Manchester United will pay tribute to frontline workers from the Greater Manchester community and beyond at the pre-season match on Saturday, all in a bid to show collective appreciation for their service throughout the pandemic.
Prior to kick-off, both the United and Everton teams will respect a minute’s applause in recognition of the NHS, the emergency services and all frontline workers and volunteers who have served local communities across the country over the last 18 months.
A delegation of frontline heroes will also be hosted in the Directors’ Box at Old Trafford.
Collette Roche, Chief Operating Officer, said: “Over the past 18 months, the nation has rallied round to tackle the pandemic which has had such an impact on us all. As a club we produced 60,000 meals for NHS staff in local hospitals, made donations of food, PPE and gifts to frontline staff and hosted vaccination training at Old Trafford. All of this, however, pales in comparison to the sacrifices made by staff across the NHS and other frontline sectors.
“The recognition activities planned for Saturday’s game will offer us and our fans an opportunity to once again say ‘thank you’ for everything that those frontline heroes have done to protect us against COVID-19.”
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On top of this, Manchester United are planning more talks with players over COVID-19 and the vaccinations available to them. Solskjaer is understood to be keen to safeguard the squad from an outbreak of coronavirus.
It’s always difficult to predict a line-up for a pre-season match, but we gave it a go and reckon Bruno Fernandes will be one of the bigger names to return tomorrow.
A lot of players came back to training this week after being granted extended breaks due to Euro 2010 participation.
