An influential Manchester United fan group is planning a protest against the ownership, which it accuses of "turning the club into a circus". The 1958 group was responsible for protests at the way United was being run which attracted thousands in March last year - although they scrapped a plan to repeat it before the opening home game of this season against Arsenal.

Discontent against minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been growing in recent weeks, and the appointment and subsequent dismissal of Ruben Amorim has triggered a call to protest before the Red Devils play Fulham on 1 February. Fans held up an anti-Ratcliffe banner at Turf Moor on Wednesday before the 2-2 draw with Burnley, when supporters also sang vicious songs against co-chairman Joel Glazer.

"After lurching from one disaster to another, Ratcliffe comes across as an incompetent clown turning the club into a circus," said the 1958 group in a statement. "Instead of best in class, we're a laughing stock. It has been an extraordinary and deeply troubling few days at Manchester United.

On the pitch, we are watching mediocre performances from an average team drifting without identity, direction, or ambition. Off it, the chaos is even worse." Senior United officials are continuing their search for a caretaker boss to replace Amorim, although sources with an understanding of the situation say substantive conversations with front-runners Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick are yet to take place.

Sources close to Ratcliffe defend him, pointing to the £250m of his own money he has invested in the club, including a complete renovation of United's Carrington training complex, as proof he is genuine in his wish to drive the club forward. However, others point to the decision to retain Erik ten Hag following the 2024 FA Cup final win over Manchester City, invest £200m in new players, then sack the Dutchman just nine games into the new Premier League season, and then doing something similar with Amorim after last term's 15th-placed finish, as clear examples of flawed thinking.

"Let us be clear: this is not a defence of Ruben or the football served up under him," continued the 1958 group statement. "Much of it was unacceptable. But his dismissal once again exposes the continued dysfunction at our club."

Ratcliffe, 73, has also been criticised for a number of cost-cutting measures, including two rounds of redundancies and an increase in ticket prices. United host Brighton in the FA Cup third round on 11 January, with Darren Fletcher remaining in interim charge. The former United and Scotland midfielder, currently the club's Under-18 coach, has impressed senior figures with the way he has gone about his temporary appointment and were heartened by the performance at Burnley, which they believe on another day would have resulted in a comfortable victory.

While no timescale has been put on the appointment of a caretaker to the end of the season, it has been expected there would be a decision before the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on 17 January. However, while preparations for that game will begin on Monday, sources have said it would be optimistic to think the situation would be resolved by then. Those with an understanding of the situation also believe Solskjaer and Carrick, who lost his job at Middlesbrough in June after two and a half years in charge, are both viewed as managers in their own right, rather than potentially being part of the same coaching team as they were following Jose Mourinho's dismissal in 2018.