Area 77

My first day in Newcastle, my brother and I woke up early in the morning and set off on our road trip to Manchester to go see Old Trafford.

We weren’t going to a game but we were going to the stadium tour and then the museum afterwards. The tour was fantastic. It’s not your everyday boring tour, this one was interesting and fun and we got to go around the whole stadium inside and out! The tour guide was really cool too.

As we went through various areas of the stadium, the guide would tell us the history of them. The ones with a story were really interesting. In the player bar and lounge, where the players and their family, guests or friends hangout out before the games, there is a wooden plaque hanging on the wall. That plaque was completely handmade by a fan of Manchester United and he wanted to present it to the team himself. However, his warden did not allow him. The fan was actually serving 15 years in prison. Sir Bobby Charlton was so moved that he went to the prison himself and accepted the plaque.

Another cool story is about the old tunnel that the players use to enter the pitch from at the start of the games. During World War II, Old Trafford was heavily damaged and according to the guide, all but that tunnel was in need of repair and reconstruction. As the years passed, the club recognized the tunnel’s solidarity and decided never to replace or change it in anyway. They instead built another entrance tunnel, which is used today, to fit all the players, escorting children, match officials, security personnel and the media.

We went to the players changing room and bath where they had images of the current players to point out where they sit. The guide also told us where some of the past players use to sit also. There was a private warming up room that was specially built for Eric Cantona who was superstitious and could never warm up with the team before a game. The bath was closed so we could not go in, but we could still see what was inside. There were showers, a massage bed and a huge jacuzzi. Because of health safety, there is a rule that if a player has any open wound he is not allowed in the jacuzzi. Sir Alex Ferguson also has a rule, any player that is red carded is not allowed in the jacuzzi for a month. That was pretty funny.

After the tour we had lunch at the Red Cafe. It was really cool because everything was red and the backs of the chairs had players’ name and number. We then went to the museum and also had a great opportunity not many have had. There was a special photo shoot where you can have your picture taken with the Carling Cup and Santa. We didn’t want to take it with Santa so we told the photographer we wanted a background of the pitch behind us. He said that they didn’t have that so as we turned around to leave, he asked us if we had our own camera. He then took the cup and went to the next room where there was a giant image of Giggs on the wall. He gave us the cup (!!!) and told us he would take the photograph for us. So we each held a handle and raised our arms as if we won the cup. We were really lucky to actually carry it and that was really cool. People were only allowed to hold it as it was sitting next to Santa.

It was a great day and hopefully the next time I go to Old Trafford, it would be for a real live match.

Images of my visit start here. Just press next. I haven’t put them in a seperate set yet becasue my eCheck for my Flick renewal is still pending

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 24th, 2006 at 9:42 am and is filed under My Life, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.