MU Tour 2024 - Back to the US

Big Andy

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will be largely pointless as half of the squad will be at the euros and will either turn up last knockings or not at all.
 

lex talionis

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The 'south' gets a bad rep by default for having the worst summer weather in the states but nothing is worse than low elevation Nevada and Arizona summers, even with the assumption that 'dry heat' alleviates the most unbearable aspects of hot weather on the body. The mid to southeast California desert regions are just as bad
I’ve been to both the Deep South and the Southwest in the summer. Let’s focus on urban areas as United would never be playing football in Death Valley, which has the hottest temps on Earth…typically hitting highs of 120F.

The stadia is Vegas and Phoenix are indoors, where you can count on 70F. But in the Deep South they’re mostly outdoors except for Atlanta.
 

gza the genius

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I’m only a couple hours away from Columbia but the prices I'm seeing right now are all $500+ per ticket. There's no way I'm paying that for a preseason game where half the squad will probably not even be there.
 

rimaldo

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I’m only a couple hours away from Columbia but the prices I'm seeing right now are all $500+ per ticket. There's no way I'm paying that for a preseason game where half the squad will probably not even be there.
plastic.
 

Pscholes18

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will be largely pointless as half of the squad will be at the euros and will either turn up last knockings or not at all.
Forgot all about the Euros...great point....went to buy two tix for the Sofi match against Arsenal.....I don't mind paying face value plus tax but TM fecks you over with all the fees and shite. I was going to pay $175 each for two tix and the final cost would of been about $615. Feck off.....not worth it.
 

RedDevilQuebecois

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Can we have at least one stop in Toronto for a change? Having missed out the United vs. Celtic preseason game 14 years ago, I wish nothing less than having them back in TO if they go to North America again.
 

calodo2003

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I’m only a couple hours away from Columbia but the prices I'm seeing right now are all $500+ per ticket. There's no way I'm paying that for a preseason game where half the squad will probably not even be there.
Exactly. Just not cost effective.

Might go for the ambiance as Columbia is a decent college town & would be a fun couple of days.
 

RedDevil@84

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Next game will be in Alabama or Arkansas as we give players the heat of July.
 

Sir Matt

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Cheapest tickets I see on Ticketmaster for the game in SC are $203. At this point, it's almost just easier and more worthwhile to go to Manchester for a match. I do know a professor and administrator at USC though so maybe I can find a ticket.
 

adexkola

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Last preseason game I went to was in SF in... 2017?? Time flies.

I spent more on that (flight to LA, rental car to and from SF, hotel in SF, expenses, ticket) than my visit to the UK in 2020 to watch United at Old Trafford.

European football sees the US as a big gouging ground full of suckers that'll pay $437.91 plus tax for preseason tickets. And they're not wrong. Copa America is getting in on the act, considering the ridiculous prices I've seen for group stage matches.
 

Sir Matt

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Last preseason game I went to was in SF in... 2017?? Time flies.

I spent more on that (flight to LA, rental car to and from SF, hotel in SF, expenses, ticket) than my visit to the UK in 2020 to watch United at Old Trafford.

European football sees the US as a big gouging ground full of suckers that'll pay $437.91 plus tax for preseason tickets. And they're not wrong. Copa America is getting in on the act, considering the ridiculous prices I've seen for group stage matches.
I haven't been to a preseason game since maybe 2014 when we played Inter in Landover. I do remember meeting up with some people from the Caf at a 2010 match in Philly, where Obertan scored the winner. I understand they're going for mostly the casual middle-class fans who'll splurge on a on-time thing, but it's extortionate. I can afford it, but I can also afford the more enjoyable trip to see them at Old Trafford.

While using credit card points is cheating, I spent a week in Manchester/London and saw two matches in 2022 for about $500 (plus about $700 in points). There's no reason I'd spend $500+ (tickets, hotel, gas) to go to Columbia, SC to see a match with half a squad.

