As the early evening ticked closer to 7pm, they started tiptoeing towards the centre of Talbot Road, just over half a mile from Old Trafford. Before long, commuters were being told to hastily turn their cars around.
With the air filled by flares and road markings hidden underneath up to 10,000 pairs of feet, Manchester United’s disenfranchised were ready to march from the Tollgate pub. Many had been there for hours — hanging on fences, clambering up lamp-posts, squeezing into the beer garden.
This type of action, chanting through the streets of Stretford and paying little attention to the game ahead, is viewed by plenty as their only outlet to vent at the Glazer family.