Old Trafford (soccer stadium)
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Located in the borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, it has been United's permanent home since 1910 apart from an eight year forced exile when the stadium was bombed in 1941. The club had to temporarily share Manchester City's home ground, Maine Road, until the rebuilding of Old Trafford was completed in 1949. Until the new Wembley Stadium is completed Old Trafford will have the largest ground capacity of any English football stadium, currently holding just over 73,000 spectators. Ongoing work on two corner stands will result in a capacity of 76,000 by the 2006-07 season. Currently, the only larger football ground in the United Kingdom is the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (which will be smaller than Old Trafford upon it's development). Old Trafford is by far the largest club ground in Britain and is all-seater, which is a legal requirement of all higher league British club grounds and new stadium developments since the Taylor Report in the early 1990s. Part of the new seating was used for the first time on March 26, 2006, when the attendance was 69,070, a record for the Premier League, a record that was broken just 3 days later when 69,522 people watched United play West Ham on March 29. The stadium's record attendance was 76,962, set on March 25, 1939 for a FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town, although this is expected to be beaten once all the new seating has been opened. The Premiership's current attendance record was set when 73,006 spectators saw United win 4-0 against Charlton Athletic on May 7, 2006. It frequently hosted FA Cup semi-final matches (as long as Manchester United were not involved), and occasionally hosted England international fixtures whilst Wembley was under reconstruction. It also hosted 1966 FIFA World Cup matches, Euro '96 matches and the Champions League final in 2003. With London winning its bid for the 2012 Olympics, the stadium will be used for some preliminary men's and women's football matches during the Summer Games. Since 1998, when rugby league adopted play-offs and a Grand Final to determine the Super League champions, Old Trafford has staged the Grand Final. The football stadium is close to the Old Trafford cricket ground. The Stretford End is the west stand of the stadium and is where the diehard fans have historically been situated. Previously, the K Stand in the old East Stand was the home of the vocal supporters although following expansion to the West Stand (Stretford End) many relocated. In the past, the noise has been compared to that of a jumbo jet. However, nowadays, Old Trafford is criticized for not creating a big enough atmosphere on a regular basis. This is perhaps because of the seating arrangements; the family section, the least vocally heard, is situated on the first tier of the Stretford End, together with the now infamous corporate 'Prawn Sandwich Brigade' in the South Stand. The rivalry between nearby neighbors Liverpool and Manchester City is particularly fierce. In 2005, Premier League fans from all over the world voted online that Old Trafford would be the stadium they would prefer to watch any game. The ground featured in the 1967 Albert Finney film Charlie Bubbles where a child is disappointed at missing out on fully being involved in the match due to watching from behind the glass window of one of the private boxes. [edit] External links |
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