In the early hours of Thursday morning, Manchester United will face Chelsea in their home stadium. Surprisingly, United has announced that it will restrict the media from attending the pre-match press conference if they are suspected of "smearing" manager Tannhäuser. It is reported that the "blacklist" includes well-known media such as Sky Sports, Manchester Evening News, Mirror and ESPN.
In response, Manchester United released a statement expressing its strong displeasure that a number of UK media outlets had published inaccurate information without confirmation from the club: "The club is taking action against a number of media outlets not because they have reported news we don't like, but because these outlets have simply not contacted us or given us the opportunity to understand the facts and respond. The Club must defend important principles and looks forward to re-establishing a model of cooperation."
