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The first league match to be held at Old Trafford came in November 1958, with Salford playing against Leeds under floodlights in front of 8,000 spectators. Construction was carried out by Messrs Brameld and Smith of Manchester and development was completed in late 1909. The stadium hosted its inaugural game on 19 February 1910, with United playing host to Liverpool. However, the home side were unable to provide their fans with a win to mark the occasion, as Liverpool won 4–3.
The Manchester United club shop has had six different locations since it was first opened. Originally, the shop was a small hut near to the railway line that runs alongside the ground. The shop was then moved along the length of the South Stand, stopping first opposite where away fans enter the ground, and then residing in the building that would later become the club's merchandising office. A surge in the club's popularity in the early 1990s led to another move, this time to the forecourt of the West Stand. With this move came a great expansion and the conversion from a small shop to a "megastore".
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They have never left this league since then, except for two seasons between 1992 and 1994 when they played in the American MLS while its new stadium was built. On 5 May 2006, Red Devils returned to the English top flight when they defeated Chelsea 2-1 at Old Trafford. United's record attendance of 91,828 was set on 5 May 1939 when they played Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final. The match went into extra time and Louis Beck's looping header from a Jimmy Murphy cross gave United a 1-0 victory and a place in the final against Preston North End. A source has told JOE that Leigh Sports Village is now expected to play host to United's women's team's games, with discussions between the club and the stadium management already taking place. There are also additional match buses on the 255 service, which run between Old Trafford and Manchester city centre.
The most recent moves came in the late 1990s, as the West Stand required room to expand to a second tier, and that meant the demolition of the megastore. The store was moved to a temporary site opposite the East Stand, before taking up a 17,000 square feet permanent residence in the ground floor of the expanded East Stand in 2000. The floor space of the megastore was owned by United's kit sponsors, Nike, who operated the store until the expiry of their sponsorship deal at the end of July 2015, when ownership reverted to the club. The Old Trafford pitch is surrounded by four covered all-seater stands, officially known as the Sir Alex Ferguson , East, Sir Bobby Charlton and West Stands.
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Members of the media are seated in the middle of the Upper South Stand to give them the best view of the match. The television gantry is also in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, so the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand is the one that gets shown on television least often. Television studios are located at either end of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, with the club's in-house television station, MUTV, in the East studio and other television stations, such as the BBC and Sky, in the West studio. The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand, formerly known as the United Road stand and the North Stand, runs over the top of United Road.
On 3 April 2016, the South Stand was renamed the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand before kick-off of the Premier League home match against Everton, in honour of former Manchester United player Sir Bobby Charlton, who made his Manchester United debut 60 years earlier. The North Stand was renamed as the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand on 5 November 2011, in honour of Alex Ferguson's 25 years as manager of the club. A 9-foot (2.7 m) statue of Ferguson, sculpted by Philip Jackson, was erected outside the stand on 23 November 2012 in recognition of his status as Manchester United's longest-serving manager. Before the competition started, many people believed that Manchester United were going to be easy opponents because they were playing in the English Premier League which is known for its physical style of play. Manchester United have embarked on their what is now becoming a traditional pre-season tour of the United States on July 15 and will spend the better part of the next 15 days stateside preparing for the upcoming Premier League campaign.
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England played at the ground for a World Cup qualifier in 2012 when former United stars Tom Cleverley, Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck all featured in a 5-0 win. Adjacent to the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand of the stadium is Manchester United Football Ground railway station. The station is between the Deansgate and Trafford Park stations on the Southern Route of Northern Rail's Liverpool to Manchester line, and is only open on matchdays. The ground is also serviced by the Altricham, Eccles, South Manchester and Trafford Park lines of the Manchester Metrolink network, with the nearest stops being Wharfside, Old Trafford and Exchange Quay at nearby Salford Quays.
Exactly one year on, Manchester United's women's team face Everton at Old Trafford in front of a crowd for the first time (the 2021 game was behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic). A crowd of 20,241 attended the match, marking the highest home attendance of the women's team, and saw Manchester United come out with a 3–1 victory. United's first season was 1889–90, when they finished second out of 22 teams in the North Lancashire & West Yorkshire League and were invited to join the newly formed Football League.
Nevertheless, at a time when transfer fees were still around the £1,000 mark, the cost of construction only served to reinforce the club's "Moneybags United" epithet, with which they had been tarred since Davies had taken over as chairman. Old Trafford hosted its first rugby union international in 1997, when New Zealand defeated England 25–8. A second match was played at Old Trafford on 6 June 2009, when England beat Argentina 37–15. The stadium was one of 12 confirmed venues set to host matches of the 2015 Rugby World Cup; however, in April 2013 United pulled out of the contract over concerns about pitch quality and not wanting to compromise their relationship with the 13-man code.
Nicknamed "The Theatre of Dreams" by Bobby Charlton, Old Trafford has been United's home ground since 1910, although from 1941 to 1949 the club shared Maine Road with local rivals Manchester City as a result of Second World War bomb damage. Old Trafford underwent several expansions in the 1990s and 2000s, including the addition of extra tiers to the North, West and East Stands, almost returning the stadium to its original capacity of 80,000. Future expansion is likely to involve the addition of a second tier to the South Stand, which would raise the capacity to around 88,000. The stadium's record attendance was recorded in 1939, when 76,962 spectators watched the FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town. They are one of the most successful teams in European football having been crowned champions of England eleven times as well as winning the European Cup ten times.
But Sir Alex Ferguson's men showed great courage and spirit to beat them 4-3 on penalties after the game ended 3-3 following extra time. This was the first time in the history of European football that a match had gone into penalties. Speaking to the Guardian in 2010, goalkeeper for the day Alex Stepney was amongst several United players who revealed he didn't remember the match, saying, "I vaguely remember that we had to play two games away from Old Trafford, but I can't recall that match. The stadium lies just south of the Manchester Ship Canal, and is approached by the A5081 from the west, A5063 from the north, and A56 from the south and east. The club has had many notable players over the years, including several World Cup winners, and it is often referred to as the "Churchill Stadium" due to its location near where Sir Winston Churchill once delivered speeches to large crowds.
If large vehicles require access, then the seating above the tunnel can be raised by up to 25 feet (7.6 m). The tunnel leads up to the players' dressing room, via the television interview area, and the players' lounge. Both the home and away dressing rooms were re-furbished for the 2018–19 season, and the corridor leading to the two was widened and separated to keep the opposing teams apart.
The club's former home, Maine Road, which they left in 1976 after playing there for nearly 70 years, will be converted into a museum dedicated to Manchester City and football in general. The Red Devils have preferred to make the U.S. their pre-season base in recent years as they prepare for the new campaign by playing friendlies with the local teams and participating in the International Champions Cup. Marc explains that his players will have some time off in the mid-season break while work continues at the club. Fans of Liverpool will have been glad that Stoke City's Victoria Ground, their home before they moved to the Britannia Stadium, played host to United's second game away from Old Trafford, a 3-1 win against West Brom. After two away wins Frank O'Farrell's side rocked up at Anfield to face Arsenal with 27,649 fans in the ground, and United fans in the Kop, to watch the bizarre match. The FA decided to ban the Red Devils from playing their first two home games of the season at home, and had to find neutral venues instead.
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