Every fan of the Red Devils knows where the Manchester United Stadium is. Old Trafford, or Dream Theater, was built in the southwestern part of Greater Manchester. Today, he can take in the stands about 76 thousand spectators, which is the second largest in England in terms of capacity.
The stadium has been home to Manchester United for more than a hundred years (taking into account the period of the Second World War, when the building was temporarily destroyed). The Manchester United Stadium (the name “Old Trafford” arena was named after the district of the same name) has the highest rating of UEFA - 5 stars, and belongs to the premium arenas. It is noteworthy that a railway station was specially built near the arena, and on the day of the match all the fans are delivered by train.
Construction, first football matches and new records
The Manchester United Stadium was built in 1909 by a Scottish architect named Archibald Litch. Journalists invited to the opening noted that Old Trafford was the most impressive building they had ever seen. The stadium received the highest scores in terms of comfort and spaciousness.
By the way, a few years later, an attendance record was set in the English championship (70,500 spectators), which fell on the home match of the “Red Devils” and “Aston Villas”. Then the owners suffered an unfortunate defeat with a score of 1: 3. On the eve of World War II, the final of the FA Cup between Wolverhampton and Grimsby Town, which was held at Old Trafford, gathered almost 77 thousand spectators in the stands, which was a new record.
Restructuring
As a result of the bombing by German pilots in the spring of 1941, the Manchester United stadium received significant damage. The recently built roof of the arena and part of the stands were destroyed.
Restoration of the construction began in the postwar years at the expense of state compensations and the club’s own funds. The stands were gradually restored, the roof was reconstructed, and new modern lighting was installed that meets the latest European requirements. The first matches at the renovated stadium took place in the summer of 1949, and the arena was not fully restored until 10 years later. However, perestroika did not end there either.
The 1966 World Cup was approaching, and the Manchester United home stadium could still boast of such architectural flaws as, for example, columns hiding the view, an improperly designed roof that divided the green lawn onto the sunny side and shaded during the daytime . The flaws were eliminated, and the arena eventually got the shape of a bowl. Such a maneuver made it possible to create a special acoustics inside the design, preserving all the sounds inside, thereby enhancing the audio effect both for the fans and for the players themselves. The latter, as conceived by the club management, should also further motivate.
Capacity increase
With the introduction of technical innovations at Old Trafford, the number of places available for fans has steadily decreased. So, by the beginning of the eighties of the last century, the arena lost about twenty thousand places from their original number. It is only natural that with the growth of the club’s popularity at the turn of the century, work to improve the stadium was carried out in that direction.
At the beginning of the millennium, the Western stage of the stadium received the second tier, and after 2006 the second tier was built in separate quadrants, which allowed to increase the capacity of the bowl to today's 76 thousand spectators.
Shortly before this event, Old Trafford accepted the first Champions League final in its history. On May 28, 2003, two Italian teams, Juventus and Milan, came together in a decisive match for the main football trophy of the Old World. As a result of a stubborn fight and a logical draw after the expiration of the playing time, the players in the red-black t-shirts were stronger in the penalty shootout.
Old Trafford
In 2010, Manchester United Stadium marked an important historical date - the centenary of the construction of the arena. To hold celebrations and bookmark the commemorative capsule, the festival organizers invited relatives of the players and club management involved in its opening to Old Trafford. Among others, there were descendants and the legendary Scottish Archibald Litch.
Stadium structure
The Old Trafford stands surround the football field of the stadium on four sides and received the names of the corresponding parts of the world. Today, only the south side has one tier, all other sectors are two-tier. In addition, the North and South stands have second, unofficial names. The first of them is named after the legendary mentor of Manchester United, who led the “Red Devils” for a quarter century, Sir Alex Ferguson. In this part, there are mainly administrative boxes, popular club venues and the main museum of the Mancunians. For one match, the tribune takes an average of about 25 thousand fans.
Located opposite the South Stand is named after no less legendary person - striker Bobby Charlton. The best view of the field opens from here, therefore, in this part, in addition to the spectator seats, there are special commentary boxes.
The Western rostrum, also known as the Stratford End, traditionally hosts the Red Devils. It is always very noisy here, because twenty thousand of the most loyal fans sing songs dedicated to the club throughout the entire ninety minutes of the match. Here, as a rule, during fights, fans post thematic banners, club flags and other paraphernalia.
Less than the rest (twelve thousand) can take in their sectors the Eastern Tribune. These places are usually intended for people with disabilities and fans of the opponents club.
Derby manchester
Manchester is a city of two football teams with great stories. Just like in Rome there are fans who hate or love unconscious “Lazio” or “Roma”, in Catalonia - “Barcelona” or “Espanyol”, in Milan - “Inter” or “Milan”, in Manchester there are two army of fans. Some are betrayed by the "red", the second are true fans of Manchester City. These are two opposing camps, praising the victories of their club and rejoicing in the annoying setbacks of the opponents. Ask a Blue Moon fan what the name of the Manchester United Stadium is, and don’t be surprised if it just passes you by.
An interesting fact: in the post-war years, United temporarily remained without their own arena, and while it was being restored, the team was forced to conduct home fights at the stadium of principled opponents from City. Not only were uninvited guests often booed at Main Road, but the rent for the Reds was set at five thousand pounds a year, which at that time was a very serious amount.
Outside use
From the first years of construction, Old Trafford was used not only for football matches. At different times, baseball and cricket fights were held here. In 1993, 40,000 spectators watched the boxing match in the stands of the arena, and in 1998 the Manchester United Stadium hosted the final of the Super League rugby. Today, the arena is used for various concerts and social events.
Work with fans
During the days of home matches near the arena and in the club’s official stores, brand attributes are sold. Almost all souvenir products, from trinkets to t-shirts, are marked with a photo of Manchester United Stadium or Red Devils football players.
By the way, you can still get paraphernalia with the image of the legendary Mankunians who have not played football for a long time. In addition, the Manchester United Club Museum operates on an ongoing basis, where fans and tourists conduct interesting excursions, telling about the history of the team, famous personalities and facts. The museum’s archive is constantly updated with new photographs from team matches. There are also shots of the last European Cup victories of the “Red Devils” of the group round, for example, photographs of the winning matches Manchester United - Feyenoord and Zarya - Manchester United.
Dream Stadium
In the near future, the Old Trafford Stadium is awaiting change again. For example, about 100 million pounds are planned to be invested in the reconstruction of the South rostrum by the club management (an amount exceeding all previous modernizations combined). An increase in the number of seats awaits individual quadrants of different sectors. According to engineers, the stadium after the reconstruction will be able to take up to 96 thousand fans in the stands.