While many Manchester United fans struggle to cope with their team’s decline in fortunes, one United fan in Kenya gave up all together.
John Jimmy Macharia committed suicide in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday after learning that Manchester United had lost to Newcastle United that same day. He jumped from the seventh floor of a building and died from his injuries, according to Standard Digital.
“According to Nairobi County police chief Benson Kibue, Macharia told his friends he could not stand and watch the team beaten in a row before he leapt down dying on the spot,” the report says.
Macharia was 23.
The report adds that he cautioned young people in Nairobi against getting too “emotional” over the Premier League.
“It is not the first time we are losing a young man because of the football in England, which is far away from us. They need to know that is just a game,” Kibue said.
United’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle was its second defeat in four days, marking another setback in what has been a difficult first season in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. After 15 games, United trails league-leading Arsenal by 13 points and fourth-place Manchester City by seven.
Many think United has no chance of defending the league title it won last season, but David Moyes, who replaced Ferguson as manager last summer, believes the Red Devils are still contenders for domestic supremacy, according to the BBC.
“I stand firm we will be very close,” Moyes said after the Newcastle defeat. “I hope we are in it at the end of the season.”
Although United might lose the league championship and even miss out on next season’s UEFA Champions League, Moyes thinks the fans are still on his side.
“The United fans have been great,” Moyes added. “Great to me, and great to the club.
“They understand there is a big transition going on here. I don’t think they, or me, expected us to have lost five games at this time of the season, but I think they understand totally that there is a change going on.”
It’s unknown if Macharia jumped to his death before, or after, Moyes’ postgame comments.
This is just the most recent instance of Premier League fans in Eastern Africa taking things too far. Last month, an Arsenal fan in Uganda lost his house in a bet with a Manchester United-supporting friend when United beat the Gunners in a league game at Old Trafford.
See NTV Kenya’s report in the video below.
Click here to read about the Ugandan Arsenal fan’s losing bet >>
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