As fireworks crackled across the night sky, the ‘prison’ fences surrounding Fallowfield student campus came crashing down.
This moment was the tipping point, in every sense.
After three months of waking up to the same four walls and forking out thousands of pounds to sit on Zoom, Fallowfield first-years woke up on Thursday to find they’d been fenced-in to their accommodation.
There’d been no warning, and whilst University of Manchester’s President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell quickly apologised and pledged to dismantle the fencing within hours, students decided to take matters into their own hands.
The pressure from a deeply-troubled first term had come to a head, and hundreds congregated together on campus to rip down the blockades.
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It was, according to one student at the protest Ben McGowan, a: “really overwhelmingly cathartic moment.”
This was more than just taking down a fence. We hope this will raise awareness to the lack of support students have received over the course of the pandemic. If you say it is safe for us to come to uni, support us so we don’t lose another student. #ManchesterUniversitypic.twitter.com/ZGnq0vQuIE
The fact that #ManchesterUniversity thought it was a good idea to cage us in with 7ft fences like animals or prisoners absolutely baffles me. Only weeks ago was there a suspected suicide due to anxiety in lockdown in a flat just below me. pic.twitter.com/chJJmiuLnr
A completely out of touch group of managers develop a stupid plan. The plan creates chaos and mountains of work for everyone underneath them. They then offer an abysmal apology that gaslights everyone. https://t.co/w0KV7dISST
The fences had been installed overnight by the university as an additional security measure – intended to protect residents and ensure no unauthorised people were entering the halls.
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But students insist they weren’t informed about the construction work – leaving them panicked at the prospect of being ‘locked in’.
This was made worse by the cryptic response students got when they asked the construction workers what was happening.
“They said they couldn’t tell us and that it was information that was private,” Politics and Sociology student Ben explains.
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Whilst Ben called the assembly of the fences an “amazingly stupid” move by the Uni, he says it was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Since the day we got here the uni has repeatedly failed us and broken promises,” he told us.
“When we got here we were promised in-person tutorials and before they could begin they moved to online. They moved thousands of us across the country into cramped halls riddled with problems especially in Oak House – there’s always a leaking roof or even flooding.
“During isolation they gave us barely any guidance or support. They sent us food package which arrived after we actually finished isolating which was a week’s worth of food that was due to go off in a day.”
When Ben packed his bags and travelled up from South East London to move into Oak House, he was excited about the university experience that lay ahead.
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But it’s been nothing like he expected.
“It’s not really felt like we’re at uni, it just feels like I live in a hall and occasionally have to go on a Zoom call.”
It’s been the same for hundreds of others just like him.
So, when the ‘lockdown fences’ went up, collective frustration that had been building the student community mutated into an organised protest.
“By 8pm we gathered outside Owens Park tower within an area that had been fenced and began chanting and speeches,” said Ben.
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“We could see security were filming us and after a bit of shaking of the fences noticed they came down relatively easily. So, once the first one crashed down everyone ran across campus tearing them all down.”
He added: “There was a real sense of solidarity amongst the hundreds of students that were there that we had actually managed to win this – especially as whilst we were at the protest we received an apology email from the university.”
I can't believe this is even happening. Please remember though, this is just ONE university forcing students to stay. Cambridge told students if they leave to go home for lockdown, they'd be kicked out off their courses. Including international students. #ManchesterUniversityhttps://t.co/Jo4KoFoTtj
According to Ben, the facility needs to focus on providing more mental health services as the pandemic continues.
“I think the main priority for universities has to be supporting student’s mental health,” he explains.
“Most of us are far away from anywhere we know, surrounded with people we barely know and the level of mental health support has been abysmal.
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“Yesterday when the fences were put up actually coincided with the day an enquiry into the suicide of a student at the halls begins. At the protest last night we held a minute of silence for him at the start, but the university has to learn that if they don’t start treating students humanly things will only get worse.”
The major misstep of the fences has seen UoM apologise profusely, with a statement posted online explaining the decision.
Spokespeople for UoM have also said that the university has been offering “further support” during isolation.
But Ben says students still feel like they aren’t being heard.
“It really feels like now they’ve trapped us up here,” says Ben
“[They’ve] got our 9k, they really couldn’t care less what happens to us.”
