Manchester United supporters used an FA Cup fourth-round hammering of League One Tranmere Rovers to voice their frustration with the club’s owners and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
United scored five times in an amazing first-half at Prenton Park, with skipper Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot scoring their first goals for the club and Phil Jones getting his first since March 2014 under David Moyes.
Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial were also on target in the first period while Mason Greenwood added a second-half penalty to give the 2,000-strong visiting support a high point in an otherwise tortuous season.
But they also spent five minutes chanting against the Glazer family and Woodward, who was not at the game. The chants appeared to be sung by the vast majority of United fans and ended with “We’re Man Utd, we’ll sing what we want”.
United’s fans are annoyed at what they view as a lack of investment in the team, a long-held belief that has grown during the current transfer window with the team fifth in the Premier League and in obvious need of reinforcements but the club has yet to make a signing.
Elsewhere yesterday, holders Manchester City cruised into the FA Cup fifth round with a 4-0 thrashing of 10-man Fulham at the Etihad.
Tim Ream’s sixth-minute red card gave the Championship side a mountain to climb after he hauled down Gabriel Jesus inside the box.
Ilkay Gundogan converted the resulting penalty before Bernardo Silva’s smart turn and shot quickly doubled City’s advantage.
The visitors then held out for nearly an hour but two headers in three minutes from Jesus gave the scoreline a more accurate reflection of the English champions’ dominance.
Pep Guardiola’s men have now won 17 domestic cup ties in a row.
The Catalan is relying on more cup success for silverware this season after conceding the Premier League title is beyond his side with Liverpool 16 points clear at the top of the table.
