The tables were turned at Old Trafford.

Not just with Manchester United eclipsing Liverpool on the pitch to claim a first win of the season.

The United players were, for once, organised and coherent – unlike their fans.

Protests against the owners were vocal and vast outside the stadium before kick-off. But the “Glazers Out” chants were largely drowned out in a cacophony of bile and slurs in the 15-minute march from a pub, via Sir Matt Busby Way, to the stadium concourse.

The activism through the streets might have been planned for days – while reflecting 17 years of anger against the Glazers – but it lacked lucid arguments against the American ownership.

Instead hundreds of fans celebrated the death of family patriarch Malcolm Glazer eight years ago. Not just with the odd chant but every few minutes. Interspersed were songs imagining and urging the death of one his sons, Joel, who is co-chairman of United.

The hatred wasn’t just reserved for the owners to pressure them to sell up over the debt and underinvestment, as fans see it, in the squad and stadium.

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The protest was hijacked by anti-Liverpool slurs, with several chants besmirching their fans over the Hillsborough disaster and the 97 deaths.

This was a snapshot of a predominately young, alcohol-fuelled male crowd – vastly outnumbered by the fans inside Old Trafford.

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Those able to see the action witnessed the reversal of fortunes for the teams.

Liverpool outscored United 9-0 across their two games last season under two different managers.

Now the third United manager in a year – and the fifth permanent one since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 – can celebrate a victory that eases the early pressure.

It’s still only three points from a possible nine for Erik Ten Hag at the start of his Premier League career. But it leaves last season’s runners-up in a worse state – with only two points for 2020 champions Liverpool.

A night of rage by Red Devils fans ended in joy at last. But many fans had a clear message after the 2-1 win as they drifted out of Old Trafford. They were celebrating with the players and certainly not the owners.

The protests against the Glazers will persist. But they lack the focus the players finally demonstrated to avoid a third successive defeat.

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