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Old Trafford
As a child I was a massive Manchester United fan and I
really
do remember where I was when the news of the Munich Air
Disaster
happened. I grew up in Longsight but in 1960 I moved
to live in
Old Trafford not far from the Cricket Ground and the
football
stadium. What I didn't realize at the time was that
every week
when we did games at Ardwick Tech I ran out on to ground
that was where
Newton Heath F. C. United predecessors had played.
On a very
modest ground on North Road, in Newton Heath the team
which was to
become United played their home games and once a week I
rode on a bus
to play football and cricket on that site.  The Old Trafford
Football
Ground has changed enormously over the years.
The English
Heritage image above shows it as it is today.
Below, is an image
that I found on Wikikmedia Commons, displayed there
because it is in
the
public domain, showing the stadium in 1930. As
you can see, only
one section of stand was covered.
 During the air
raids of 1941
the stadium was seriously damaged and for a period
of 8 years United
had to share City's ground. Below you can
see the stadium again
in 1946. It would appear that the stadium is
either still damaged
or under reconstruction.
 Below you can see Old
Trafford
again in 1953 by which time the south stand roof
and the north stand
roof are intact.
 ***************** The team became known as Manchester United in 1902 and 6 years later they were playing in a new ground on the edges of Trafford Park close to Manchester's docks. The club has been there ever since except for a brief period from 1941 to 1949 because of damage to the stadium caused by German bombing. Ironically during that period they shared the Main Road ground home of their fiercest rivals Manchester City. Today Old Trafford is known by its "nickname" given to it by arguably its greatest star Bobby Charlton. Bobby called it the "Theatre of Dreams" a name which has stuck. The present stadium bears no resemblance at all to the one I visited as a child.  There have
been a number of major construction projects which
have created an
impressive bowl shaped stadium which now holds in
excess of 76,000 fans
and there are plans to push that to 96,000 making the
capacity even
greater than the new Wembly Stadium.
      Many iconic figures
have played
and coached at Old Trafford and some of them are
commemorated in the
memorials on the site. Across from the stadium
on Matt Busby Way
is this statue of George Best, Dennis Law and Bobby
Charlton, entitled
the "United Trinity".
 Matt Busby himself stands on the "touchline" above the entrance.  The day that will
never be
forgotten though is February 6th 1953 when Busby's
Babes were returning
from a European fixture and their plane crashed at
Munich
airport. The clock that marks the moment of that
crash has been
moved from the front of the stadium and is now afixed
to the side of
the East Stand.
  Nearby stands another memorial to those who died in the crash.   |