GLAZER CONFRONTED

In the unpopularity stakes, Ferdinand is surpassed only by the Glazers, whose £790 million takeover has caused severe disenchantment and hostility among fans. Bryan Glazer, one of the three brothers elected to the board as a non-executive director, has enjoyed witnessing the United phenomenon at first hand in the Far East, but it emerged that he had been interrogated by three supporters who forced their way into the VIP area after the club’s match in Beijing on Tuesday.

With David Gill, the chief executive, and fellow directors watching awkwardly, Glazer was asked by one supporter why the family had been unwilling to meet supporters earlier this month, when they visited Manchester for the first time since the takeover. Glazer is understood to have retained his composure, saying “all in good time” and that the family should be judged “in a year’s time”, rather than now.

The wisdom of the Glazer takeover, though, is already in question, with the club’s huge popularity in the Far East, on which part of their aggressive business plan is based, under threat. United were watched by only 24,223 fans in Beijing on Tuesday — a figure that Gill admitted was “disappointing” — and, while the crowd in Tokyo was a healthy 40,197, there were about 4,000 empty seats as well as a few murmurs of discontent when it was announced that Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney, Smith and Van Nistelrooy would not start.

The Sun reports that Glazer will remain for the rest of the Far East tour, though it is still not clear if he or any of his family will attend United’s first home league game of the season against Aston Villa.