Let’s play a simple game. Guess the English club from the below photo.
If you guessed Norwich, you would be wrong. But we won’t hold that against you. Common sense says this is the Norwich fan base. Their colours are yellow and green after all.
Take a hint: This is a Premier League club.
No clue? Well, these are the supporters of Manchester United. The mighty Red Devils.
Red. Not Green. Not Yellow. Red Devils.
So why are they holding yellow and green scarves, or Norwich scarves, as they are comically called? And why suddenly did this takeover on Twitter yesterday after the record-breaking 7-0 drubbing at Anfield?
Let’s take a look at the history and the significance of this.
Traditional Manchester United Scarves
Traditionally, United scarves have always flirted with three colours. And no, we are not talking about the hideous half-and-half scarves. We mean proper Man Utd ones.
The colours are red, black and white.
The stands are coloured with these colours and the supporters wear these with pride, in support of their team on the pitch.
Manchester United, Or Norwich?
Why then, would the proud fanbase ever shift from their colours to others, let alone the colours of another club?
Is the biggest club in English football advertising for another one for free? Is there a link between the two clubs that is not obvious to the naked eye? Is it something else that links Norwich and United?
No.
The change of shades has nothing to do with Norwich actually.
In fact, the fans don these colours as a mark of protest against their owners, the Glazer family.
The club came under the American ownership back in 2005 and have been debt-ridden since, with many blaming the owners as a cause for the downfall that the behemoths have been plagued with.
Yellow and Green instead of Red is an ode to the history of the club, to the time when United was still called Newton Heath.
What is Newton Heath?
The club was founded all the way back in 1878 and was called Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club. The name was subsequently changed to Manchester United in 1902.
In their 24 years of existence as Newton Heath, yellow and gold was the colour of the choice, and the club was built on a strong foundation of core values of the railway workers and their passion.
The yellow and green scarves come out now to remind the players and the owners of that passion and mainly to drive the money-sucking Glazers out of the club.
Why The Memes?
With United playing very well lately, many may have forgotten their issues with the owners. Manager Ten Hag has worked his magic, delivered a cup and things seem to be going only up for people at Old Trafford.
The protests seem to have dropped and the fans are seemingly enjoying their life as football fan again.
But then, yesterday happened. What a train wreck of a match.
Murphy’s Law. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.
7-0. Seven. Not a typo, that. Their worst loss in the league. And this is just after winning a trophy.
Embarrassing.
And while the United fans were running to hide their faces, out from the bushes came the rivals, mocking and trolling them.
Among the many memes was a stark statement that the protests may start again, so fickle is the confidence in the management and the team. And as protests restart, the green and yellow scarves will come out again too.
And this only means one thing. A good time for Norwich club scarf sellers to make a profit.
After all, the Championship club has the same colour and the scarves look pretty much the same as well. So one can easily sell those scarves to United supporters at a marked-up price, make a healthy profit and enjoy some time off.
Will we see yellow and green next time the teams take to the field? Or will the supporters stick to their favourite colour?
Will be interesting to see in a few days’ time with United welcomes Real Betis from their Europe Round of 16 clash.
