|
Old Trafford, given the nickname the Theatre of Dreams by Bobby Charlton, is an all-seater stadium in the Trafford borough of Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United F.C. The ground has been the club's permanent residence since 1910, with the exception of an eight-year absence from 1941 to 1949 following the bombing of the stadium in the Second World War. During this period, the club shared Maine Road with local rivals, Manchester City. The stadium is located approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from Old Trafford Cricket Ground and the adjacent Manchester Metrolink tram station.
The ground has frequently hosted FA Cup semi-final matches as a neutral venue, as well as hosting several England international fixtures whilst the new Wembley Stadium was under construction. It also hosted matches at the 1966 FIFA World Cup and Euro 96, as well as the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final. Outside of football, Old Trafford has hosted Super League's Grand Final since the rugby league's adoption of playoffs in 1998.
Behind Wembley Stadium, Old Trafford has the largest capacity of any English football stadium at just over 76,000, and is the only UEFA 5-star rated facility in England.
History
Prior to 1902, Manchester United were known as Newton Heath F.C., during which time they played their football matches at North Road, and then Bank Street in Clayton. However, both grounds were blighted by wretched conditions, the pitches ranging from gravel to marsh, while Bank Street suffered from clouds of fumes from its neighbouring factories. Therefore, following the club's rescue from near-bankruptcy and renaming, the new chairman decided in 1909 that the Bank Street ground was not fit for a team that had recently won the First Division and FA Cup, so he donated funds for the construction of a new stadium. A plot of land at Old Trafford was purchased for £60,000 and plans for a 100,000-capacity stadium were submitted. However, further investment to the tune of about £30,000 would have been required, and the plans were scaled back to a 60,000-capacity ground with an absolute maximum of 80,000. Designed by Scottish architect Archibald Leitch, who also designed a number of other stadia, the ground featured seating in the south stand under cover, while the remaining three stands were left as terraces and uncovered. Construction was carried out by Messrs Brameld and Smith of Manchester, and development was completed in late 1909. The stadium held its inaugural game on 19 February 1910, with United playing host to Liverpool F.C. However, the home side were unable to provide their fans with a win to mark the occasion, as Liverpool won 4–3. A journalist at the game reported the stadium as "the most handsomest [sic], the most spacious and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled in the world, it is an honour to Manchester and the home of a team who can do wonders when they are so disposed".
Prior to the construction of Wembley Stadium in 1923, the FA Cup Final was hosted by a number of different grounds around England, including Old Trafford. The first of these was the 1911 FA Cup Final Replay between Bradford City and Newcastle United, after the original tie at Crystal Palace finished as a no-score draw after extra time. Bradford won 1–0, the goal scored by Jimmy Speirs, watched by 58,000 people. The ground's second FA Cup Final was the 1915 final between Sheffield United and Chelsea. Sheffield United won the match 3–0 in front of nearly 50,000 spectators. On 27 December 1920, Old Trafford played host to its largest pre-Second World War attendance for a United league match, as 70,504 spectators watched the Red Devils lose 3–1 Aston Villa. Unusually, the record attendance at Old Trafford is not for a United home game. Instead, on 25 March 1939, 76,962 people watched an FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town. At the ground's present capacity of 76,212, this looks unlikely to be surpassed in the near future, but if planned developments to take the capacity to over 90,000 continue, this would leave the path open for the record to be broken by United themselves.
In 1934, a roof was added to the United Road stand for the first time, while roofs were added to the south corners in 1938. However, German bombing during the Second World War on 11 March 1941 destroyed much of the stadium, notably the main stand. The War Commission granted Manchester United £4,800 to remove the debris and £17,474 to rebuild the stands. During the reconstruction of the stadium, Manchester United played their "home" games at Maine Road, the home of their cross-town rivals, Manchester City. Though the stadium was reopened, albeit without cover, in 1949, it meant that a league game had not been played at Old Trafford for nearly 10 years. United's first game back at Old Trafford was played on 24 August 1949, as 41,748 spectators witnessed a 3–0 victory over Bolton Wanderers.
