at the Apple store on the weekend in the Arndale Centre. Eying up star signings like they do the latest Macbook.

©Ian Parker/ Terrace Edition. FC United Of Manchester.

When it’s reported that Apple itself are interested in sliding a few billion the way of the Glazers for United, you’re in the Westworld of brandball and a sport that could be computer simulation.

FCUM have it in written in their manifesto to “avoid outright commercialisation”. Imagine taking that manifesto to Old Trafford with a clipboard and removing everything geared at making a bob, you’d have little left but the goalposts and even they will probably be eyed up for advertising space at the Premier League club that has its own Official Percussive Therapy Device Partners.

It’s very easy to bang a drum for FCUM.

Time has flown in the 17 years since FCUM took things into their own hands and grown a generation of fans that haven’t even stepped foot in Old Trafford.

Adam, at 17, is as old as the club and is mildly amused that supporters would keep putting themselves through it at Man United, battling with the owners of the club as much as they do with queues for the bar, or the elbows of selfie takers. His mother brought him in a pram to Broadhurst Park and he graduated to the St Mary’s Road End, much like young fans made their right of passage to the Stretford End at United. “Too far gone…FC United is me for life” he says now, clearly meaning it.

At FC United Of Manchester it feels like they are making a difference, you can see evidence of it in every connection and show of solidarity which brings the club together. There’s a sweet stall on a Saturday selling pick ‘n’ mix and the proceeds pay for the kids’ Easter Egg hunt and Christmas Party. The sale of bottles of pop provided a new mower for the groundsman.

While a group of Manchester United die-hards take on the noble but futile mission to bring a German 50+1 model to Old Trafford and its supporters’ trust write pleading letter to unknown new investors, FCUM have been fan-owned since inception with a one member one vote setup which empowers supporters.

Not that everything’s perfect, there have been power wrangles and arguments about the direction of the club but the democratic underpinning means there will always be meaningful action rather than an impenetrable boardroom and a manifestly over-powerful marketing department.

FCUM have small roster of paid staff but match-day runs smoothly thanks to the help of a small army of volunteers. Bands, like the Honey Drops, who create a banging atmosphere in the bar, aren’t paid and do their thing as they buy into the ethos.

Before the match vs Belper Town, kids throng the 3G pitches outside the ground from local junior leagues. There’s no farming of young talent as we’ve seen on recent top tier academy TV documentaries, instead FC United have a footballing pathway for juniors in partnership with Moston Juniors. Once players reach the age of 16 years, they then have the opportunity to progress in to FC United full time academy programme whilst studying A levels.

People often associate coal mining with Yorkshire but Moston, the area where FCUM is situated was a mining community for generations until the pit was closed in 1950.

The club with the green and gold scarves talk about the black gold of the pits in the Sporting Memories group that helps people in the local community living with memory loss, dementia and associated conditions.

The group is hosted at FCUM, the club that retains a conscience and organises various community schemes such as collections for refugees and “Big Coat Day” which sees fans donate warm clothing to help vulnerable people in Manchester over the winter.

That sense of locality stretches to tickets to matches too, with FCUM giving away tickets to people living with the M40 and M35 postcodes that takes in Moston.

As their fans make their way into the compact but atmospheric ground the sense of contentment grows. The stadium is adorned with flags that hints at an artistic flair among the fanbase, a nod to Joy Division and a banner which reads, “Makin Friends Not Millionaires” which sums everything up.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. FC United Of Manchester.

The quality of football on offer amplifies the spirit behind the goal with FCUM passing the ball around with aplomb and not succumbing to the direct game that can claw the kind of results that might get them out of the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

A young lad walks a totally cute dog to her own individual seat, fans amble round to the ruby red crush barriers with pints and kids and optimistic outlooks that are far too chipper for the kind of cold November day that Manchester specialises in.

Maybe it’s the pints or the scoreline which sits at 2-0 thanks to a typically well taken left-footed finish from Regan Linney but Broadhurst Park is beaming. The bar is warm and the beer is cool and you can watch the game through the big glass windows which overlook the pitch and no-one is bothered about that.

Stewards don’t tell you where to stand or what to do and the bar staff laugh and the old boys who can’t stand ask you ever so politely to mind out their way so they can peek through the glass.

5 Cantonas

4 Cantonas

3 Cantonas

2 Cantonas

And an Eric Cantona…sing the faithful behind the goal as one, breaking the myth that supporting FCUM is some sort of betrayal of United. The chant rings out loud and clear as one, as opposed to the pockets of chanting can fail to resonate at Old Trafford.

The attendance of 1670 presents the conundrum of just how far this club could go if just a few more per-cent of the Old Trafford disillusioned came down here too?

But pushing 2000 fans for the seventh tier of English football is nothing to be sniffed at and this rebel club with its relaxed resting heartbeat is one that would rather put its arm around you than put its fingers up at the Glazers, who aren’t worth the energy.

It’s a very happy hour and a half at FC United Of Manchester.

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