Manchester United – Old Trafford
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Old Trafford, home of Manchester United is an all-seater stadium, with a capacity just shy of 76,000.
Away supporters are allocated one corner of the ground, in the East and South (main) stands. The stadium has some idiosyncratic features such as the elevated playing surface, which the players access from the corner of the South Stand.
Outside, a statue of Sir Matt Busby is located in front of the East Stand, along with a plaque commemorating the Munich air disaster of February 1958. On the other side of Sir Matt Busby Way is a statue of United’s “Holy Trinity” of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law.
How to get to Old Trafford
By Road:
The address of Old Trafford Stadium is Sir Matt Busby Way, Manchester, M16 0RA, some 2 miles to the south-west of the city centre.
Drivers arriving from the North should leave the M6 at junction 30, following the M61 towards Bolton. Follow the M61 to its end, joining the M60 as far as junction 9. Join the A5081 towards Manchester, turning right after about 2 miles into Sir Matt Busby Way.
Away fans driving from the South should exit the M6 and junction 19, following the A556 for Altrincham, which leads to the A56 for Manchester. Sir Matt Busby Way is on the left after about 6 miles.
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By Rail:
The Old Trafford stadium is particularly well served by rail links. It has its own overland station adjacent to the ground, with regular connections from Manchester Piccadilly. There is also a Metro station on Warwick Road (near the cricket ground), which leads to Sir Matt Busby Way. However, visiting fans have advised that after a match Old Trafford Metrolink becomes ridiculously busy. The recommended trip is the overland train from Old Trafford station to the Manchester Piccadilly mainline station. The entrance to Old Trafford station is directly outside the away section of the ground.Click here to check the current train timetables
By Air:
Manchester Airport is within 10 miles, with regular train connections to Manchester Piccadilly station.Click here to check the current flight times
Taxis
There are several taxi companies in Manchester that can take you to and from Old Trafford . You can always prebook a private hire taxi, or hail a black cab on any highway.
Calling all Manchester Taxi Companies – Why not advertise your company here?.
Where to Park?
A residents’ parking scheme operates around Old Trafford on match days and the Local Authority are particularly “hot” on it, with vehicles clamped or towed away. Drivers are advised to use official, secure, car parks identified by brown location signs.There are also numerous, small private car parks near the stadium. A recommended alternative is to park in Altrincham town centre and use the Metrolink for the 20-minute trip to the ground.
Tickets
Tickets for Old Trafford (both home and away ends) are usually sold out well in advance of the game. However you can get guaranteed tickets for forthcoming Manchester United FC games at Old Trafford from their official ticket partner.
Old Trafford Stadium Tours
Away Friendly Pubs near Old Trafford
Pubs in the immediate vicinity of the stadium are extremely partisan and best avoided by away fans. The Quadrant is within about 10 minutes of Old Trafford, in the direction of the Lancashire Cricket Ground.
Alternatively, the Bridge, in Sale is only two stops and 8 minutes from the stadium by Metro. The Bricklayers Arms in Altrincham (see Where to Park?) is away friendly, serves excellent food and allows patrons to park for the afternoon.
Hotels near Old Trafford
There are plenty of hotels near Old Trafford, so you shouldn’t have any problem finding something to fit your requirements. With the options available to find a Manchester Hotel at Otel.com you’ll be able to save your money for the pub.
The Ramada Manchester Hotel, 17 Trafford Road, Manchester, M5 3AW is a modern, value for money hotel which has received excellent reviews from visiting fans. 
Easily accessible from the M60, it is just a short walk from the Old Trafford stadium. On-site parking is available at a reasonable daily charge.
The Manchester (Old Trafford) Premier Inn (pictured, right), M17 1WS is excellently located for visitors to Old Trafford, as it is situated directly opposite the ground. A stylish, modern hotel, it offers quality accommodation at excellent rates. Free on-site parking is available.
Click here to see all hotels near Old Trafford
What have other Away Fans said about their trip to Old Trafford?
