Old Trafford

The ground opened in 1910 and holds around seventy-four thousand, the largest club stadium in England and the second largest in Britain. Bombing in 1941 destroyed much of it and the club played at Maine Road until 1949 while it was rebuilt. Bobby Charlton's description of it as the Theatre of Dreams stuck and is now used officially. The museum, opened in 1986, was the first at a British football club and covers the club's history including the Munich air disaster of 1958, in which eight players died; a memorial clock on the outside of the ground is stopped at the time and date. Stadium tours go into the tunnel, the dressing rooms and pitchside. The cricket ground of the same name, home of Lancashire, is a separate venue a short distance away.

The main sights

• The Munich memorial - a clock on the ground's exterior stopped at the 1958 time.
• The museum - the first club museum in British football, opened in 1986.
• The tunnel and dressing rooms - included on the stadium tour.
• The scale - around seventy-four thousand seats, the largest club ground in England.

When to go

Year-round; tours run daily except matchdays and the day before European fixtures, so dates need checking. Match tickets are difficult to obtain and are mostly allocated to members and season ticket holders.

Things to know

Tours do not run on matchdays and are curtailed around fixtures. The stadium is visibly ageing, with long-running debate about redevelopment or replacement. Tickets on resale sites are often invalid and refused at the turnstile.

Nearby

The Lancashire cricket ground is close; Manchester city centre is fifteen minutes by tram.

Key facts