I'm waiting to see what the USMNT matches will be in the Copa America. My friend's company has a box at one of the venues, and that might not be much more than just getting in the door.
 

bosskeano

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Cheapest tickets I see on Ticketmaster for the game in SC are $203. At this point, it's almost just easier and more worthwhile to go to Manchester for a match. I do know a professor and administrator at USC though so maybe I can find a ticket.
Columbia is a shit hole of a city....shocked they would play there to be fair however it's a great location to pull people from charlotte, atlanta, greenville, charleston so it'll be a massive crowd
 

Red in STL

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An hour west of Colombia is where my new house will be, but I ain't paying $500 to watch them!

Early evening storms a big thing around these parts, rain like you've never seen before, humidyy is the killer
 

USREDEVIL

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Just got me and my son tickets to the game in L.A. Not cheap but we do have pretty good seats. I don't always go but since it's close by i'll go ahead and splurge a bit.
 

Isotope

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I’m only a couple hours away from Columbia but the prices I'm seeing right now are all $500+ per ticket. There's no way I'm paying that for a preseason game where half the squad will probably not even be there.
At least it won't be youths against Wrexham. Or,.. will it be??
 

MancunianAngels

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Cheapest tickets I see on Ticketmaster for the game in SC are $203. At this point, it's almost just easier and more worthwhile to go to Manchester for a match. I do know a professor and administrator at USC though so maybe I can find a ticket.
Outrageous prices.

From a football perspective, I'm not what benefits we get out of sending half a squad over to the states to play other weakened European sides.

Surely, it would be better to cut down on the travel during the international tournament summer's? Maybe focus our attention on areas across Europe with strong United fanbases. Or even playing a couple of EFL sides like we used to do in pre season.
 

SirAF

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$500 for a pre-season match? Bloody hell, I'd baulk at paying that for a cup final!
 

Big Ben Foster

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Idiotic to accept prices like that considering you probably won’t see many first teamers
It's going to be a repeat of last summer's Wrexham fallout isn't it? All the marketing materials will have first teamers and then thousands of fans are going to get upset and ask for refunds when none of them play.
 

golden_blunder

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It's going to be a repeat of last summer's Wrexham fallout isn't it? All the marketing materials will have first teamers and then thousands of fans are going to get upset and ask for refunds when none of them play.
Wouldn’t surprise me. Many of them will be off to the euros and then holiday after anyway so I wouldn’t have high expectations
 

Chairman Steve

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Again with the States? Isn’t that the reason why we looked so fecked at the start of the season? Traveling one end of the place to another to play two games in four days?

Bring back the days where we just play the local teams.
 

Isotope

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Again with the States? Isn’t that the reason why we looked so fecked at the start of the season? Traveling one end of the place to another to play two games in four days?

Bring back the days where we just play the local teams.

The main squad only played 3 games in US, on 4 days intervals. Our season started on August 14. So guess which games more likely fecked players with injuries.

DateOpponentFinal ResultCity (Country)
Jul 12vs. Leeds United2-0Oslo (Norway)
Jul 19vs. Lyon1-0Edinburgh (Scotland)
Jul 22vs. Arsenal2-0East Rutherford, N.J. (USA)
Jul 25vs. Wrexham1-3San Diego, Calif. (USA)
Jul 26vs. Real Madrid0-2Houston, Tex. (USA)
Jul 30vs. Borussia Dortmund2-3Las Vegas, Nev. (USA)
Aug 5vs. Lens3-1Manchester (UK)
Aug 6vs. Athletic Club-Dublin (Rep. of Ireland)
 

Bondi77

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Should be a good thing for the youngsters and fringe players to get used to playing in front of big crowds.
 

JB7

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It's going to be a repeat of last summer's Wrexham fallout isn't it? All the marketing materials will have first teamers and then thousands of fans are going to get upset and ask for refunds when none of them play.
That was ridiculous and came from people being too stupid to read United's own website before booking tickets. United literally announced the fixture by saying "A youth-focused team drawn from United’s travelling squad, supplemented by Academy prospects, will take on Wrexham AFC on Tuesday 25 July, as part of a week-long training camp in San Diego". John Murtough's comments in the same article were "Pre-season tours are always a great occasion to give opportunities for our most promising young Academy players to gain valuable experience in the first-team environment, and this match against Wrexham AFC is a great example of that. Manchester United has a history of nurturing and promoting youth and this is a chance for not only Erik but also our US supporters to assess the homegrown talent that is developing within our Academy, and hopefully to be able to say, ‘I saw him here first,’ if some of those players go on to establish themselves as first-team regulars." Heck even the photo accompanying the article was three youth teamers and Erik Ten Hag, which was clearly different to the main tour photo which showed Bruno, Martinez, Varane etc.