Numerous fans have reported being disappointed by their visit to the “Theatre of Dreams.” However, this may partly be due to unduly high expectations brought about by the stadium’s somewhat pretentious nickname. However, having negotiated the steep steps to the concourse, most visitors found it adequate, though somewhat cramped, with a fair range of refreshments on offer.
Away fans have been just about universal in their praise for the excellent view of play from the away sections. Most recommended obtaining upper tier tickets, if available, with the view described as “fantastic.”
Just be careful what seats you get at OT (if you get a choice) – went there a few times (worked there too!) and have ended up ‘in the gods’ and getting vertigo. Couldn’t see much either!
most boring set of fans ever, went last year only about 200-300 wigan fans and we were louder than 74,000 man united fans, drinks are highly priced and with staying in altrincham we had to wait 30mins-1hour to get a metro back there, apart from that the view was good during the match… rip off for £46 per ticket, when we play them at home its £25.
Being a Season Ticket holder at United and a regular away match go-er I thought I would help out fellow supporters who bother to travel away to follow their side.
Pubs near Old Trafford are pretty poor, overcrowded, and very partisan with a few (Bishop’s Blaize in particular) requiring a match ticket to enter (I assume away fans are not allowed but even so it wouldn’t be much fun). Many supporters (both home and away) drink in Wetherspoons in the city centre. On days where the United match is preceeded by a televised game there is a pub just off Picaddilly Gardens (down from Wetherspoons and turn right past the betfred bookies) called Friday’s bar (or similar -can’t remember exactly now) that is cheap as chips (£3.20 for 2 pints of Fosters last time I was in).
Take the tram from Pic. Gardens- either Eccles or Altrincham line will get you there – (it will be obvious which stop to get off at – Exchange Quay or Old Trafford) although either way involves a 10 minute walk (more for fatties and OAPs!).
Often see away fans round Manchester and Old Trafford wearing colours and very little trouble (apart from those you would expect).
Hope that helped for someone.
This is one of the worst grounds to visit in the EPL in my opinion, a coach of City fans had its windows smashed outside the Bishops Blaize, Home fans being allowed to stand and abuse away fans outside the away turnstiles, being charged 49 quid for a ticket. My advice to away fans is dont expect great things your visit, Look at the comment made by Rick about there being very little trouble apart from with those you would expect,.
Visited OT twice last season and have to say the walk as you get near the turnstiles is not a very pleasant experience. You can feel the hatred and see it and I wouldnt recommend wearing colours with these fans.
Overall it was ok, but certainly will never live up to the hype that you would expect. The atmosphere is absolutely rubbish, and when you consider that there are over 70,000 fans in attendance, it’s a joke. We made more noise throughout. The view is very good, so you don’t miss too much, and absolutely no complaints with the facilities at half time on the concourse. Worth a visit to tick a box, but there are many away days that you will enjoy more than this one.
just for the record, as a season ticket holder, yes it will be a unpleasant experience for certain teams. As a note don’t go expecting you can get away with the usual diatribe levelled at Manchester United supporters – we tend to nip that rubbish in the bud. As for atmosphere yep it can be dull, but away fans please note – we can’t hear you, as you no doubt can’t hear us – you may be loud but in the stretty end there’s very few teams whose noise we hear.
I went to Old Trafford in the Carling Cup semi-final and was expecting great things.
And trust me, the other comments are completely true.
Being completely honest, the worst home fans ever.
Terrible view, even if you are only halfway up, I struggled to see the opposite goal.
Not mentioned yet, but this is probably just because this was halfway through February and at night, flipping freezing.
Incredibly steep.
Not much leg-room.
Incredibly dissappointing.
Porbably not worth the money.
Stayed in a place called Eskdale Lodge in Sale. I have stayed there before through work and is cheap and very good – just 4 tram spots from ground.
Owner there is a match going fan and pointed me to Trafford Hall for beers before the game – full of home fans but no trouble.
Pie & can of beer in the ground expensive – will not bother again.
Impressive ground but NO atmosphere.
Wore colours walking to the ground with no trouble whatsoever.
