Christopher Towers
After standing around inside the concourses on Saturday, making some noise with hundreds of other Arsenal fans, my friend and I decided to head up the steps into the away section as kick off drew closer. We didn’t have to wait too long before being subjected to the embarrassingly assured boasts of Old Trafford’s PA announcer. However, we had just spent the previous two hours ambling around Salford Quays – so found it odd that the self-proclaimed “greatest football club in the world” fails to supply an away fans’ pub.
After a long drive up, the appetite is for a cold pint and a spot of revelling in away-fan camaraderie. However, upon asking a couple of the scattered police officers about whether there is a good place for travelling supporters to gather, we got a blunt, “none at all, none at all,” followed by a discouraging, “You can try over there, but...”, nodding in the direction of a Wetherspoons bursting at the seams with angry-looking Man United fans. After that none-too-glowing recommendation, we kept on walking.
In fact, it seems the only thing close to persuasion that you get in the area around the stadium (bizarrely, given our Arsenal shirts) is to buy Eric Cantona masks or corny sombreros – presumably in tribute to their striker named after a popular Mexican food chain – along with the masses of quite blatantly tourist supporters of the home side. Instead of hitting the city centre, however, we remained optimistic that at some point we’d round a corner and find a big friendly crowd of yellow, red and white.
Maybe the fact that the away match guide on AISA failed to mention an away fans’ pub should have been taken as a sign. Since the weekend, I’ve taken a look through the Football Supporters’ Federation’s stadium guides - five of the 19 other Premier League clubs are apparently without a designated or recommended place for visiting supporters (Birmingham, Chelsea, Stoke, Spurs and Wolves – quite a list!).
The Drayton Arms is within clear sight of Ashburton Grove, directly opposite the ground. Maybe, given the rivalry, Arsenal fans shouldn’t expect a drinking spot around Old Trafford. After all, we don’t expect to find one around White Hart Lane. But nor would we really want, or indeed, need one – the difference is logistics. For us, Spurs is 10 minutes away on the tube. Salford Quays is four hours by car.
We continued wandering around the area, aimlessly approaching doors of pubs only to find hand-written signs stating that away fans are not allowed inside. At one point we reached a quiet-looking place a good ten minutes from the stadium, but still found a bouncer at the door, staring menacingly at us as we approached. North London is wonderful, but Marseille is even more idyllic. Walking the long pavements of the now deserted streets, I began to wonder what their fans would make of this place come Tuesday.
Eventually, I suggested it would be typical if there was a kiosk open at the cricket ground, right back where we had parked – and of course there was. Finally, a drink! At the time, we were perfectly happy. We got three beers having only ordered two, Soccer Saturday was on the TVs hanging over the bar, and there was even a decent handful of Gooners. But in retrospect, standing in the cold Manchester drizzle next to an empty cricket ground was a pretty poor introduction to what turned out to be a disappointing day – and of course, the efforts of Lancashire CCC have nothing to do with Man United.
After this, we couldn’t wait to get inside the ground, where we did finally find that long-awaited crowd of Arsenal fans. “Welcome to Old Trafford – home to the greatest football team in the world” said the PA man again, this time just before the teams came out. I’m not sure what it is exactly that they base the claim on, but surely as such they would have greater provisions for away fans, some form of Drayton Arms equivalent? That said, perhaps they were more hospitable towards Crawley Town.