A roof was restored to the Main Stand in 1954 and, soon after, the three remaining stands were covered, the operation culminating with the addition of a roof to the Stretford End in 1959. The club also invested in the installation of proper floodlighting. However, although the spectators would now be able to see the players at night, they still suffered from the problem of obstructed views caused by the pillars supporting the roofs. With the 1966 FIFA World Cup fast approaching, this prompted the United directors to completely redesign the ground's north and east stands. The old roof pillars were replaced in 1965 with modern-style cantilevering on top of the roof, allowing every spectator a completely unobstructed view. The architects of the new stand, Atherden Fuller, rearranged the organisation of the stands to have terracing at the front, and a larger seated area towards the back, as well as the first private boxes at a British football ground. With the first two stands converted to cantilevers, the club's owners devised a long-term plan to do the same to the other two stands and convert the stadium into a bowl-like arena. Such an undertaking would serve to increase the atmosphere within the ground by containing the crowd's noise within the ground and focus it onto the pitch, where the players would feel the full effects of a capacity crowd. Meanwhile, the stadium hosted its third and, to date, final FA Cup Final, hosting 62,078 spectators for the replay of the 1970 final between Chelsea and Leeds United. Chelsea won the match 2–1.
The 1970s saw the dramatic rise of football hooliganism in Britain, and when Manchester United were relegated to the Second Division in 1974, the club's hooligan firm – the Red Army – gained notoriety, their activities forcing the club to erect the country's first perimeter fence, restricting fans from the Old Trafford pitch.
With every subsequent improvement made to the ground since the Second World War, the capacity steadily declined. By the 1980s, the capacity had dropped from the original 80,000 to approximately 60,000. The capacity dropped still further in 1990, when the Taylor Report recommended, and the government demanded that all stadia be converted to all-seaters. This meant that plans to replace the Stretford End with a brand new all-standing terrace with a cantilever roof to link with the rest of the ground had to be scrapped. This forced redevelopment, including the removal of the terraces at the front of the other three stands, reduced the capacity of Old Trafford to an all-time low of about 44,000. However, the club's resurgence in success and increase in popularity ensured that further development would have to occur. In 1995, construction began on a brand-new North Stand, to be ready in time for Old Trafford to host three group games, a quarter-final and a semi-final at Euro 96. The new stand would have three tiers and a capacity of about 26,000, raising the capacity of the entire ground to approximately 55,000. The cantilever roof would also be the largest in Europe. Further success over the next few years guaranteed yet more development. First, a second tier was added to the East Stand. Opened in January 2000, the stadium's capacity was temporarily increased to about 61,000 until the opening of the West Stand's second tier, which added yet another 7,000 seats, bringing the capacity to 68,217. Old Trafford hosted its first major European final three years later, playing host to the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final between Milan and Juventus.
From 2001 to 2007, following the destruction of the old Wembley Stadium, the England national football team was forced to play its games elsewhere. For the first few years, the team toured the country, playing their matches at various grounds from Villa Park in Birmingham to St James' Park in Newcastle. However, from 2003 to 2007, when Wembley Stadium was completed and England began to play their home games there again, Old Trafford hosted 12 of England's 23 home matches, more than any other stadium. The last international to be held at Old Trafford was England's 1–0 loss to Spain on 7 February 2007. The match was played in front of a crowd of 58,207.
Old Trafford's most recent expansion, which took place between July 2005 and May 2006, saw an increase of around 8,000 seats with the addition of second tiers to both the north-west and north-east quadrants of the ground. Part of the new seating was used for the first time on 26 March 2006, when an attendance of 69,070 became a new Premier League record. The record continued to be pushed upwards before reaching its current peak on 31 March 2007, when 76,098 spectators saw United beat Blackburn Rovers 4–1.
|