Mixed emotions for me. Had a nightmare getting to the ground (horrendous traffic and accident on the M6 car park). When I got there (25 minutes late but luckily just before we scored) I was blown away by the stadium and the sheer size of it. Getting to my car after the game was an awful experience. I had my Spurs shirt on and received no end of abuse from loads of typically arrogant and cocky mancs. And this was after a 5-2 WIN for them, what would it have been like if they had lost? I have been to lots of different grounds in the Premier League and abroad following Spurs, but OT is the only ground where I have ever found trouble and felt intimidated, even Chelsea and West Ham were friendlier and they are not friendly places to go if you are a Spurs fan.
DON’T WEAR COLOURS
Went there saturday as usual ticket well over priced. food and bear well over priced. Home fans dull and dont sing. Waste of a day in my opinion. I thought utd had lads? just a load of day trippers there it seemed. typical mancs really good at the talk
Been to OT and i have to say it was a rubbish ground with not much leg room. The Utd fans are some of the worst i have seen i now know why it is called “Theatre of Dreams” sounds like all the home fans are asleep . The food and drink is overpriced is rubbish. One of the worst away days even tho every set of away fans out sing the Utd fans.
went to old trafford a few seasons ago when we drew there 1-1 it was fantastic getting something down there was the best especially going 1-0 up we went nuts. however the whole experience is a total let down poor stadium rubbish atmosphere. most mancs say there is no atmosphere for the lesser team becasue they take it as an easy win but that just proves how poor they are even when we were winning there was no noise only from the toon fans who were excellent as usuall. but overall the whole place is a let down only worth going to get one over on that scum
been to old trafford many times it never changes fans are very ignorant think they can abuse any away fans and the stewards are nasty they seem to have one rule for home fans and a differant rules for away fans.
i have been all over europe watching my team and i can honestly say old trafford is one of the most unwelcoming grounds that i have been too.
i always go only because i go everywhere supporting my team and wont be intimadated by bullies.
even the eastern european clubs make you more welcome than man utd fans do.
OVER PRICED FROM TICKETS TO BEER/FOOD
I think the negative comments are utd fans bigging it up. The days of utd being an intimidating place are long gone. Full of norwegians, cockneys, irish, brum and every other place other than mancchester. Ground dull and boring. About 200 everton lads walked right through the city cente and bus’s to the ground and not a dicky bird. it was like visiting the united nations for the day.
All you away visitors that come to Old Trafford think your something special dont you “worst fans ever” “rubbish atmosphere” Well apologies for not entertaining you on your big day out. Also, can you all have a get together and decide whose gonna sing the boring tripe that you all trot out at every game. You all come out with the stuff that we’ve heard thousands of times but you think your the first and originals to sing it. Yawn. Get something original going and I’m sure United will respond. Post 96 championship happy clappers, sh*ite!
I went to my first visit to Old Trafford with my brother, Steve, and his son Adam. They drove up from Norwich the night before and we made our way to Old Trafford from West Lancashire. While we were at the match, the girls and my son went shopping and we all met up after the match for a curry. Because I couldn’t get a ticket from Norwich I ended up in the Stretford End with the Man Utd fans. I got my ticket last minute off eBay so for the day I was also a Man Utd season ticket holder. There were days when such a thing would have been unthinkable. We arrived around noon with enough time to watch the Merseyside derby on Sky and chose to drive and park near The Quadrant pub, which comes highly recommended on footy-fan websites. Parking here is easy so long as you arrive early enough. There is a small public car park in front of the pub and lots of space in adjacent streets. The pub itself is a basic boozer. Home and away fans mingled without any problems and the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. The beer is a bit poor with no real ale and the food is cheap and cheerful. Adam had gammon and egg, which looked OK and Steve and I plumped for a Greasey Joe’s style all day breakfast that cost only £4.95. There are numerous TV screens in the pub but we chose the only one that was poor with bright lights from the windows and pub lights making the screen hard to see. I think next time I’d park here but walk around and look for a better pub.
