United, Liverpool fans seeing red over US owners

Mar 21, 2010 - 12:47 PM By ROB HARRIS AP Sports Writer

MANCHESTER, England(AP) -- As the English Premier League's fiercest foes prepare to battle on the pitch Sunday, supporters are united in a common hatred: American owners who have turned English soccer's most successful clubs into the most indebted.

"Yanks Out" is likely to be the common refrain booming around the 76,000-seat Old Trafford on Sunday when Manchester United and Liverpool meet, while most of the home support will twirl green-and-gold protest scarves.

The protesters have even won government support, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown complaining that in soccer "debt levels have been at a leverage level that is too high."

But United club secretary Ken Ramsden dismissed protests by both sets of fans, telling The Associated Press that it's about soccer "played on the field, not in the board rooms."