Feature
The 81-year-old Red being forced to give up his seat after nearly half a cenutry
Danny Jones
We recently had a touching, albeit heartbreaking chat with one Michael Carney: the 81-year-old Manchester United fan who is being forced to give up his current seat after nearly half a century.
The lifelong Man United supporter has been going to Old Trafford since he was seven years old, meaning he’s spent nearly that same number in decades going to the iconic footballing arena, longer than most who currently attend the ground have been on thre planet.
Put simply, Michael has regularly attended matches for pretty much as long as he can remember and held a season ticket for the bulk of his adult life. His current seat in the old south end, now known as the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, has been in his name for over 45 years – but not for much longer.
The die-hard Red was recently told that his particular part of the stand would be sacrificed to make way for new hospitality seats, a decision that supporters aren’t taking lightly. Some of you may have witnessed the protests in his section with your own eyes; even if not, millions have since seen this image:
This is Mike Carney. I know him well. He’s never felt entitled to anything. But he was at Benfica in 66 & Madrid in 68. Now #MUFC Directors think it’s a good idea to take his seat off him for ‘corporate’ fans next year. Support the protests Reds. It matters! @The__1958@TraMufchttps://t.co/fK5r2kl7bF
Holding up the modest but emphatic sign, the message was clear: the current administration is favouring tourists and casual visitors over the so-called ‘legacy’ fans who have devoted their time and money to the club for generations.
The reverse of Michael’s sign read: “I was sat here before you were born”. Having moved from the old Cantilever Stand, a.k.a. ‘United Road’ (now where the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand is situated) to this particular seat back in 1979, that’s true for the majority of the INEOS Group now at the helm of the club.
Met with cheers from those sitting around him, especially those facing the same eviction, as well as countless others around the stadium when he held the sign aloft during the most recent Manchester Derby, his vocal but peaceful protest saw just as much coverage as any organised fan march.
Looking up to co-owner Jim Ratcliffe (who still wouldn’t fit into the same ticket age category as Carney, even at 72) and other members of the administration in the moment, Michael told us that those sitting in the executive seats refused to even acknowledge him and his peers.
Revealing that failed to offer so much as a glance down, merely making their “glum faces” very plain to see, he said his immediate feeling was one which many have echoed since they arrived: “They’re just puppets for the Glazers.”
Long before the days of wealthy billionaires and entire nation states splurging their cash on football clubs, Michael still remembers the simpler times in football; a time when players like Charlton, Law, Best and, most poignantly for him, often overlooked legends like Duncan Edwards were the story.
He still has a newspaper clipping from the Munich Disaster.Been there, got the shirt…Back in those days, “you could smell the liniment and the red was so vivid” that you couldn’t help but pick United. (Credit: Supplied)
As most fans do, he still remembers his first game: it was a Saturday on 29 September 1951, when Matt Busby’s side took on Preston North End at Old Trafford and went on to lose 2-1.
Although he “cut [his] teeth” watching local non-league clubs around Cheshire back then, enjoying the likes of derbies between Northwich Victoria and Witton Albion, the joy of going to watch United for nine old pence as a junior with his uncle is a feeling that has stuck with him.
That being said, it’s fair to say he has little trouble recollecting even more recent history and big turning points, such as that first buyout back in 2005, pretty well.
Few could have predicted just quite how turbulent things would gradually become in the time since, but some certainly feared as much, and Carney isn’t the only one who now considers those same people as “visionaries” doing their best to warn their fellow supporters of a growing spectre.
Not only were they applauded by purists for splintering off and starting their own grassroots phoenix club, FC United of Manchester, but they also helped ward off the possibility of the leveraged buyout model as a threat to other teams in the future, as the attached controversy and debt only grew greater.
In short, as Michael summed it up, “I don’t think people realised just how bad it was going to get – they knew it was coming. Fergie hid it with results on the pitch, but with a lack of success even from last year, it’s increasingly evident how big a mess they’re in.”
The next generation of matchgoing Carneys and fans, full stop – quite literally awe-inspired. (Credit: Ben Carney)
One of the biggest concerns, as he and many others see it, is the crowd itself and how decisions such as these imminent hospitality seats continue to chip away at the spirit within the stands.