The pub is just a ten-minute walk from the ground and the weather was glorious and sunny. I had a cunning plan to go into the Stretford End in disguise with my Norwich scarf pretending to be a hardcore United fan anti-Glazer scarf and a George Best T-shirt with a tiny Norwich enamel badge placed close to the area of my heart. In the end I saw no United fans wearing anti-Glazer scarfs so gave it to my brother just in case. You have to understand, with my slightly scouse accent, one word out of place would have revealed the sham of my disguise and put me in a bit of a sticky position. Norwich fans mingled with United fans on the walk to the stadium and I witnessed no hostility whatsoever but standing on the Stretford End (United fans don’t sit down on the Stretford End), I felt might be a bit more risky especially if my loyalties became at all obvious.
I’ve read a lot of disappointed descriptions of first visits to Old Trafford but I thought it was OK. I was high up in the stand but had a good view of the pitch although a lot of the stadium was obscured, which takes a little away from the atmosphere. The Stretford End also has a long down-sloping roof which ruins the acoustics. Old Trafford is surprisingly quiet and the away fans sounded like a whisper. Now, I know the Norwich fans will have been singing the whole match so the atmosphere has to be dull for other reasons. I thought the United fans were a decent lot but they need some good songs. A lot of their chants hark back to previous golden ages and the United fans almost sound bored. There was also an arrogance about a lot of the chanting that was completely humourless. At one point in the game Norwich kicked the ball out of play because a Man Utd player was injured. From the following throw-in the ball wasn’t returned to Norwich and City’s fans objections were met with chants of ‘We’re Man United we do what we want!’ This was followed with an even louder chant of ‘You’re Norwich City you’ll do what you’re told!’ Apart from the goals these were the loudest chants of the day. Such soulless arrogance is completely misguided and an awkwardness permiates the ground, preventing the United crowd from being the very opposite of a 12th man.
As the game progressed Norwich imposed themselves on the game and had four golden chances all missed before United scored. The crowd turned from muted support to irritated complaining and then back to a kind of relieved arrogance. Norwich had another three golden chances all hopelessly missed before United scored again. Given a bit more guile in front of goal Norwich would have won this although Rooney miised a couple of sitters too. Norwich must have been disappointed at the end. So near and yet so far. Miss your chances in the Premiership and you will be punished. I met Steve and Adam outside the stadium and we walked back to the car without any problems whatsoever. One United fan said ‘You got battered,’ to me. I replied ‘I don’t think so,’ and he sheepishly shut up.
We drove to the famous curry mile after the game and had a nice pint of Hydes in The Albert before enjoying a fantastic curry buffet at The Islamabad Grill for less than £9 each. Manchester is a great city. Only a fool would visit without having a look around. We had a great day. Shame about the score.
I should have added, the Man United programme is brilliant, top quality.
Visited Old Trafford in January to see us lose 5-0, payed £42.00 for a ticket, not the best of views and the
atmosphere was very poor, the ground was over half empty with less then 15 minutes to kick off.
I can recomend The Piccadilly close to Piccadilly station, it’s mainly home fans but there were a few away
fans in there then try Monroe’s next to Piccadilly station and the Metro link, cheap drinks and friendly atmosphere
they even had the lunch time game on big screen. I took advantage of the train from Piccadilly to Old Trafford
the away end is rigt outside the station exit. Overall a trip to Old Trafford is ok but very much over priced.
For away fans not the best place to go and you say the atmospher is rubbish and you can only hear yourself sing, well if you go anywhere near the stretfor end the noise is unbearable and not even when we were loosing 6-1 to city you couldn’t hear them sing. For the more recent game against Otelul galati i was unfortunatly placed right next to them which was annoying. My dad parks on the housing estate as your approaching Old Trafford from the m60 J6. About a ten minute walk and you pass the quadrant but by the time we get there the only room is standing outside. As im a united member my ticket only cost £10
Big Red…… I have to agree with you that your away support is very good, every time you come up hear you can always hear your lot….don’t agree with what you say about our place have no atmosphere though and that you are the on PL club to sell out every away allocation….I have to disagree with that as NU sell out there’s every game. I can’t comment on the atmosphere at OT as I haven’t been but I am visiting tomorrow for the first time. HA’WAY THE LADS
Not read so much rubbish in years. Lets remove some myths.
