Support
Before the second World War, few English football supporters traveled to away games because of the time and cost. As United and City played home matches on alternate Saturdays, many Mancunians would watch United one week and City the next. After the war, a stronger rivalry developed and it became more common for a supporter to choose one team to follow exclusively.
When United won the league in 1956, they had the highest average home attendance in the league, a record that had been held by Newcastle for the previous few years, and United held this record until the Munich air disaster in 1958. Following the disaster, many people from outside Manchester began to support United and, as travel became quicker and cheaper, many started to go to matches. This swelled United’s already impressive support and is one reason why United have had the highest league attendances in English football for almost every season since then, even as a second division side in 1974-75.
Although it is often claimed that few Mancunians support United (similar claims are made about Juventus and Bayern Munich), the Manchester Evening News has conducted several surveys asking Mancunians which team they support and United have topped each poll, on one occasion getting 66% of the vote. The club estimates they have 75 million fans around the world, with 40 million fans in Asia alone.
In the mid-1990s, United became unpopular among many followers of other English clubs, whose supporters often perceived United's as bandwagon-jumpers who had chosen their team because of its success, although a quick look at average attendance figures from the 1980s would strongly refute this. Around this time, there was considerable gentrification in English football and an influx of supporters who had previously shown little interest in the game, especially at the more successful teams such as United. It was around this time that Roy Keane made his now famous remark that a lot of supporters were more interested in sitting down and eating black pudding sandwiches than getting behind the team. While many people who were supporters before this era still go, many have found the frequent price rises too much to bear.
In the late 1990s and early part of the 2000s, an increasing source of concern for many United supporters was the possibility of the club being taken over. The supporters’ group IMUSA (Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association) were extremely active in opposing a proposed takeover by Rupert Murdoch in 1999. Another pressure group, Shareholders United Against Murdoch (now Shareholders United) also known as 'Reds Against Glazer's Shareholding' (RAGS) was formed at around this time to encourage supporters to buy shares in the club, partly to enable supporters to have a greater say in the issues that concern them, such as ticket prices and allocation, and partly to reduce the risk of an unwanted party buying enough shares to take over the club. However, this scheme failed prevent Malcolm Glazer becoming the majority shareholder in the club. Traditionally, the high value of the club has made it difficult for a hostile takeover to be achieved. However, as of 16 May 2005, US sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer controls over 75% of the club’s shares. Glazer's ownership of more than 75% of the club's shares effectively delists the club from the stock exchange, effectively makes the company a privately-held corporation, and allows Glazer's debt burden to be transferred onto the club itself. Of the debt Glazer's takeover will transfer onto Manchester United, the annual interest payments alone may be higher than the club's annual profits and the fans and remaining shareholders are rightly concerned if this will result in financial difficulties and a lack of investment in first team players leading to a downward spiral of success on the pitch. It is difficult to see how Manchester United will survive and a major number of fans and shareholders expect the club to eventually go into financial administration or even insolvency. The current thought amongst financial analysts in the know is that Mr. glazer should be able to make a great deal of money from United’s fans in the future. Manchester United Football Club will probably be re-branded Manchester United Soccer Club in order to capitalize on the American market and to reduce confusion in the USA, a current rumor was that the club was to be renamed the ‘Ship Canal Buccaneers’ has been denied from both Mr Glazer and the club. As a result of Glazer's immensely unpopular takeover, and Manchester United's widely expected demise, opposition groups such as IMUSA are encouraging the creation of a new, fan-owned team, provisionally called United FC. United FC would be able to enter a league such as the Manchester League, the North West Counties League, or possibly the Northern Premier League First Division (UniBond League First Division), pending application to and approval from the Football Association. Entry into UniBond League first division would put United FC only four promotions away from The Football League. Glazer's purchase of United might still cause problems with the NFL. Although his purchase of a sports team outside the United States probably does not breach the NFL's cross-ownership restrictions (which prohibit NFL owners from owning sports teams in other American cities with NFL teams), Manchester United have invested in casinos both near Old Trafford and in Las Vegas. The NFL has some of the strictest anti-gambling policies of any sports league, especially when compared to the English Premiership. NFL personnel are not permitted to have even indirect ties to gambling interests, so if and when Glazer completes the acquisition of Manchester United the club will have to abandon its gambling interests to keep Glazer within NFL regulations. This could reduce the income potential of the club. Visit StopGlazer.com for more news on the takeover by Malcolm Glazer. | Old Trafford - The Theatre Of Dreams
1909 was also a milestone for United for another reason. John Henry Davies once again lent financial support by lending £60,000, a huge sum at the time, to finalize the team's move to Old Trafford. They played their first game there on 19 February 1910 as Liverpool spoiled the celebrations with a 4-3 win in a close game.
