Rec and Sports

The Red Army and Old Trafford

Buying home game Manchester United tickets does not just provide an opportunity to see the Red Devils play live, it also provides the chance to soak in the atmosphere at Old Trafford, sometimes known as the Field of Dreams, and the home of the Red Army.

  Apart from 8 years after it was bombed out during WWII, Manchester United tickets for home games at Old Trafford have been bought by fans since 1910.

The name Field of Dreams was bestowed upon the stadium by Bobby Charlton, one of the Club’s best known players.  

Best known for his midfield attacks Sir Robert “Bobby” Charlton also had a deadly long-range shot which helped him win the World Cup and get names the European Footballer of the Year in 1966.

Able to seat over 76,000 Manchester United ticket buying supporters, Old Trafford is the second-largest football stadiums in England and it is one of the two stadia in England to have been given a  “UEFA elite stadium” five-star rating by UEFA.

Old Trafford has hosted many FA Cup semi-final matches as a neutral venue and a few “English national football team” England international fixtures.

During the  “1966 FIFA World Cup”   and  “UEFA Euro 1996″  and the  “2003 UEFA Champions League Final”  matches were also played at Old Trafford.

The Old Trafford pitch is surrounded by four stands, officially known as the North, East, South and West Stands.

Each of the stands has a minimum of two tiers, except the South Stand, which, because of construction restrictions has just one.

The lower tier of each stand is split into Lower and Upper sections, the Lower sections having been converted from standing room only terraces in the early 1990s.

The best-known stand at Old Trafford is the West Stand, more famously, or infamously known as the Stretford End.

Originally designed to hold 20,000 fans, the Stretford End was the last remaining where fans watched the game on their feet at the ground before the forced upgrade to seating in the early 1990s.

  Stretford End is where Manchester United’s most die-hard supporters, known as The Red Army have their seats.

Much of the noise and atmosphere at Old Trafford emanates from this stand, and the roar from the Red Army there was once measured as louder than the roar of a jumbo jet lifting off. 

Unless you’ve been subscribing to your season Manchester United ticket for many years  it is impossible to get a seat in the Stretford End, even for the most die-hard fan.

Manchester United’s fan club, usually called the Red Army was once the largest and most infamous group of followers British football has ever seen.

When the army of Manchester United fans followed their team to an away game, the town would get turned upside down:  Huge numbers of the Red Army would travel en-mass by train, coach, car or even by foot if necessary to get to the game.   

In  “1974–75 in English football” the mid-seventies when Manchester United had been sent down from the top flight of English football and played a single season in the  “Football League Second Division” Second Division, the Red Army caused so much trouble  at football grounds around the country visiting other team’s stadiums and often outnumbering  home fans, it led to the introduction of home and away fan segregation and fencing at football grounds throughout England.

These days, the Red Army is quite different to what it was in the 1970’s & 80’s.

This Manchester United supporters club, now has a fan base of over 300 million fans across the world.

The huge number of Manchester United supporters, all of whom would like to visit Old Trafford, both to see a live game and to experience the atmosphere there, result in it almost always being difficult to buy Manchester United Tickets.