The atmosphere is rubbish – What you need to remember is that in a crowd of 76,000 you will unfortunately attract a number of “tourists” and yes this does harm the atmosphere but most of the comments above are from clubs who are visiting OT like a kid going to disney land, the comment from the Wigan fan was so funny i thought i’d wet myself laughing. Come on mate i think you were being a bit optamistic with 2-300 fans. I would say more like 20 to 30.
I have been to most away grounds in the country and the worst for atmosphere (even when playing United) are Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle (great when their winning, crap when losing). I think the atmosphere at OT for a big game is hard to beat any where in europe (and ive been to pleanty around europe) you have to ask your self is your team a big game? and if your team was at home to someone from league 2 what would your atmosphere be like.
One thing is for sure we sell out for all games and i bet you don’t.
United are probably the only prem club that sell out every away allocation they get and i have mates of other clubs around the country who can’t believe how loud our away support is.
As for Connor C the Everton fan, it is 2011 mate not 1970 – muppet
Why are City fans turning up at OT on coaches? i thought you werre all from Manchester!!!!!!
There are many fair comments and OT is not a place to be mouthing off in away colours.
If you want a pre-match drink then the city centre is the best place to go as the pubs around the ground are not friendly on match days.
Went to Old Trafford a few years back when my team Coventry City beat United in the Carling Cup,we took a huge following that night thirteen thousand I recall and as we were just excited to be there to be honest our fans never stopped singing all the match.
We were though surprised at the almost funeral atmosphere of the United supporters,they hardly sang at all and only came alive when they looked like scoring and our lot were picking up on that and giving them some stick and we were loud and noisy for the whole match.
But I went to Old Trafford twice when the greats played for them,Best,Law,Charlton,and it was awesome !
The United fans in the Stretford End were brilliant and up there with Liverpool for noise and being intimidating,it was deafening when Best got the ball with girls screaming and that was just from our fans !
So okay it’s not like that these days but where is there lots of atmosphere ?
Maybe Stoke can be loud but there’s not many grounds anymore to match the atmosphere from the sixties and seventies,when most club grounds were noisy and boisterous,sorry to have to say it but those were the days !
Seeing plenty of people complain about the noise. It’s because of the sloping roof at the Stretford End. I sit in penultimate row in Tier 2 and I often hear (from fellow United fans) that away fans sang for 90 minutes – I couldn’t hear it, just as away fans cannot hear Stretford Enders well. I once sat in middle of North Stand in Arsenal FA Cup game, when away fans had whole East Stand Upper to them. Not louder than Stretford End.
But I have to agree, when we’re 3 goals up with 5 minutes left, North and South Stand gets empty embarrassingly quickly. Absolutely despise that.
My first visit to Old Trafford was in 2011 January 4Th if I remember correctly.
I was excited if I’m being honest to visit the “theatre of dreams” but my parents told me that its not all what is made out.
After what happened outside the away end the year Chelsea won the league 2009/10 season. Where United scum bags beat stoke fans up no matter who they were (old, young, disabled, male or female) I felt really intimidated when i walked out of the stadium, specially when I saw a large number of “lads” standing there hiding their faces chanting abuse.
When I stepped off the coach I was really impressed and thought what a nice stadium, then I got into the concourse and i changed my opinion straight away. I then just wanted to get to my seat to see if it was what i imagined, was it? No. Where the away fans are placed you cant see much of the ground which is a petty because as i said i had been wanting to visit this ground since my younger days, but when my team used to be in division 2 i thought i’d never get the chance.
Our little support out-sang the rest of OT and we just had Chinese people taking pictures of us all the way through. The loudest I heard the united supporters was after the game when “glory glory man united” came on.
I said to myself I would never visit the stadium again at such a ridiculous price also. But I am going again tonight as my younger brother really wants to go and with stoke on good form and man united not so good, I am dreading what the united “fans” will be like outside if we do get something from the game.
TIPS
- don’t wear colours there are to many mouth pieces.
- get straight to your transport when leaving the ground.
- don’t expect to much.