OLD TRAFFORD (FOOTBALL GROUND)

'Old Trafford' (given the nickname 'The Theatre of Dreams' by Sir Bobby Charlton) is an all-seater football stadium in the Greater Manchester borough of Trafford, and is the home of Manchester United F.C.. The ground has been United's permanent home since 1910, bar an eight year absence from 1941 to 1949 following the bombing of the stadium in the Second World War, during which the club ground-shared with Manchester City at Maine Road. The stadium is located close to Old Trafford cricket ground.
The ground has frequently hosted FA Cup semi-final matches (as a neutral venue), and hosted several England international fixtures whilst Wembley was under reconstruction. It also hosted 1966 FIFA World Cup matches, Euro 96 matches and the Champions League final in 2003. With London winning its bid for the 2012 Olympics, the stadium will be used for some preliminary men's and women's football matches during the Summer Games. Since 1998, when rugby league adopted play-offs and a Grand Final to determine the Super League champions, Old Trafford has staged the Grand Final. Also, in its early days, the ground also hosted games of shinty, the traditional sport of the Scottish Highlands^[2].
Behind Wembley Stadium, Old Trafford has the largest ground capacity of any English football stadium, with a capacity of just over 76,000, and is the only UEFA 5-star rated facility in England.

Contents

Creation

Expansions

Manchester United Museum

Trivia

External links

References

Creation

Prior to 1902, Manchester United were known as Newton Heath, in which time they played their football matches at Bank Street, Clayton. This proved unsatisfactory, and as the club renamed to Manchester United, following near bankruptcy, the club underwent financial restructuring, and thus had funds for a new ground.
Original plans suggest the ground would hold 100,000 (not seated), though this was scaled back to 80,000 (though never reached). The ground was developed at the then substantial cost of £60,000, featuring seating in the south stand under cover, with the east, west and north stands uncovered. Designs were drawn up by famous Scottish architect Archibald Leitch, who also designed stands at Hampden Park, Ibrox Stadium, Highbury, Craven Cottage and White Hart Lane.
Development was completed in 1909, and its inaugural game was played against Liverpool F.C., resulting in a 4-3 win for the visitors.
In 1911 and 1915, it played host to the FA Cup final, and in 1920 it had its largest ever pre-World War II attendance of 70,504 for a United (and league) game, against Aston Villa.
Ironically, the ground record at Old Trafford is not for a United home game (which is rare for British club grounds). On the 25 March 1939, 76,962 people watched an FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town. However, if future developments continue this record looks sure to be broken by United themselves.

Expansions

Bombing during the Second World War on the 11th March 1941 destroyed much of the stadium, notably the main stand. Though this was rebuilt in 1949, it meant that a league game had not been played at Old Trafford for nearly 10 years.
Subsequent improvements occurred, including all the stands being covered (as opposed to just the main stand originally), and proper floodlight installation. Following the 1959 reconstruction of the Stretford End in line with the style of the original ground, the club then embarked on a radical new direction to create a bowl-style stadium. The first cantilever-roofed stand came in 1964 with the opening of the United Road (North) Stand and with it, the first private boxes at a British football ground. In 1973, the cantilever was extended to the Scoreboard End, reconstruction of the South Stand followed from 1978 to 1984 and in 1986 the south-east corner, still little altered up to that point from the original construction, was replaced with a similar cantilever.

The next stage would have been replacement of the Stretford End with a new all-standing terrace with a cantilever roof to link with the three already-redeveloped sides of the ground. In 1990, though, following the Hillsborough disaster, the Taylor Report recommended, and the government demanded, a move to all-seater stadia. Subsequent rebuilding of the Stretford End and conversion of the paddocks on the other three sides of the ground in line with the Taylor Report dropped capacity to around 44,000. However, the club's popularity ensured that further development would occur. In 1995, the North Stand was rebuilt as a three tier stand, bringing the capacity up to approximately 55,000, and upper tiers were added in 1999-2000 to both ends as well raising the capacity to around 68,000.
The ground's most recent expansion saw the addition of around 8,000 seats by "filling-in" the second tier of the north-west and north-east quadrants of the ground. The South Stand remains the only single-tiered stand, its development hindered by a railway line located directly behind it. Although the line could be built over, at least fifty residential properties would have to be demolished for any expansion to be possible, making improvements to the other stands the cheaper option. Further development, taking the capacity to 96,000, would require this expensive house demolition and engineering. [2]
Part of the new seating was used for the first time on 26 March 2006, when an attendance of 69,070 became a new Premiership record. However, this lasted just 3 days before 69,522 people watched United play West Ham on 29 March, and was re-broken on a frequent basis as more sections of the new quadrants were opened. The latest Premiership attendance record to be set was set on 31 March 2007 when 76,098 spectators saw United comprehensively beat Blackburn Rovers 4-1.

Manchester United Museum

Manchester United's club museum is located in the North Stand. According to the club's website, it attracts over 200,000 visitors a year.

Trivia

★ The ground has appeared in more films than any other in Britain. Films that Old Trafford appears in include ''Hell Is a City'' (1960), ''Billy Liar'' (1963) and ''Charlie Bubbles'' (1968).

★ Old Trafford was the first English ground to have to install a perimeter fence to counter fan violence and hooliganism in the 1970s.

★ The grass at Old Trafford is cut three times a week from April to November, and once a week from November to March.^[3]

★ Weather conditions are rarely a problem at Old Trafford; the centre of the pitch is nine inches higher than the edges, aiding drainage of surface water off the pitch, and there are of plastic piping 10 inches under the surface that circulate hot water to melt any snow that may have fallen on the turf.

★ Old Trafford has its own railway station, behind the South Stand - Manchester United FC Halt (Old Trafford Halt) which operates only on match days to assist football fans get to and from the match, without any trouble.

External links

★ Manchester United Official Website

★ Aerial shot of Old Trafford

★ Image Gallery and Additional Information

★ Images and Information about stadium history

★ Fan Photos from Old Trafford

★ Man Utd's Official Statistics website

References

1. Old Trafford 1909-2006
2. Top football clubs played host to Scots sport of shinty
3. The United Miscellany, , John, White, Carlton Books, 2007,