Old Trafford is worth the trip
But a Christmas present that makes a child’s dream come true is a valuable one indeed, and we joined a number of other father/son football pilgrims on a flight to Manchester in early February.
The centre of Manchester is unapologetically chaotically mixed in its architectural style. Here, it seems, was a city that was just too damn busy since the very beginning of the industrial revolution to worry about looking pretty. What prettiness there is to be found in Manchester comes in fleeting glimpses amidst the commercially ugly and austerely industrial: St Mary’s Church on Mulberry Street, for example, looks like a haven of tranquillity in a sea of bombast.
We checked into our hotel — the Radisson Blu Edwardian on Peter Street. This is located in The Free Trade Hall — an impressive Victorian building that is also exceptionally pretty, with colonnaded street outside.
Just east of here is Manchester’s Chinatown. It’s a colourful and favourite haunt of Mancunians in the evening and there is a wide range of eating choices of the mostly oriental variety, from the top end choices to the eat-from-your-hand takeaway kind.
The tram ride to Old Trafford was only four stops but it felt like fifty-four, such was the level of mounting anticipation. At each stop, more and more of the red-and-white clad MU faithful got on board, mixing with the evening shoppers.
When we finally alighted, we were surrounded on all sides by Manchester United fans, forming tributaries of faithful followers that were flowing swiftly into a river of people moving quickly towards the Old Trafford stadium, whose lit-up outline we could now see in the near-distance.
“There it is!” my son shouted as soon as he recognised the familiar form that he had seen so many times before on television. We hurried towards the huge Theatre of Dreams, looking up in the cold February sky every few minutes to check that it was still really there.
Soon, we were inside and sitting in our seats. We were up high in a corner, far away from the segregated section of Portsmouth supporters who were making chanting and grunting noises far below to our left and barely audible. We were amongst a cheerful group of overwhelmingly United fans. I felt right at home: There were a good few Irish accents to be heard and the mixture was of part-time fans and people out for an entertaining night out, with some of the more hard-core eat-drink-sleep-football types sprinkled through our section for good measure. United were more than a match at containing lowly Portsmouth and only came to life when they had to — Rooney scoring twice to turn around the shock concession of a goal from Portsmouth. In between the lulls (and especially during corner-taking), the chants went around and we soon learned them by heart. “Ooooooh… Robin Van Per-seee!” was one of our favourites, as was the direct and simple “Unite…. Ted!”
I asked my son what the best part of it was. “When everyone is jumping up and down and cheering after a goal,” he said without hesitation.
The real highlight, however, is the guided tour, which we did the following day. This allows you to get intimate with the stadium and the team in a way that isn’t possible on match day.
You’re taken through the heart of the great stadium and filled in along the way about such colourful anecdotes as the one about the con-man who got into the ringside section reserved for wheelchair users, only to give himself away when United scored by jumping out of his wheelchair and shouting “Yessss!”
You also get a chance to get interviewed in front of the sponsor board as if you’re on television after the match and jog out the tunnel to the accompaniment of the soundtrack that’s played for the players themselves when they enter the pitch.
Best of all, however, you get to visit the dressing room and the players’ lounge. You see the tactics board that Alex Ferguson used during his long, long tenure as United manager. You can sit down on the very bench where all those talented players sat before you, going back over the many decades and you can visualise the various legendary incidents of drama that occurred here, such as Ferguson’s alleged boot-throwing incident that was said to have precipitated David Beckham’s decision to pack his bags and head to Real Madrid.
Apart from that, the enormous collection of displayed memorabilia is overwhelming and humbling in the extreme, so that by the time we emerged from the tour, I no longer viewed Manchester United as a cynical money-spinning operation devoid of any sense of fair play, but as a proud fan of an extraordinary football team that hadn’t lost touch with the people and fans that helped to build it, despite becoming a global commodity.
My son was pale and exhausted from it all; looking like someone who had just gone for the world record in spinning yourself around and around. There was a perma-smile across his face. Words couldn’t sum it up adequately. We looked at one other and smiled and walked back to the tram stop whistling “Glory, glory, Man United”.
Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus.com) operates daily direct flights from Cork, Dublin and Shannon to Manchester International Airport.
We stayed at the Radisson Blu Edwardian, Peter Street, Manchester M2 5GP, England. Tel +44 161 835 9929. www.radissonblu-edwardian.com. Rooms start at approximately €250 per night.
We booked our tickets directly via the Manchester United website (www.manutd.com). Tickets are bookable only a few weeks in advance. Normally, you get them at good prices (eg children’s tickets available at approx. €14.50).
The other option is to get a package using a specialist package tour operator, such as Soccer Tours (www.soccertours.ie) or Champions Travel (www.champions-travel.com).
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