The players shown on the main marketing picture for this years tour tickets were clearly deliberately Lindelof, Onana and McTominay. Two who aren't going to the Euros and one who will only be there for ten days or so. Even on the secondary picture the prominent players are Mainoo, who is unlikely to be taken to the Euros given Southgates preference to avoid risks, and Hojlund, who you'd expect to get past the group stage but likely no further than the QF stage based on the draw, which would make a sub appearance vs Liverpool very possible provided he takes the usual three weeks off. So if people buy tickets expecting Bruno, Martinez, Casemiro, Rashford etc and don't get them, that's on them.
 

Stinkypete

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All those saying we shouldn't be going on these tours. A couple of points to be made on this.

We play Arsenal and Liverpool on this tour, because they are touring too, in fact a lot of big clubs do these PR trips during pre season. Guess what? They don't suffer these early season struggles like we do. Stop giving the players and manager excuses. Other top clubs manage. Proper pre season preparation, player self discipline during the break, and application are what achieve results, not doing a tour of the UK playing lower league teams, this is not FM.

INEOS and Berarda (in all but official capacity) are in charge now and will have been a part of these negotiations. Berarda who was in charge of city football group until recently, oh yeah City travel abroad for pre season too. Only the most dominant team in the Premier League and rarely have a dip.
 

77

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Damn it. Columbia is a cool area and I would love to go but have no interest in seeing them play Liverpool with a shit ton of Liverpool supporters around.
We had some bother with some liverpool fans when United played Celtic in Seattle a while back. Not the sort if thing you want to be getting into for a fkn pre-season game over here.
 

MancunianAngels

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All those saying we shouldn't be going on these tours. A couple of points to be made on this.

We play Arsenal and Liverpool on this tour, because they are touring too, in fact a lot of big clubs do these PR trips during pre season. Guess what? They don't suffer these early season struggles like we do. Stop giving the players and manager excuses. Other top clubs manage. Proper pre season preparation, player self discipline during the break, and application are what achieve results, not doing a tour of the UK playing lower league teams, this is not FM.

INEOS and Berarda (in all but official capacity) are in charge now and will have been a part of these negotiations. Berarda who was in charge of city football group until recently, oh yeah City travel abroad for pre season too. Only the most dominant team in the Premier League and rarely have a dip.
In a summer where a large % of our squad will be having at least a few weeks off after the Euros, I'm not sure (from a footballing perspective) about the benefits of going to America with a load of players that won't be playing come the start of the season.
 

lex talionis

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All those saying we shouldn't be going on these tours. A couple of points to be made on this.

We play Arsenal and Liverpool on this tour, because they are touring too, in fact a lot of big clubs do these PR trips during pre season. Guess what? They don't suffer these early season struggles like we do. Stop giving the players and manager excuses. Other top clubs manage. Proper pre season preparation, player self discipline during the break, and application are what achieve results, not doing a tour of the UK playing lower league teams, this is not FM.

INEOS and Berarda (in all but official capacity) are in charge now and will have been a part of these negotiations. Berarda who was in charge of city football group until recently, oh yeah City travel abroad for pre season too. Only the most dominant team in the Premier League and rarely have a dip.
Valid points, but Arsenal and even Liverpool attract nowhere close to the media circus that United attract. The media circus is the last thing the traveling squad need. Maybe it’s the price that must be paid, but the squad always seems to come out worse for the wear whether the circus travels to America, Malaysia or Australia. We perform poorly on these long journeys and we start the season in shambles, on cue, every season.

I’m not saying never again, but it would have been a good thing this summer to stay home, maybe do a match or two in Spain and Germany, and focus on what we really need to focus on this summer.