There is a report on the Manchester Evening News stating that a redevelopment task force has been set up by Manchester United to oversee the redevelopment of Old Trafford and the surrounding areas. As a Manchester City fan, I have been quite bemused by the way the United board have let their best asset crumble. I've only been to Old Trafford a couple of times. The first time was in 1996 for the Euro's, to watch Germany beat the Russia. A group of my mates had put in for tickets for a few games and this was the only one we managed to get. Luckily for us, it was the day after my nephew got married in Manchester, so I was able to combine the two things. A couple of our group were Manchester United fans. They used the visit to taunt me about the state of Maine Road and how City had allowed the ground to deteriorate. In truth I was a bit jealous that United had such a fine stadium. although I'd never say so. I preferred the dilapidated mish mash of stands that was Maine Road and the gallows humour on the terraces, but you couldn't help but agree that Old Trafford was a fantastic stadium.
The next time was the season before lockdown, when a mate who is a United fan offered me a ticket to watch the Derby in his sons seat, next to the Streford End. I was shocked. Whereas in 1996 Old Trafford seemed impressive, it was clearly falling apart. The whole place needed a lick of paint, the toilets were disgusting, the bar areas looked like a nuclear bunker, with massive queues for beers and the seats were tiny, a problem if like me you are 6'1 and can't move your legs. I've been to just about every London football ground and a few others, such as Anfield and I couldn't help but feel Old Trafford had become the worst to visit. This is nothing to do with the team. It's just that Arsenal, Spurs, Man City. Sunderland and Middlesborough have moved to better stadiums. Others such as Chelsea and Liverpool have at least kept their grounds ship shape and up to date. Even Watford has a better feel around the ground. There have been some rather poor schemes. I think that West Ham's adaption of the Olympic stadium is awful. Taking my blinkers off, Spurs is far and away the best stadium in the country now. It was designed with fans in mind and Spurs deserve a lot of kudos for getting many of the things right. The beer is not a rip off (As it is at Arsenal), the views and the acoustics are amazing and there was a real effort to keep fans together, a lesson they learned from Arsenal's move, where people who had sat together for decades were split up and the atmosphere suffered.
As for my club, Manchester City, when I first visited in the 2003/4 season I was horrified. I felt that City had destroyed the atmosphere. I didn't particularly enjoy the experience, and over the next few seasons, nothing really changed. There were the jibes from the United fans about the Emptihad and the Council House. When my son got to 10 and became interested, we started going far more regularly. The vibe has changed and now it is almost impossible to actually get tickets, unless it is an FA Cup game or an inconvenient time (evenings and late Sunday). For many of the games, the atmosphere rocks, in no small part down to the club making repeated efforts to improve the experience. In the 1980's, I regularly went to Maine Road, as my then girlfriend, now wife lived in Manchester. She went a few times to the game, but didn't enjoy it. Her view was that it was a lot of drunks, swearing and being aggressive. She wasn't really interested. A couple of years ago, we had a spare ticket for the City Vs Newcastle game. She came along and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and noted the lack of sweary drunks. In truth, the move broke up a lot of the hardcore fans who congregated and apart from behind the goals, the fans are a lot less animated. As a result it seems to me that there are far more women and families on the terraces. Whilst this is good for the clubs long term future and business development, there is a cost for old school fans like me. I suspect my son, who goes to most games I go to with me, would not feel comfortable at a 1970's match. The City of today is his normal.
When I went to Old Trafford, the atmosphere was like going back in a time machine. I realised that just about all of the fans had sat together for ever and so they had not really changed. It was far more blokey and sweary than City. The other thing, perhaps due to the lack of success, was that most of the chants seemed to be the same as you'd hear on Match of the Day in the 1980's. The whole place is stuck in a timewarp.
At the end of last season, we saw the sight of water cascading through the roof. City fans have been taunting United about the state of the ground for a few years and it seems that they are right. Old Trafford really is falling down.
The board that United are putting together has such figures as Seb Coe and Andy Burnham. For the Mayor, it is a huge opportunity for redevelopment, new homes and to keep Manchester on the map as the UK's football capital. The city has both the current most successful team in the land and the historically most successful one. Ensuring United do not fall apart is clearly important for the city.
But what about the fans? What do they want? One thing is clear and that is that they don't matter in all of this. There are huge sums of money being talked about and a fortune to be made. Jim Ratcliffe may claim to be a Utd fan, but he's spent a billion quid and he wants a return. He thinks that the state should help develop a "Wembley of the North". This is all very well, but we already have a Wembley and other clubs fans will never celebrate a visit to Old Trafford in the way they celebrate a visit to neutral venue. In short, they don't want it. By all means, have other sports, gigs etc, but one Wembley is more than enough. Of course they want better amenities, comfier seats (for those that sit down) and nicer bars, but they have something special that City, Arsenal and Spurs don't. Grandads can sit down and say "I saw Georgie Best score in that goal". Of course, I am a dinosaur, but such things mean something to me and a lot of other fans. Whatever this board do, as a fan and without my City hat on, I hope United engage with fans and do more than lip service to keeping the vibe that makes Old Trafford special for them.
If they get it wrong and destroy the atmosphere, I suspect that a lot of people who've had season tickets for a very long time will give them up. If the team are not doing well, those seats might not be as easy to fill with a new generation of prawn sandwich munchers. I have a friend who's family had season tickets for Highbury since 1931, who gave them up after two seasons of The Emirates, as it "wasn't the same". He's not been since.
And finally, I think the idea that the stadium redevelopment should be publicly funded as total neglect is the reason is it's dilapidated is obscene. There are far more important things for the Mayor of Manchester and the government to spend cash on. By all means make it easy to redevelop and work together to include social housing etc in the plan, but the Glazers do not deserve a penny in subsidy.
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