Soccerphile celebrates the 100th anniversary of one of English
football’s most famous venues.
When Old Trafford opened its doors for the first time in February
1910, Manchester United were en-route to securing just their second ever league
championship that May. Despite the optimism abound at the time, few spectators
that were at the Theatre of Dreams’ inaugural game could have imagined the
global phenomenon the Red Devils would one day become. Even fewer could have
foreseen that the arena they were watching in would, a century later, be one of
the most famous football venues in the world.
Manchester United came from humble beginnings, especially in
respect to their stadia. The club’s first ground on North Road, Newton Heath
can best be togel described
as a ‘rustic’ style home. The
ground’s changing rooms were a ten minute walk away at the Three Crowns pub and
the pitch has was described as being ‘a bog at one end and rocky as a quarry at
the other’ in an early match report. Bank Street, United’s second ground in
nearby Clayton had an equally poor reputation. The stadium was near to a smoky
chemical factory and had a terrible pitch too with very little grass. Walsall
Town Swifts famously refused to play a game there in the 1890’s, such were the
conditions.
Near bankruptcy in 1902 saw the bailiffs close Bank Street due to
the club’s insolvency and it was at this time United were forced into a search
for yet another home ground. It was in 1909 that the land Old Trafford stands
on today was indentified and purchased, for the seemingly modest sum of
£60,000.
Chairman John Henry Davies hired the renowned stadium architect
Archibald Leitch, who designed other famous grounds such as Ibrox, Goodison
Park, Roker Park and White Hart Lane, to build an arena for the club and
allocated a budget of £30,000 for its construction.
The first stadium was designed to hold a similar capacity to
today’s ground – around the 76,000 mark. Of course, much of this capacity was
standing room only back then. It was old rivals Liverpool that were United’s
first opponents at the Salford-based venue, resulting in a 4-3 win for the visitors
on 19 February 1910.
The new stadium made an instant impression on the Football
Association, who selected the venue as venue for a FA Cup Semi Final within
months of it opening. A year later it hosted an FA Cup Final replay between
Bradford City and Newcastle and in 1915 staged the famous ‘Khaki Cup Final’ –
Sheffield United v Chelsea.
John Henry Davies vision for Old Trafford to gain international
recognition was achieved in 1926 when England played Scotland at the ground.
And in 1939, a record O.T attendance of 76,962 crammed into the Theatre of
Dreams to watch an FA Cup Semi Final between Wolves and Grimsby.
Old Trafford had cemented its place in the heart of football
supporters by the time the Second World War broke out in 1939. But tragedy was
about to strike. During the conflict, the ground was to suffer extensive damage
which rendered the venue out of action for eight years. German bombs fell on
the stadium on two occasions – 22nd December 1940 and 11th March 1941. The
second blast saw the main stand completely destroyed.
United were awarded a grant of £22,278 from the War Damage
Commission which enabled Old Trafford to be rebuilt. While construction work
took place the Red Devils played at rivals Manchester City’s old Maine Road
ground until they were able to return to their re-built home ground in 1949.
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