This is not the greatest Old Trafford tour review in the world, no, this is just a tribute. Couldn’t remember the greatest Old Trafford tour review in the world…Culer
Anyway, recently had a baby boy and decided to wean him onto the strong stuff early, so forked out for tickets for me, him, the missus, and my dad.
I’ve been to OT a few hundred times at this point, but never done the tour before, so whilst I played it off as me doing something for the family and for my little boy, it was mainly for me 😂
First things first, I was surprised at how busy it was, given the team are on the other side of the planet. Never a quiet day there, it seems. Thankfully, there was none of that ‘park as Asda and walk’ business, as the car park is opened up to non-permit holders.
Small gripe for those with babies - you enter under the statue of SAF and have to go up the elevator to the third floor, walk to the other side of the museum, and back down to the first floor; bit of a pain if you have a buggy. What’s more, you’re not actually allowed to take the buggy on the tour with you, so make sure you’ve been doing your bicep curls if your children are getting chunky. More annoyingly, at the end of the tour (Megastore), you need to trail back around and go through the museum again to collect your abandoned buggy.
Appreciating that’s not an issue for everyone, I’ll move on: at the beginning, you get given a little touch screen around a lanyard that they play highlights and music through at various parts of the tour. It’s a solid idea but I think they could have utilised it even more; perhaps with a ‘fun facts’ game or something.
I was impressed with the breadth of the tour - taking you to the SAF stand, into the concourse surrounding the stands, through to the old walkout tunnel (the only surviving piece of architecture from the WWII bombings), the players’ actual changing room, the new walkout tunnel, the dugout, the press conference room, and finally the megastore.
I was surprised to hear that the majority of stadium tours send you to a replica changing room; think that would’ve killed a lot of the excitement for me. A fun fact while we were in there: it contains two ice baths. Apparently, CR7 gets in for 30 mins after every game, whilst all the other players do 3-4 mins.
A few more things I wasn’t aware of:
OT apparently now has more disability access than any stadium in the UK:
The pitch was relaid in 2012 (I think) and cost £1m. It’s made by a Belgian carpet manufacturer and is essentially a “living carpet", with real grass sewn onto nylon. It has won “best pitch" in five of the last seven seasons (coupled with a nice joke about United still winning trophies).
In the directors’ section behind the dugout, each director is given four seats. Fergie is the only one with eight (because he asked for it). I also noticed that there is still a seat in the name of Sir Matt Busby, though, this wasn’t mentioned.
Every manager since SAF has sat in his seat in the dugout (back row, second seat in) except Jose, who sat front row, first seat in.
The most expensive private box is £196k a season and the contract is a minimum of three seasons. Seats 16 with catering and meet and greet with an ex or current player each game.
Either side of the walkout tunnel is a plaque dedicated to two very important folk in our history: John Henry Davies and James Gibson. I thought it was a very nice touch to remember those names, after so many years.
The price of a replica kit in the megastore (without a name and number) is now £100. How times have changed 😂
You can buy MUFC-branded coffee…
Overall, thoroughly enjoyable and really glad I did it. I thought they might walk you through the museum too and add a bit of colour to it, but certainly worth it nonetheless.
Will wait until the little guy is around 5/6 and go again, assuming he likes football and supports MUFC. If he doesn’t, he’ll be spending a lot of time at his mum’s and only seeing dad on Christmas.
Old Trafford Tour
posted on 24/7/22
Thanks for that, interesting and informative.
Would I as 77 year old enjoy it on my own.. French wife hates footie.
posted on 24/7/22
I’d like to think you would, 52. Even as adults, there’s something childishly special about sitting in Ronaldo’s chair, under his shirt; doing the walk out onto the pitch (though, you can’t step foot on the actual pitch) with the Stone Roses playing; sitting in the chair Fergie sat in, etc.
The museum itself is quite good, too. I didn’t appreciate the sheer size of some of the trophies.
I wonder if there’d be any interest if you did a JA tour? Might be a good opportunity to meet up with fellow posters and have a good chin wag; I know the Scottish board meet up occasionally, but not sure if any of the EPL lot have
posted on 24/7/22
Spoilers ffs!
I decided to do the tour last year on a week day we were both off, did it in the morning before a day session in town.
I’d done it with my footy team when I was about 8 or 9, but couldn’t really remember any of it so thought why not. Enjoyed it, definitely worth doing even as an adult and as you say there’s still that child like magic feeling when it’s the club you love.
