MANCHESTER UNITED is a club at war with itself. As the players warmed up on the Old Trafford turf ready for their game with Norwich City at the weekend, thousands of fans occupied the Munich tunnel to voice their frustration at the way the club is being run.

They started at the Tollgate pub not too far from the ground, and they marched through the roads of Trafford towards the stadium.

As they did so, the numbers increased from the strong cohort who led from the beginning to a seemingly never-ending flow of supporters clad in green and gold.

Through the smoke bombs and the hordes of people, banners poked out. “We want our club back; some things are worth fighting for,” read one. Another: “50+1 protect the legacy.”

There was a similar current, too, running through the chants, which echoed off the walls of the tunnel. All criticised the Glazers, but at the same time the fans’ adoration for the club which they love ran through.

One specifically, though, highlighted the club’s current plight. As thousands sang about Roy Keane and what he did as captain of the club in the 1990s, it was evident that they were longing for a bygone era which shows little sign of coming back.

The fans who occupied the tunnel stayed in their place for a while, with the directors’ and press entrances shut. Some filtered into the ground, but many others remained outside to air their frustrations at the way their club was being run.

United aren’t facing an existential threat. They won’t go out of business due to the action of their owners. But what their fans are facing is still a difficult situation.

Their club has become stagnant and a mere shadow of what it used to be. No longer a force to be reckoned with in English football, it acts as little more than one of the footballing world’s many commercial assets.

Old Trafford is dilapidated and carries an aura of a club which has never really left the Alex Ferguson era.

While Manchester City and Liverpool have evolved with the times and changed their style of football to match what is needed for the 21st century, United haven’t changed.

While big-name signings who will sell shirts and be good for advertising revenues are brought in, they rarely seem to be the right choice for creating success on the pitch.

On Saturday, it was one of those commercial assets — Cristiano Ronaldo — who rescued three points for United in what was otherwise a sorry attempt to chase off the league’s basement side.

Ronaldo is one of the world’s greatest and proved with his hat-trick that he’s still able to do what he grew famous for, but he’s one of very few bright sparks in this side of Manchester.

The world’s other big clubs have diverged somewhat from the superstar era where one player dominated into the true embodiment of a team where many combine to create an overall side which is regarded as great — rather than a single player taking that title.

And so that may be seen by outsiders as the reason for fans’ frustration, but in fact that has very little to do with it.

Yes, fans want success, but they also want more. They want to have control in their club; they want to have dialogue with the owners and have their views respected;  they want decisions to be made which benefit the fans, not just the balance sheet.

That’s what’s lacking, and that’s what doesn’t seem like changing yet. The club have offered to redevelop the ageing Old Trafford, but that hasn’t materialised yet.

United is just one example of a problem felt across the modern footballing world. What those at teams who are fighting for their very existence at the bottom of the table are fighting for is the same as what United are fighting for.

There was one thing that the banners kept asking for: 50+1. The German ownership model has had success, but for now the English game remains as it always has been. And this is a problem which doesn’t seem like leaving the country any time soon.