Manchester United special report: Pump up the volume! - by Andy Mitten
If you’re a current season ticket holder interested in this idea, email otsingingsection@hotmail.co.uk so that numbers can be gauged.
Envy. That’s what many diehard Manchester United fans felt on European travels this season. It wasn’t because of superior opponents, but the quality of the atmosphere in Lisbon, Amsterdam, Bilbao and Basle. They raised their game because United were visitors, they also made Old Trafford – and most English grounds – sound like a library. And to think that many continentals still describe their most atmospheric stadiums as being like ‘an English ground’.
Old Trafford used to be brilliant, the atmosphere worn as a badge of honour by fans. Scientists once measured the noise from the Stretford End in the ’70s and compared it to a 747 at take off. The decline in noise levels has been slow and painful, the reasons numerous. Abolishing terracing didn’t help, but United fanzines were deriding the Stretford End for being quiet long before it was bulldozed in 1992.
Price rises didn’t help either, while the type of fans attending Old Trafford as the team became more successful were not always inclined to be as vocal. Roy Keane had a point about the prawn sandwiches.
And maybe some long-standing Reds stopped making the effort too because they knew that United would win most games - something that didn’t happen in the ’70s and ’80s.
With terracing, you could stand where you wanted. If you wanted to sing your heart out then you went in the middle of the Stretford End, the end of the United Road or one of the Scoreboard Paddocks. With reserved seating, people take their places much later, mates are often separated and fans complain that they’ve been sitting next to tourists who don’t know the words to songs.
One vocal element also stopped going to Old Trafford after the 2005 Glazers takeover. Some now create a din at FC United that is the envy of far bigger clubs. Others aren’t there because of rising prices. Although prices are still high, the increases are slowing or have stopped.
But Old Trafford is not dead, far from it. It was bouncing for the 2008 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona and superb as recently as a month ago when Liverpool came to lose another league match, but there are still issues which inhibit the atmosphere.
The acoustics in the second tier of the Stretford End, where many vocal fans sit, are not ideal, nor is the distance from the pitch. There’s also area of executive seating in the Stretford End, while fans in other areas of the stadium who want to kick-start the atmosphere claim that they are not surrounded by like-minded souls. However, now there’s an opportunity for change.
Subject to council approval and a trial against Aston Villa next month, away fans are being moved to tier three of the Sir Alex Ferguson stand. Not every United fan is in favour as away fans still contribute to the atmosphere, but the numbers of travelling supporters have declined season on season – Fulham bought a new low of 320 on Monday. United have thus decided that they would like home fans only at the East End of the stadium, the old Scoreboard End.
After much consultation, a group of fans have approached the club with a view to dedicating an area of Old Trafford to like-minded fans who want to sing and support the team, to try and create a din akin to what we’ve heard on our travels this season.
At a meeting with senior United officials on Monday, the club welcomed the idea and are willing to put aside the seats currently used by away fans. That could be 1,400, 1,900 or 2,500 seats where the view and acoustics are excellent. Fans who want to get behind the team can have those seats, mates can sit together and nobody will be moved from their seat because they are currently used by away fans. The area would initially be offered to existing season ticket holders – so that the same fans go every week.
Sir Alex Ferguson likes the idea, as do fans who’ve heard the suggestion.
“It’s a perfect opportunity to reinvigorate the atmosphere,” said Pete Boyle, who starts many of the OT songs. “Like-minded Reds can sing and generate a vibrant atmosphere like we see in Europe. Me and my mates are going to move to the new section and I urge all other season tickets holders who want to join us to come aboard. It’s time for fans to stop moaning, to stop being cynical and do something about the atmosphere.”
United are happy to let supporters take the lead on this idea. Happy, too, to let fans dress the area with the type of flags the Stretford End Flags group have organised and adorn the opposite end of the ground.
The prices will be the same as in the Stretford End second tier - currently £37/38 and unlikely to increase next season – with a 50 per cent discount offered to fans aged 16-17.
With decent stewards who are respected by the fans in their current sections and significant fan input, it can work. If you’re a current season ticket holder interested in the idea, email otsingingsection@hotmail.co.uk so that numbers can be gauged.
Nobody is pretending Old Trafford will be transformed into Boca Juniors’ brilliant Bombonera for atmosphere overnight, but it’s a chance to make Old Trafford great again and for away fans to be envious of the new vibe in M16.
