Old Trafford, also known as “The Stadium of Dreams”, is a football stadium located in Greater Manchester, England, and is home to the football club of Manchester United. It is the largest club football stadium in the United Kingdom and is the second largest football stadium.
Old Trafford stadium has a capacity of 74,994 and is located 800 metres away from its cricket twin. Old Trafford was built in 1910 and has been Manchester United’s home since then.
The ground was left vacant from 1941 to 1949 due to bomb damage in the Second World War and the Manchester clubs had to share the Maine Road stadium.
History
Manchester United were known as Newton Heath before 1902 and played their football matches at North Road and Bank Street in Clayton. After finding a proper site for construction, the stadium was built by then chairman John Henry Davies with the help of architect Archibald Leitch.
The first match was played on 19 February 1910 against archrivals Liverpool, which they lost 4-3. After the stadium was damaged by the Second World War bombings, it was repaired and the first game was played on 24 August 1949, a 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers.
Unusually, Old Trafford’s record attendance of 76.962 came at an FA Cup semifinal between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town in 1939.
Major Matches
Before the construction of the Wembley Stadium in 1923, Old Trafford was one of the chosen venues for the FA Cup finals. The first FA Cup final was in 1911, a replay match between Bradford City and Newcastle United. Bradford took the cup home with a 1-0 win.
The second FA Cup final was in 1915, between Sheffield United and Chelsea. Sheffield United won the cup 3-0 in front of 50,000 spectators.
It hosted its first International match in 1926 in the match between England and Scotland, with the hosts losing 1-0. Old Trafford hosted the first European final in the 2003 UEFA Champions League between Milan and Juventus.
From 2003-07, England played 12 out of 23 home matches here with the latest international match being the 1-0 loss to Spain in 2007.
Controversies
There has not been much of a controversy involving the stadium, but a recent incident may end up in a controversy. United have made plans to relocate some of the seats in the stadium and a lot of fans are against it because it will ruin the atmosphere in the stadium.
This does not seem to be much of a controversy as it does not seem it will affect the future of the club. Manchester United are the currently the richest club in the world and have rarely been out of the top three.
Recent Matches
Old Trafford is home to quite a few rivalries such as against their neighbours Manchester City, and longtime rivals Liverpool.
One of the biggest matches this season was held recently, the Manchester Derby, which the rivals won 2-1 in what was supposedly the end of the title race according to football pundits.
