There are no end plans on the horizon for the current ownership of Manchester United – with the new season around the corner, Stretford-End implores United fans to step up the Green and Gold protest so we can take it one step further and don the colours as a sign of freedom after the Glazers do finally leave the club. The colours are no longer representative of our past, they are very much part of our present and Stretford-End.com is proud to be the United website that starts the campaign to keep the Green and Gold even after the club is sold.

Manchester United’s colours in themselves have a strong link to their past. The green and gold commemorative shirt of 1992-4 linked to that of Newton Heath but even those in recent times do have meaning. Clearly the releases are not without marketing ploy in tow but that does not take away from their significance. The devil on the crest was added after Sir Matt Busby wanted to change the focus on the club who mourned the Babes lost in Munich. The Salford rugby team had played in France on a tour and earned the nickname the Red Devils, Busby liked it because it represented a polar opposite and instead of the sympathy it would instil fear into the opposition. Simplistic yet romantic in its own way.

The black socks on the current home kit are worn as a constant mark of respect towards those who perished in Munich with white being worn in Europe in what is most likely a nod to the purity of those who passed travelling back from a tie in the elite continental competition. The recurring blue kit is a reminder to the all blue strip we wore in 1968 when we became the first English team to lift the European Cup.

With the black socks in mind; any day that the Glazers leave the club should be celebrated with instant plans for the club to wear green and gold. Not for their home shirts necessarily (though I would say the first game certainly should be) but certainly as the clubs official away colours and maybe the colours of choice in European football too (with white shorts and socks).

Importantly we want the supporters to understand the difference between the Red Knights campaign and the Green and Gold campaign. The green and gold is a symbol of unity among fans, a visible sight that we’re together, a visible protest against the ownership of the Glazers, a visible sign of what we want. Just because a bunch of cowboys hijacked the publicity generated by it and used it as their own bandwagon doesn’t mean that now they’ve jumped off said bandwagon that the wagon should collapse. Particularly towards the back end of the season it picked up a real head of steam and despite being derided by some London club loving media outlets it was seen as a proper way of how to make your voice heard and your opinion seen by fans of other clubs unhappy with the debt their owners had placed on them.

The opinion that United should wear green and gold after the Glazers are gone is hardly new but it hasn’t been publicly backed; we want to be the first to say that we are officially of the opinion that once the Americans are out we want the club to become and remain green and gold as a sign of our (hopeful) triumph.

We hope that you will be behind us in this campaign and that together we can all feel free to buy a shirt without guilt, a green and gold shirt brought out to commemorate the success of the fans campaign.

Stretford-End.com has written to Manchester United and Nike to request that the club do not act to further damage the relationship between the supporters and the club by releasing a green and gold shirt while the Glazers are still in charge and notifying them of our intention to publicly champion the cause.

Please sign our petition that we will send to Manchester United Football Club on December 1st, 2010. We hope that we will be able to present the club with thousands upon thousands of voices who may not necessarily be able to end the Glazers ownership but can appeal to the club to not further damage the relationship between themselves and the supporters in the meantime. Anything that you, our reader, can do to spread the word of this campaign to keep the club as close to the supporters as possible, we would truly appreciate.

Stay green and gold until the club is sold; but stay green and gold even after the club is sold.

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