Rio Ferdinand's announcement that he has signed a £110,000-a-week contract will not prevent the Malcolm Glazer era at Manchester United kicking off tonight in front of thousands of empty seats and in the middle of one of the biggest security operations staged at Old Trafford.
A turbulent summer that has included a near-riot when the Glazers had theirfirst look at the stadium will see Greater Manchester police make a publicappeal for calm today and has left
Ferdinand's decision to accept a four-year deal brings to an end anotherdebilitating saga that was threatening to overshadow United's first competitive game under new ownership. Yet any sense of relief felt by Sir Alex Ferguson was tempered by the knowledge that, when the ticket office closed last night, they had sold only 40,000 tickets and have taken the unprecedented step of closing the top tier of the North Stand - a major embarrassment to the club at a time when building work is going on to increase capacity from 67,800 to 75,000.
One problem may have been solved now that Ferdinand has signed until 2009 But the bigger worry for
When United faced Dinamo Bucharest in last season's qualifier 61,014 turned up, even though they had won the first leg 2-1 in
Tonight United will take the rare step of opening turnstiles for cash but the club are acutely aware that anti-Glazer groups such as Shareholders United and the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association are urging fans to boycott the match.
Greater
Around 5,000 fans are planning to stay outside for the first five minutes, at the end of a protest march along
The Glazers have long since accepted their unpopularity but the fiscal element will undoubtedly trouble them, particularly when they have just sanctioned Ferdinand's salary of around £5.5m a year. He had been offered a weekly wage of £100,000 but a compromise has been reached after he held out for a figure closer to £120,000.