Why Manchester United vs Rosenborg has sparked a fan protest

Man United played Rosenborg in their second pre-season friendly of the summer in Norway last week.

Rosenborg fans will hold a 15-minute silence during their game against Fredrikstad FK to protest against the club's decision to play a mid-season friendly against Manchester United.

The Norwegian club are in the middle of their league campaign and last week's friendly was seen by some fans as an unwanted distraction.

Rosenborg are struggling in the Norwegian top flight and their fans believed the game against United would increase their chances of relegation.

Rosenborg fans wanted the clash boycotted, but it went ahead with a low attendance at the Lerkendal Stadion, where thousands of empty seats were visible.

In a statement, Rosenborg's fan groups said: "This weekend, an elite league match was supposed to be played at Lerkendal between Rosenborg and Fredrikstad. Some employees at our club chose not to do so. They chose instead to pursue profit and commercialisation."

The fan groups announced they would remain silent in the opening 15 minutes of their game against Fredrikstad, who are also scrapping to avoid relegation.

Two years ago, United played Rosenborg in the middle of the Norwegian season at the Lerkendal Stadion, and the 21,000 capacity arena was sold out, but a combination of the game being unwanted locally, a lack of star names due to the World Cup and high ticket prices meant last week's uptake was low.

The friendly against United also meant Rosenborg rescheduled their league game to Monday night. Games on Mondays are frowned upon in Norway, which fed into the backlash.

The Reds have not been worried by the attendances for the opening two pre-season games. Sources have stressed the priority for pre-season was football preparation, not commercial and chasing revenue.

United have sold over 200,000 tickets for their pre-season games so far. They play Atletico Madrid in Stockholm on Saturday.

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