News and Insights

Reputational own goals? Learnings from Man Utd’s Asia tour

June 20, 2025

As a Manchester United fan, I’ve grown accustomed to disappointment in recent times. Even with this in mind, the club’s recent post-season tour of Asia managed to fall below my already low expectations. Not just due to poor performances on the pitch, but because of how misaligned the experience was with the club’s stated intentions. What was billed as a celebration of the team’s global following turned, in the eyes of many supporters, into a transactional exercise that missed the mark.

Resisting the urge to cast this latest inglorious chapter to the back of my mind, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the lessons that can be learnt by corporate communicators managing the reputation of legacy firms across sectors. Manchester United remains one of the most recognised brands in world sport. But its missteps in Asia offer valuable lessons for legacy organisations in any sector. Chief among them: no brand, no matter how loyally followed, can afford to take stakeholder trust for granted.

Was a tour framed as gratitude designed for profit?

The stated aim of the six-day trip to Malaysia and Hong Kong was to reward international fans while boosting commercial ties. With two exhibition matches and a slate of sponsor events, the club generated an estimated £10 million in revenue – a clear short-term success at a time when its finances required a boost.

But while the club’s messaging emphasised appreciation and connection, the execution told a different story. Match streams were placed behind a paywall after only seconds of coverage. Ticket prices were high. And the tone of the engagement felt, to many, more about monetisation than community.

This kind of message-execution gap is not unique to sport. It’s a pitfall that affects legacy brands in every industry: the moment an audience begins to feel like a revenue stream rather than a valued stakeholder, reputational cracks start to appear.

Performance and perception go hand in hand

On the pitch, United lost 1–0 to a hastily assembled ASEAN All-Stars team and scraped a win in Hong Kong. While these were technically friendlies, the performances mattered   to supporters who had waited years for a live experience. Instead, they were offered lethargy and disjointed displays.

Off the pitch, a series of incidents further undermined the club’s intent, ostensibly driven by disillusionment among the squad at having to jet around the world immediately after a gruelling season. One player was seen making an offensive gesture toward fans. Another visibly yawned through sponsor duties. Social media posts from squad members conveyed relief at leaving, rather than gratitude for being there.

For any organisation, this highlights the importance of internal alignment. Whether it’s front-line staff, executives or brand ambassadors, the people representing your brand must understand the tone, purpose and value of any public-facing initiative. Disengaged representatives don’t just dilute the message, they risk undermining it entirely.

Brand loyalty is conditional

If the goal of the tour was to build deeper connections with fans, it struggled to land. Thousands of seats went unsold and the online backlash from both local fans and international followers questioned the value of the trip altogether.

As a fan, it was hard not to feel the disconnect. As a communicator, it reinforced a core truth: loyalty can be eroded in the blink of an eye. Even the most enduring customer relationships need to be nurtured, not taken for granted.

This is especially important for legacy brands, whose reputations are often built on decades of goodwill. That goodwill can carry a company through challenging moments, but only if it’s supported by ongoing, meaningful engagement.

What brands can learn

Manchester United’s tour may be an outlier in scale, but the principles it touches on are widely relevant:

• Match your message to your delivery. If the goal is connection, ensure that the execution feels authentic and audience-first
• Don’t underestimate internal culture. Your people are your brand. Involve them in what you’re trying to achieve and make sure they’re fully bought in
• Respect stakeholder intelligence. Today’s audiences can spot inauthenticity quickly. They want consistency, transparency and mutual respect
• Measure value in more than revenue. Short-term commercial wins shouldn’t come at the cost of long-term credibility.

Reputation is shaped by how a brand responds to moments like this, when scrutiny is high and the message falters. For Manchester United, the path forward is clear: listen more closely, align better internally and never take fan loyalty for granted.

For the rest of us in the corporate world, the takeaway is just as relevant. No matter how strong your brand, trust must be earned again and again through thoughtful, audience-focused communication.

FINN Partners’ brand strategy team helps legacy brands build trust, align internal culture, and communicate with authenticity in every market.