If you’re a current season ticket holder interested in this idea, email otsingingsection@hotmail.co.uk so that numbers can be gauged.
Envy. That’s what many diehard Manchester United fans felt on European travels this season. It wasn’t because of superior opponents, but the quality of the atmosphere in Lisbon, Amsterdam, Bilbao and Basle. They raised their game because United were visitors, they also made Old Trafford – and most English grounds – sound like a library. And to think that many continentals still describe their most atmospheric stadiums as being like ‘an English ground’.
Old Trafford used to be brilliant, the atmosphere worn as a badge of honour by fans. Scientists once measured the noise from the Stretford End in the ’70s and compared it to a 747 at take off. The decline in noise levels has been slow and painful, the reasons numerous. Abolishing terracing didn’t help, but United fanzines were deriding the Stretford End for being quiet long before it was bulldozed in 1992.
Price rises didn’t help either, while the type of fans attending Old Trafford as the team became more successful were not always inclined to be as vocal. Roy Keane had a point about the prawn sandwiches.
And maybe some long-standing Reds stopped making the effort too because they knew that United would win most games - something that didn’t happen in the ’70s and ’80s.
With terracing, you could stand where you wanted. If you wanted to sing your heart out then you went in the middle of the Stretford End, the end of the United Road or one of the Scoreboard Paddocks. With reserved seating, people take their places much later, mates are often separated and fans complain that they’ve been sitting next to tourists who don’t know the words to songs.
One vocal element also stopped going to Old Trafford after the 2005 Glazers takeover. Some now create a din at FC United that is the envy of far bigger clubs. Others aren’t there because of rising prices. Although prices are still high, the increases are slowing or have stopped.
But Old Trafford is not dead, far from it. It was bouncing for the 2008 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona and superb as recently as a month ago when Liverpool came to lose another league match, but there are still issues which inhibit the atmosphere.
The acoustics in the second tier of the Stretford End, where many vocal fans sit, are not ideal, nor is the distance from the pitch. There’s also area of executive seating in the Stretford End, while fans in other areas of the stadium who want to kick-start the atmosphere claim that they are not surrounded by like-minded souls. However, now there’s an opportunity for change.
Subject to council approval and a trial against Aston Villa next month, away fans are being moved to tier three of the Sir Alex Ferguson stand. Not every United fan is in favour as away fans still contribute to the atmosphere, but the numbers of travelling supporters have declined season on season – Fulham bought a new low of 320 on Monday. United have thus decided that they would like home fans only at the East End of the stadium, the old Scoreboard End.
After much consultation, a group of fans have approached the club with a view to dedicating an area of Old Trafford to like-minded fans who want to sing and support the team, to try and create a din akin to what we’ve heard on our travels this season.
At a meeting with senior United officials on Monday, the club welcomed the idea and are willing to put aside the seats currently used by away fans. That could be 1,400, 1,900 or 2,500 seats where the view and acoustics are excellent. Fans who want to get behind the team can have those seats, mates can sit together and nobody will be moved from their seat because they are currently used by away fans. The area would initially be offered to existing season ticket holders – so that the same fans go every week.
Sir Alex Ferguson likes the idea, as do fans who’ve heard the suggestion.
“It’s a perfect opportunity to reinvigorate the atmosphere,” said Pete Boyle, who starts many of the OT songs. “Like-minded Reds can sing and generate a vibrant atmosphere like we see in Europe. Me and my mates are going to move to the new section and I urge all other season tickets holders who want to join us to come aboard. It’s time for fans to stop moaning, to stop being cynical and do something about the atmosphere.”
United are happy to let supporters take the lead on this idea. Happy, too, to let fans dress the area with the type of flags the Stretford End Flags group have organised and adorn the opposite end of the ground.
The prices will be the same as in the Stretford End second tier - currently £37/38 and unlikely to increase next season – with a 50 per cent discount offered to fans aged 16-17.
With decent stewards who are respected by the fans in their current sections and significant fan input, it can work. If you’re a current season ticket holder interested in the idea, email otsingingsection@hotmail.co.uk so that numbers can be gauged.
Nobody is pretending Old Trafford will be transformed into Boca Juniors’ brilliant Bombonera for atmosphere overnight, but it’s a chance to make Old Trafford great again and for away fans to be envious of the new vibe in M16.
