Lots of planning and scouting out has been done in preparation for this day when I would step onto Old Trafford personally. It couldn't have been a better way than to announce my arrival at the Theatre of Dreams by attending a massive top of the table clash with Arsenal. I made sure that my Monday on 13th December is not filled with anything and prepared myself thoroughly in the morning by going through equipment check and making sure that I cover all routes going there back and forth. Afterall, I'll be travelling there alone and I have little leeway to make mistakes in charting my routes since it's a night match and one mistake may mean I would have a terrible hard time in getting back to Leeds.
The match kick-off time is at 8 pm but I've arranged to go for a 3.40pm train to reach there early to explore Old Trafford and maybe to get a close shot of the players if there is an opportunity. At first I was in a dilemma on whether to take a train straight to the United stadium or rely on a Manchester Piccadily/Tram option. But after deliberating, I decided to go for the latter choice because the Picaddily route allows me to go there earlier and I figured that with more than 72000 people in the stadium and only 2 trains available would be quite risky whereas the tram is more frequent although it's a 5 minutes walk away from google map. I did do a little scouting on google map too, to see what the surrounding areas to Old Trafford would be like. Anyways, I reached Man Piccadily at about 4.40pm plus and it was quiet train ride with very little people on board. I had little trouble transitting from the train station to the tram platform as they are located within the same building. When I finally reached Old Trafford station, I realised that I'm not the earliest after all with tons of others heading the same direction. The moment I stepped out onto the station, I'm already greeted by vendors who are trying to sell scarfs, particularly the anti-Glazer ones in green and yellow, which I bought later at 5 pounds each. That anti-Glazer scarf is probably a uniquely Manchester matchday thing..lol.
The road to Old Trafford from the Tram Station is an easy one. It's just a 5 minutes straight walk without the need to turn anywhere else. The top of the stadium stand can actually be seen from the tram station because the stadium is something like an imposing building overlooking the rest of the other buildings. On my way there, I saw more stalls selling scarfs and souvenirs and there's a whole row of shops selling takeways and fish&chips. Towards the end of the 5 minute walk, my eyes finally gazed upon the magnificent structure of Old Trafford. I've finally reached the steps of my dream destination. The first thing I did was to encircle around the stadium to see how big it is. I stumbled upon a small crowd waiting to intercept the players as they arrive from the buses to the players changing rooms. I got myself the matchday programme, which is also another valuable souvenir available only once and specifically for each match. At around 7pm or so, I checked into the ticket gate and I was hoping that I could sneak into a tier 2 or 3 level entrance so that I can take a shot of the players upclose. Unfortunately, the entrance I am in takes me straight up to the Tier 4 seats but since my ticket is from viagogo, I managed to choose a seat that is at the first row without anyone disrupting me taking pictures..lol. The flight of stairs upwards to Tier 4 is torturous as I need to climb 8 levels of stairs to reach to the top.
Other than being a significant clash of the top two in the table, this Man Utd v Arsenal match also sees the appearance of the freed Chilean miners who were given a VIP seat treatment by United and Sir Bobby Charlton. There's also a tribute presentation to 20 Legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for his services to the club as player and coach as he returns back to his native Norway to take up a managerial position. The match kicked off on time to much fanfare. As expected, watching football from the stands as opposed to watching them from TV is very different indeed. The overall atmosphere plus the chants are just priceless. My favourite one for the match is "Same old Arsenal, always cheating!". United made the big break in 40th minute when super Korean Park Ji Sung scores yet another time against the Gooners (3 times in a row to be exact) and his goal would be the only killer goal in the match. Many did not expect it to go in at first because it was originally a Nani shot that had rebound. But at the critical moment, I saw the ball just floated over the Gooners keeper's head, rebound and into the back of the net and the whole Old Trafford crowd just went ballistic! I've got to say that I'm feeling proud to be Asian at that point of time..haha. In any case, Arsenal did not look like they were going to make a comeback at all with the attempts they were trying and I would say the United defence looked solid throughout the night. Vidic made a couple of brave dives to stop shots and Rafael was quite impressive on the right with visible improvements in the defensive portion of his game. Anderson was another outstanding performer as his presence in the midfield was composed. Park as usual, delivered performance with his high amount of energy and Nani's constant bursting speed caused massive problems for the Gooners back four. The last few minutes were filled with tensions of course, with the score at 1-0 but with the final whistle blown, we knew 3 points were in the bag.
I had to hastily make my way down and it was a mad rush at the bottom of the stadium of the match. Basically people were squashed up among each other like sardines as everyone tries to inch out bit by bit to the open air. The Manchester police were also there for crowd control with their giant horses. After the match, the streets belonged to the crowd as cars need to wait longer for them to past. As I approached the tram station, there was already a long queue waiting down there already and the queue actually spilled onto the streets. It took about 30 minutes for it to clear to my turn to board the tram and I was on time for the 11.20pm train which I had booked a seat too (convenient especially when there's a big crowd rushing to board the train too). My first dream experience of Old Trafford is surely one that I'll remember for years to come. And I'm delighted that I'll be making another trip down on 9th January to watch United take on Liverpool in the FA Cup after getting a ticket from the ballots!
No comments:
Post a Comment