Visiting Manchester United's home is like a pilgrimage. Many stories and folklore have been associated with the football club that has outgrown the city so much that the city is more famous for its two clubs -- United and their rival City. Though the hegemony of its dominance is being challenged by Manchester City but the legend of United lives on.
Once you get off the tram at the Old Trafford Station, the first thing you see is the Old Trafford Cricket Stadium. But that's not the original Old Trafford, at least that is what the football buffs claim.
In their bid to reach the original Old Trafford, they cross the cricketing facility, most of the time overlooking it, taking the Barlow Road towards the Hornby Road. Only a few steps later, one can see the Trafford Pub with a mural of the late Sir Bobby Charlton. Besides him, murals of other Manchester United legends, voted for by fans, have also been painted on the pub.
Opposite the pub are shops and the brick houses, which retain the character of the city. One of such houses also has a flex in remembrance of those players and support staff killed in the air crash. Once you reach the venue, a bronze statue of late Sir Busby, erected in 1996, stands on the exterior of the East Stand, overlooking Sir Matt Busby Way.
One has to walk past the Megastore Entrance towards Sir Alex Ferguson Stand to seek an appointment for the tour of the club and museum and once that is done, you can enter Manchester Suit and go to level 3 to join the group of enthusiastic and anxious fans waiting for it to begin.
Old Trafford has been United's home since 1910. But the iconic venue was completely destroyed during the second World War II when Germans bombed Manchester. Except for the players' tunnel, the stadium was razed to the ground. Situated in the center of the South Stand, where dugouts are located, the central tunnel, which survived the war, is no longer in use since 1993, when the existing tunnel was built. But it stands tall even now and is part of the club's rich past.
That's not the only lowest point in the club's history as it has its share of ups and downs in the last century. Apart from the bombing, the Munich Air Disaster is one of the darkest days in its history. On that ill-fated day, February 6, 1958, 23 people including eight players and three support staff were killed when the plane carrying them crashed during takeoff in Munich. The team was travelling back from a European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade.
Be it the Munich Tunnel at Sir Bobby Charlton Stand from where the players and support staff emerged out boarding a bus for the last time before losing their lives in the crash or the clock that had been stopped or the commemorative plaque at East Stand to pay tributes to those died in the accident, they welcome the visitors when they enter the stadium and softly reminds them the of the club's dark days.
In that devastating event in football history, the Busby Babes, as the team coached by legendary Sir Matt Busby was known, lost some of their finest players. The crash site in Munich is now a memorial, and United hold annual remembrance services to honor the victims.
Tragedies and difficult times apart, the club has given some of the most cherished moments to its fans across the world over several decades and the statue of Holy Trinity right in front of the stadium symbolises that. With that statue, the attacking trio of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton still stands outside the venue taking back the visitors to the glory days in the 1960s including the European Cup triumph in 1968.
Anthony Dawson, the Manchester United Museum and Stadium Tour guide, has been into the profession since 1999. Despite guiding true fans along with a few indifferent and neutral visitors for more than two decades, Dawson, probably in his late seventies or early eighties, has not lost his zeal. He sounded pretty excited while taking the visitors inside players' tunnel, director's box or Sir Alex Ferguson Stand irrespective of the fact that he does this almost four times a day for the past 26 years. Dawson was both informative and witty.
Dawson was trembling when he spoke on the Munich Air Tragedy and bombing of the venue during the World War II but was highly effervescent in praising their local rivals, Manchester City, for offering the club a ground to carry on with the matches. He made sure each visitor felt like a footballer from the home team when he or she came out of the new players' tunnel and also advised them not to feel shy when they take a seat at the dugout. Instead, he suggested the visitors own the seat as if they are the players or support staff.
Inside the Director's Box, he emotionally explained the day when the club's legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson suffered a brain hemorrhage and underwent emergency surgery seven years ago. The club ran an emotional video on Ferguson returning to the venue and was greeted with a huge round of applause on his first appearance during the match day.
Making your way to the stadium during off season is like a walk in the park but it gets extremely difficult to navigate during match days with all connecting roads blocked completely. "Chester Road to M60 Ring Road gets blocked with traffic moving at a snail's pace during the match day," Imran Khan, a local resident, who owns a few houses on Radnor Street, Manchester and lets them out on rent, said.
Khan also spoke on the impact the club has on locals including the businesses they run. "The takeaway restaurants enjoy good business on match day. Besides, the owners, who let out their properties on rent, can earn a handsome amount for a couple of nights. The rates soar from 130 pounds to 170 pounds for a single night, which is a good thing for us," he added.
Probably, in the next five years, a new 2 billion-pound 1,00,000-seater ground could come up close to the Old Trafford. The club recently made an announcement regarding this in line with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe's vision to build the world's greatest football stadium. If the news reports are to be believed, once the construction is complete, the existing venue is likely to be demolished.
According to BBC, United said the entire project has the potential to create 92,000 new jobs, will involve the construction of 17,000 homes and bring an additional 1.8 million visitors to the area annually. They add the project will be worth an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK economy. The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), however, is wary and anxious. The fans definitely are not aware what will be consequences of such a huge investment and will it dig deep in their pockets.
The Central Tunnel stood the test of time and survived the bombings during the war but given the new regeneration plan the club has, the old, iconic and original Old Trafford itself will become a thing of the past much to the dismay of fans and those who love to cherish history.