Fast forward some seven decades later, however, and when asked point blank if he felt the atmosphere had changed in the modern era, he couldn’t have answered quicker: “Oh yes, I think so – definitely.”
Touching on the ‘forwarding membership’ debacle brought in for the 23/24 season, he carried on: “They’re trying to force people to refund their ticket so they can resell it [at an inflated price]; they’re just making it so difficult. They want the end-of-season ticket holders over 65, full stop, I believe.”
Perhaps the hardest thing for us to hear was when Michael told us: “I don’t feel part of the club at all, and I haven’t for a long time. It’s that feeling of not belonging and loss of feeling like part of a family – they’ve got to get that back.
“How they’re going to do that, I have no idea. I think they’re rotten from top to bottom.”
This becomes an even more bitter pill to swallow when you consider how football can play a part in local communities and families like the Carneys; for instance, without Michael, his grandson Ben may never have enjoyed truly unforgettable moments like these:
Conveying a genuine feeling of heartbreak behind his treatment, in one exasperated moment, he could only utter, “It used to be so simple…”, before going on to joke that if things keep going as poorly as they are on the pitch, they won’t have as many tourists to attract and “they’ll want people like me back.”
We had the pleasure of speaking to Ben himself too, a fellow lifelong Red and now aspiring sports writer studying at UA92 (the further education facility set up by United legends) and he had no reservations in admitting that he owes his love the club, the sport and the magic of watching it live to Michael.
“To me, supporting United is a religion — a way of life”, he says. “It’s in my blood, and that’s all thanks to my grandad. This season, the troubling trends of the past decade have continued, both on and off the pitch, but never underestimate the stoic spirit that runs through Manchester United.
“Even in the bad times, we do it differently, and the chaotic win against Lyon was proof of that. As the chant goes: ‘Ruben Amorim, he’ll bring the glory days again.'”
Unfortunately, many well-meaning Reds, who also expressed their frustration with the club during that frankly bonkers game, have seen their memories of the night somewhat sullied.
Michael might be the oldest fan having to advocate for his own seat but he’s from the only United supporter holding up homemade signs.
Neverthless, without him, treasured memories in Ben’s life like Lyon, that PSG game in 2018/19, derbies both here in Manchester and when the Irwell flows into Merseyside – not to mention core, life-affirming experiences like ones seen above – may never have happened.
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He’s been here through the ups and downs and brought the next line of his kin, friends and numerous others along with him; he’s also stuck with the club through the big periods of transition in the past too.
Each time a new chapter has been turned, he’s refused to be left behind and still has all the passion to witness whatever comes on the next page, but its the club that seems to be trying to obfuscate that as they prepare to ultimately leave the Theatre of Dreams after more than 115 years.
The Northwich-born fan says that he understands the need for a new stadium, even though he believes “renovating would’ve been alright” – admittedly quipping that it’s already a bit like Trigger’s brush from Only Fools given how many different iterations of Old Trafford he’s already lived through.
He pointed out that “people probably said the same” back when the club then known as Newton Heath left Clayton’s Bank Street back in 1910, but did admit he wasn’t the biggest fan of the bold and controversial vision for it, which has been said to resemble a circus top by more than a few.
Being perceived as a somewhat fitting metaphor for modern-day Man United by fans, rivals and neutrals alike, “it was ready-made for the p***-takes”, says Michael, but you can gurantee that he’d be going their in full faith and getting behind his team – only the problem is it isn’t exactly up to him anymore.
Michael text me not long after the full-time whistle following the incredible comeback against Lyon last month to joke, “Forget everything I said about them not being entertaining!”, even going on to rather sincerely apologise for what he feared was “too much ‘fings aren’t what they used to be’ chat.”
Like any truly loyal fan of a club, it doesn’t take much for him to be sucked back in and football cannot, under any circumstances, afford to take undying levels of support like this for granted. Without veterans like this, nights like the one now being set up against Spurs for the Europa League final just don’t exist.
When you factor in how much time, money and energy he’s sunk into travelling for games both home and away – getting trains from Northwich to Alty, then buses to the ground, coaches all over the country and even abroad to see his team play – circumstances like his imminent ousting feel all the more unjust.