I’ve done a couple of others when in other cities, just out of curiosity and they’re interesting, but you just don’t care as much.
posted on 24/7/22
Very well ritten
U have a talennet 4 it
posted on 24/7/22
I used to work as a stadium tour guide right after I came out of uni. It was 2015, so likely a pinch of salt now as likely things have changes (although judging by the review, maybe not? ), but a few 'behind the scenes'...
If you felt like you got a section on a seemingly random part of the stadium ("hey look, another place to buy food! Yes! It is exactly the same! No, you can't eat the tomato sauce", it's likely the group ahead was running slow and you had to improvise something to avoid a pile-up. Worst place it could happen was in the section just before the changing rooms, as the group would usually be spread out over a flight of stairs, single file, not knowing why we weren't moving).
The tour guides might seem like it, but I'd say it was maybe 50/50 if they were actually United fans, 90/10 that they were football fans full stop... One tour guide used to be a City fan, did a shift at Old Trafford then hot tail it across to the Etihad for their next shift.
If you want a proper tour, the older lot are probably the best bet, dry as anything though... Smaller groups were better, you might get to see a bit more and obviously more time to ask questions and take it in without being jostled.
I got a warning for making a joke during one of my tours. Apparently suggesting people can go and sit in the managers chair, and pretend to be the United manager, followed by "much like David Moyes did", was not appropriate.
I was leading a school tour (schools used to come into the museum for the day, with a tour as part of it, although thinking about timings this may have been a soccer school?) when Schweinsteiger strolled onto the pitch. Trying to corral a group of kids through the old tunnel, away from a legitimate football icon was not easy...
On a really quiet tour where I was following up (sweeping up stragglers, basically...) a kit man walked past as we were in the changing rooms. There's a door opposite and slightly further along (towards the away changing room as it was then - think it's now moved?) which is the boot room. He gave me a pair of 'Carrick's' training boots, which I then hid under my suit jacket until the tour was finished. Absolutely massive. And yes, they definitely are Carrick's, and that's final, no one can tell me otherwise!
I've not posted in about 3/4 years. This post made me update my password and finally log back in... I feel very sad...
posted on 24/7/22
comment by Park (U13708)
posted 4 minutes ago
I used to work as a stadium tour guide right after I came out of uni. It was 2015, so likely a pinch of salt now as likely things have changes (although judging by the review, maybe not?), but a few 'behind the scenes'...
If you felt like you got a section on a seemingly random part of the stadium ("hey look, another place to buy food! Yes! It is exactly the same! No, you can't eat the tomato sauce", it's likely the group ahead was running slow and you had to improvise something to avoid a pile-up. Worst place it could happen was in the section just before the changing rooms, as the group would usually be spread out over a flight of stairs, single file, not knowing why we weren't moving).
The tour guides might seem like it, but I'd say it was maybe 50/50 if they were actually United fans, 90/10 that they were football fans full stop... One tour guide used to be a City fan, did a shift at Old Trafford then hot tail it across to the Etihad for their next shift.
If you want a proper tour, the older lot are probably the best bet, dry as anything though... Smaller groups were better, you might get to see a bit more and obviously more time to ask questions and take it in without being jostled.
I got a warning for making a joke during one of my tours. Apparently suggesting people can go and sit in the managers chair, and pretend to be the United manager, followed by "much like David Moyes did", was not appropriate.
I was leading a school tour (schools used to come into the museum for the day, with a tour as part of it, although thinking about timings this may have been a soccer school?) when Schweinsteiger strolled onto the pitch. Trying to corral a group of kids through the old tunnel, away from a legitimate football icon was not easy...
On a really quiet tour where I was following up (sweeping up stragglers, basically...) a kit man walked past as we were in the changing rooms. There's a door opposite and slightly further along (towards the away changing room as it was then - think it's now moved?) which is the boot room. He gave me a pair of 'Carrick's' training boots, which I then hid under my suit jacket until the tour was finished. Absolutely massive. And yes, they definitely are Carrick's, and that's final, no one can tell me otherwise!
I've not posted in about 3/4 years. This post made me update my password and finally log back in... I feel very sad...
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Not sad at all, Park. Very insightful and valued input!
I personally think the David Moyes joke is a cracker. We got the “come back next year when we’re champions”
posted on 24/7/22
Good stuff Park.
posted on 24/7/22
Great article. Thanks.
Never actually done the tour myself, either.
posted on 25/7/22
comment by #4zA accide cchiu a lengua ca a spata - 🇮�... (U22472)
posted 2 hours, 57 minutes ago
Very well ritten
U have a talennet 4 it
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posted on 25/7/22
Haven't done the tour but would like to.
I moved a few hours away from Manchester so getting there is tricky these days, with fuel prices and everything going sky high.