Glory Glory Man United!

I’m writing this note on the bus ride home from Manchester. My intentions for the trip were to see Manchester United play against Arsenal in their FA Cup tie. I left for Manchester from London at 8am on Saturday morning and arrived in Manchester around 2pm. After arriving at my hostel, I dropped off my things and headed to Old Trafford. I got to the stadium with lots of time, which was good because the streets were packed. Imagine 76,000 people walking down a narrow 2 lane road. I purchased an away Man United kit, with Rooney’s name on the back. Rooooooooney! Also, I bought another scarf, which puts my scarf collection at 7. It’ll be 8 after Thursday, when I see Tottenham play Slavia Prague.

Now, I didn’t have the greatest tickets for the fixture, but once I got into the stadium, I realized there really is no bad seat. While I was very high up, I had an excellent vantage point and could really watch the play develop. Being able to see the runs players were making was such a cool experience and made me want to go play football right away. The game was the best I’ve been to yet, as Manchester United won 4-0! Against Arsenal, one of their biggest rivals. The fact that it was also a cup match made the victory even sweeter. Thankfully, I was able to see Rooney play, who was coming off injury. He welcomed me to the stadium by scoring the game winner. I was so excited when he scored, I jumped up off my seat and nearly fell down into the row below me.

My favourite part was when there was more than 30 minutes left to play and Arsenal fans started leaving the stadium. Manchester United fans took the opportunity to tauntingly say goodbye with the cheer: Cheerio! Cheerio! Cheerioooooooooooo! Cheerio! Cheerio! Cheerioooooooooooo! So British, it’s amazing! The only bad part was that I was unable to see Ronaldo or Giggs play, but it’s alright. Being able to watch players like Rooney, Scholes, Ferdinand, Vidic, Nani and so many more made it an unbelievable experience.

When I arrived back at the hostel, I didn’t have any plans and envisioned myself just taking it easy, but thankfully this didn’t happen. Some people arrived in the room I was staying and after quickly making friends, we all went out for dinner and followed it with some Manchester nightlife. As a precursor, remember this link? It is shockingly truthful. We went to three different bars and I had to bite my tongue to prevent laughing out loud at the people. I had one dumb moment when I unzipped my sweater, which revealed my Manchester United jersey underneath. Two minutes later the bouncer motions for me to zip up my sweater. It quickly dawns on me that I’m drinking in a Manchester City bar. Smooth Scott, very smooth. We finally did find a good club, which had some crazy good techno/trance/unknown music.

The next day, we again headed to Old Trafford and were able to take the Stadium tour. It was very cool, as we went all of the places the players are, except for the pitch. Despite repeated warnings not to go on the field, I still almost did it. Alas, in the end, better judgement prevailed. I was able to sit in the chairs the players and Sir Alex Ferguson sit on the sidelines. Very comfortable. I was also able to sit in the team dressing room, notably where Rooney and Hargreaves sit. The dressing room was so normal. It was something that I would get dressed in. The room was surprisingly small, with each wall having a wooden bench and a hook for your jersey above it. Overall, it was very plain, but I guess it’s more important to discuss strategy than to be comfortable.

I had a great time in Manchester and despite rocky first impressions, I can’t wait to go back. I’m sure I will just to see Manchester United play again.

Cheers,
Scott