He admitted himself that while he might not be around much longer to see the likes of the new stadium and maybe see finally win another league; to cheer on that next generation of youngsters onto the pitch and see a United reborn, he’s more than earned the right to spend every second he can at that ground.
Ruben’s reds might be going to Bilbao and, who knows, maybe they’ll even be back on track from next season, but one things for sure, they won’t get anywhere without true fans like Michael.
Five mindful activities for you to enjoy in Greater Manchester this Mental Health Awareness Week
Danny Jones
This month, among many other important observances, we here in Greater Manchester and all over the country are celebrating Mental Health Awareness Week, and there are plenty of ways for you to join in.
One of our New Year’s resolutions for 2025 was to ‘take better care of up there’; it’s important that you treat your brain like any other organ and muscle and look after it properly.
Between work and our personal lives, it can be easy for us to neglect our psychological health and wellbeing with the stresses of the everyday, but what better time to make a conscious effort to properly focus on it than Mental Health Awareness Week?
With that in mind – pun very much intended – we put together a quick little list of accessible, affordable and even some completely free things for you to do in and around Greater Manchester.
Five ways to take care of your mental health this week
1. Free yoga at Printworks
Having already started one of our days this week with yoga at the Printworks, we can confirm we definitely left feeling immensely relaxed.
Not only that, but given that these very bendy sessions are completely free to the public (to be fair, doing yoga pretty much anywhere is free, but you get the point), there’s really no reason not to give it a go.
With safety in numbers for anyone self-conscious of stretching in sight of passers-by, and Europe’s largest digital ceiling to make the experience even more mesmerising, we really can’t recommend it highly enough.
2. Casual charity 5k and quiz
Exercise really does work wonders for the old noggin’ when you need it, we firmly believe that, and so does doing something nice for a good cause.
That being said, this month’s Run The Streets event has swapped their usual ‘run and rave’ format for an even steadier plod with much-loved Sale-based run group, MileShyClub.
In an effort to keep things on a much calmer level after the laid-back social 5k around Manchester, they’ll be swapping out the typical club vibes for a casual little quiz. Find out more down below.
In fact, this particular Manc writer would go as far as to say that running has probably been the single most transformational thing for mental health full stop, whether that’s solo or with other lovely people.
So it’s a bloody good job that Greater Manchester is absolutely packed to bursting with running clubs, and if ending an evening jog with a quiz doesn’t quite sound like you’re thing, then a post-run pint might.
The likes of Manchester Road Runners have regular sessions throughout the week, including their flagship meet-up at The Wharf on Wednesdays, and as a community with dedicated mental health ambassadors to turn to, we can vouch for their commitment to mindfulness.
These keep getting bigger every year, but they never stop looking after each other.
4. ‘The Drop’ gig at an exciting new Manchester venue
Now, enough exercise for a bit, how about saving your legs for some dancing, or at least some light two-stepping? Yeah, you know want to…
We’d say listening to live music is up there with getting your body moving when it comes to blowing away cobwebs; it’s one of those things that can help express those feelings you might otherwise struggle to put words to, and that’s what ‘The Drop’ series is all about.
Teaming up with mental health through music charity Headstock, The Drop sees artists of all different genres and profiles spotlighted at local venues, with the latest coming up at the brand-new Renae bar.
5. Chill one of Greater Manchester’s many amazing green spaces
Last but not least, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all, and both within central Manchester and the boroughs beyond, you’ll find some of the most beautiful places to reconnect with nature.
Be it a stroll around your local park, walking the dog around a lake
It goes without saying that this is by no means a comprehensive list of brilliant things you can do to give your brain so well-deserved TLC for Mental Health Awareness Week 2025.
Go on a hike, pet a pup, take a day off (pulling a sickie if you need, we won’t tell anyone), have that extra brew, cook your favourite meal, or better yet, have one of our region’s many marvellous restaurants make it for you.
Please use resources like Manchester Mind and SHOUT if you need them; call Samaritans on 116 123, use the NHS (111 service), and if you or someone you know is in crisis, please dial 999 immediately.
As the saying goes, it really is the little things that go along sometimes, and if you take nothing else away from this list, just know that you are loved, everything will be ok, and most importantly, no one is alone.
The Manc -
6th November 2020 
