Old Trafford

With tradition being a large part of the Manchester United way to play football, their grounds in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England are among the most influential and traditional symbols of the club. Nicknamed the Theatre of Dreams, Old Trafford has been open since 1910, serving the club loyally for over 100 years. With many additions in the 1990's and 2000's, Old Trafford's attendance is quickly rising and they hope to be able to squeeze as many Manchester United fans in as possible.

Old Trafford has played a vital role in English history, both involving sports and not. In 1936, upon the outbreak of World War II, the stadium was used as a depot for the military and was actually damaged from a German air strike. The stadium has also held major European sports events over the years, solidifying its place as one of the most important venues in the United Kingdom. Old Stafford was home to the 1966 World Cup, 1996 Euro Cup, 2003 UEFA Champions League Final, as well as the Rugby World Cup in 2000. The stadium will also hold several football matches for the upcoming London Olympic Games.

While visiting RCD Espanyol's stadium, they told us that since the stadium was not used daily, that other uses were vital for the financial stability of the facilities. The stadium is a big concert venue, holding many concerts yearly and drawing tens of thousands of fans. The stadium is also used for many private functions, including Christmas parties, business conferences, and even weddings are very popular. This shows how important the stadium, its tradition and the team are to the people of Manchester that they are willing to pay to celebrate their events on the pitch.

In the future, Manchester United will most likely look to continue expanding both the stadium itself and the grounds surrounding it, in order to further boosten the number of fans and to separate themselves from their other competition with superior grounds. Another incentive for them to increase the capacity of the stadium could be for more use in the London Olympic games, or possibly in order to be a regular venue for the English National Team, when they play in either competitive play or friendlies, or the host of the Premier League championships. One criticism of this expansion however is the height of the stadium. Due to the large height already, adding more on to the top of the stadium would further reduce the lighting hitting the pitch. Manchester United must be aware of this as they hit the planning stages of their additions. The stadium has served Manchester and the people of Manchester for over 100 years, and will continue to remain an icon for Manchester United fans.

1958 Plane Crash

On February 6th 1958 a plane taking off in Munich crashed into a house after skidding off the runway. 8 Manchester United players died along with 23 other passengers aboard the plane. The team was returning from a European Cup match in Yugoslavia against Red Star Belgrade. The team, nicknamed Busy Babes was named after the coach at the time Matt Busby. At the time this Manchester United team was the best in England. They had won the English Cup the previous 2 years and participated in the European Cup despite discouragement from the rest of the English league. 13 days after the crash Manchester resumed play among 60,000 fans in a very sad and tragic moment in the clubs history. Part of Old Trafford is dedicated to this crash with memorials of the crash. Since this crash, Manchester United has tried to honor and cherish the tradition and style of play that this courageous and successful team did so. The team's style was all out attack, and considered the 'Manchester United' way to play football. Ever since, Manchester United has strived to incorporate this strategy into their game plan.


http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-history/munich.html

Cross Town Rivals: City vs United

After an uninspiring 2-0 blanking of FC Galati at Old Trafford, Manchester United hoped to erase the memories of a previous 6-1 blasting at the hands of cross-town rival Manchester City. While Manchester City has lived in the shadows of their seemingly larger than life older brother Manchester United, City broke out in a big way against a slipping team and managed to continually attack against a team with a man down, ending with the most goals Man City had ever scored in Old Trafford since their 5-0 victory 56 years ago (news.bbc.co.uk). Coming with this loss was the glaring absence of ability in the midfield of Manchester United, an area of concern for faithful followers coming into the season. While it is not only bad that Manchester lost to their cross town rival, the loss also brings with it glaring similarities to Manchester United's own game with Arsenal back in August. In just the beginning of Premier League competition, Manchester romped Arsenal by a score of 8-2. Following this extreme loss and a 2-0 blanking by Liverpool the previous game, Arsenal still has had trouble regaining its composure, consistency and ability. Such a lopsided loss can really have a lasting effect on a team's attitude and performance, something that Sir Alex Ferguson should be vigilant for and look to overcome. It is imperative for him to keep the team's focus on overcoming Manchester City's five point Premier League lead and not dwelling back on a previous loss like this, something that Arsenal may have showed is a poor strategy in competition.. While it's obvious Manchester City can outspend their rivals, Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United must remain focused on capturing their traditional style of attacking and attempting to turn their season in a more positive direction after their 6-1 loss to Manchester City.