Old Trafford, with a capacity of 68,000, then had only one stand, situated where the Main Stand is today, but it offered untold luxuries - tea-rooms, tip-up seats and attendants to politely point the way. The nearest the ground came to being filled to capacity was on 27 December 1920 when Aston Villa were the visitors and 70,504 packed the ground to register what is still United's record home attendance, not withstanding the 80,000-plus crowds who saw them play at Maine Road after World War Two whilst Old Trafford was being rebuilt after war damage. And the actual attendance record for Old Trafford stands at 76,962, for the 1939 FA Cup semi-final between Wolves and Grimsby. When Old Trafford was built it was one of Britain's great stadiums, but by the outbreak of World War Two, because so little improvement had been made, it no longer stood out as one of the League's outstanding venues. By 1945 it could not be used at all. During a raid on nearby Trafford Park industrial estate, on the night of 11 March 1941, German bombs landed on the ground, virtually destroying the Main Stand, part of the terracing and badly scorching the pitch. Makeshift offices were erected and United, as determined as ever, set about the long rebuilding job whilst sharing Manchester City's ground for home matches. The worst hit of all league clubs during the war, United were awarded £22,278 by the War Damage Commission to clear the debris and rebuild the ground. A massive 120,000-capacity ground was planned, but financial restrictions prevented it and instead only the Main Stand was replaced. On 24 August 1949, United played their first Football League game at Old Trafford for ten years when 41,748 saw them beat Bolton. United's venture into Europe in 1956 saw them erect floodlights to cater for mid-week matches. The first European Cup match under the Old Trafford lights was the semi-final against Real Madrid on 25 April 1957. For their previous European games that season United had to return to City's Moss Side ground. The first League game under lights at Old Trafford was on 25 March 1957 when Bolton were the opposition and United's biggest league crowd of the season, 60,826, endured a 2-0 defeat. One of Old Trafford's most emotional occasions saw nearly 60,000 urge United to FA Cup victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the first post-Munich match. The following Saturday, a crowd of 66,124 saw the visit of Nottingham Forest. As United moved into the golden era of the 1960s, Old Trafford saw its greatest phase of improvement. The Stretford End was covered in 1959, sheltering 22,000 standing fans from the worst of the Manchester weather. In readiness for the 1966 World Cup Finals, work started on the magnificent cantilever stand in 1964. Upon its completion, at a cost of £350,000, there remained only one part of the ground still uncovered, the Scoreboard End. In 1973 that was rectified and the next major improvement was the replacement of the Main Stand roof with a cantilever. Old Trafford's 50,000 capacity was reduced considerably during the 18-month programme of development was undertaken to upgrade the ground. Work started in summer of 1992 with alterations to the Stretford End which greatly reduced the Old Trafford capacity to 34,000. Naturally, with attendances previously averaging in excess of 40,000 this posed a major problem. Away fans were to be banned, and those United fans fortunate enough to gain admission would have to pay increased charges to compensate for the reduced capacity. The new West Stand, or the Stretford End, as most United fans would rather call it, was completed for the beginning of the 1993-94 season, to make Old Trafford a 'bowl'. The North Stand was demolished at the end of the 1994-95 season and was rebuilt as a three tier Stand making Old Trafford once again the biggest club stadium in England, with a capacity of 68,000. Until the new Wembley Stadium is completed Old Trafford will have the largest ground capacity of any English football stadium, holding just over 68,000 spectators. Planning permission has been granted to expand this to around 76,000 by the 2006-07 season. Currently, the only larger football ground in the United Kingdom is the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
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