MANCHESTER, England — The gray clouds hover above the autumn morning in the northwest of England. I am in Manchester’s busy city center, an area of council homes on one side and a chain of shops across the road. Then I turn to Bank street, off Ashton New Road, which is a few steps from Manchester City’s facilities, close to the National Cycling Center.
“This site right here used to be Manchester United‘s ground before Old Trafford,” says Manchester football historian Gary James, who’s also my walking tour guide for today. James points to a plaque on a house, stating the original location of Bank Street Ground, the birth home of Manchester United, which was Newton Heath F.C. between 1893 and 1910.
“This territory, if you like, was very much Manchester United’s — probably around World War II — and then it became more Citified … and nowadays it’s totally blue.”
History never escapes you. It’s imprinted on everything, and despite the differences between both clubs in the present day, it’s important to remember that both sides originally come from the same thread and naturally, the same people.
“Traditionally, both clubs are similar, working-class,” James says as we continue to walk around the area, one that is historically known as an epicenter of the industrial revolution formerly surrounded by chemical plants, iron and steel foundries, and textile miles where industrial capitalism and the West African slave trade drove the city’s growth and labor force. Immigrants from all over lived and commuted in these areas and so, in time, came their two football clubs.
“Both teams [were born] from east Manchester. A strong, working-class area. Newton Heath, as we saw, was near City’s stadium now. City’s original ground and foundation [Ardwick A.F.C] was about a mile south of the Etihad,” adds James.
James explains how United eventually headed west in 1910 after Old Trafford was built and therefore creating more support on the West Side of Manchester, traditionally a wealthier side of the city. City, meanwhile, left Hyde Road and headed to Maine Road and Moss Side in 1923, a ground shared by both clubs between 1941 and 1948 after the second World War damaged Old Trafford.
The similarities are not just shared in geography but also the ups and downs of their dominance. Man City were actually the best supported club in the entire league right up to the first World War, while Man United came close to going bankrupt in the 1930’s. But that changed after Sir Matt Busby’s (a former Man City player) arrival as a manager in 1945 and began the journey on creating a legacy with the Busby Babes. The memories of the Munich air disaster in 1958 are honored on the side of Old Trafford, notably alongside the legendary footprint of the Sir Bobby Charlton, one of the survivors of the tragic plane crash and one of the greatest names in the history of United and the English game who died last Saturday.
IT’S A CLOUDY, DAMP MORNING ON THE EAST SIDE OF MANCHESTER and I am walking around the suburbs of Clayton, which is three miles from the city center and a three-minute walk from Manchester City’s Etihad empire. I call it an empire because that’s exactly what it is.
In the distance, there’s the Etihad stadium and a bridge — Sir Howard Bernstein Way — connects the club’s main stadium to the Joie stadium, the home of Man City Women and the academy. Turn your head to the right and a massive granite black structure grabs your attention: it’s a 23,500 capacity, £365million indoor arena scheduled to open next April. It is a joint venture between City Football Group and LA-based Oak View Group with pop star Harry Styles acting as investor.
City continues to grow as construction surrounds the Etihad, with plans to expand the North Stand (the aim is for a 60,000 capacity) as well as a “City Square fan zone“, with food and drink outlets, a new club shop, a museum, a workspace and a 400-bed hotel. It’s a testament to the ambition of Sheikh Mansour’s ownership, the hiring of Pep Guardiola and his vision alongside the squad’s treble-winning mentality and everything that comes with it. That includes the alleged financial breaches and irregularities, but throughout and despite it all, this area continues to grow, magnifying the almost omnipotence of Manchester City.
“When the ownership came in 2008, through hiring the right people, there was a quest of being the best on and off the field,” says my ESPN colleague Nedum Onuoha, who was raised in Manchester after emigrating from Nigeria as a child. Onuoha joined the club in 1996 when he was 10 years old and made more than 100 appearances for the club. He is now a community ambassador.
“Ultimately they wanted the best people in the best positions to try and figure out how to do it and build this. They had the vision so they traveled around the world and saw all the best teams and clubs across different sports to see how they were doing it,” says Onuoha.
Onuoha points to another aspect that is important to remember when looking at the stadium, training facilities and City’s overall success. “This came about through the creation of the Commonwealth Games in 2002,” which was an important event for Manchester. After an IRA bombing in 1996, the city had to rebuild and reinvent itself through resiliency and determination. The stadium was used for the Commonwealth games and it was attached to City, but only due to the fact that City had gained promotion to the second tier of English football — then known as Division One in 1999, funnily enough the same year their rivals had just won a historic treble.
“If that doesn’t happen, then this stadium and this area might not have been Manchester City’s and it likely gets brought down.That’s a very important crossroads in history,” Onuoha says.
“The corner inside the stadium, which is the TRA [The Red Army] section, the singing section, the noisy section — whatever you want to call it, when a game begins, they will sing, ‘Stand up if you hate the Glazers,’ and I look around and everybody is standing up,” says Peter Bolton, a lifelong Man United supporter who now lives in Altrincham, south of Manchester, but who grew up in central Manchester. Bolton, a retired cab driver who has never lived further than 10 miles from Old Trafford, has gone to every home game and every Manchester derby since 1974.
“I’m retired now but I’m still excited about every game. I am never going to walk away from my football club but at the moment I feel my football club is walking away from me. You go home and ask yourself, ‘why am I doing this?’ My love for United, cause they (the owners) hate us so much. The legacy fans are unwanted.”
As I look around Old Trafford, I can’t help but appreciate the aura of historical grandiosity, notably as it pays homage to the legends of yesteryear, including of course, their recently gone legendary godfather, Sir Bobby Charlton. As I chat with Bolton, I see the car park right outside the stadium welcoming coach buses from international visitors from China, Singapore and the Philippines. Man United is Asia’s most-supported club. More than 325 million support the Red Devils, showing how powerful this club is from a global standpoint.
The trip is coming to an inevitable end, and as I say goodbye to Manchester, I spot yet another print or wall drawing of a bee. They’re everywhere around the city. On street walls and restaurant windows, on the corner of bus stops and lampposts. A regular pastime for tourists would be to see how many you can find.
It’s the symbol of the worker bee, a metaphor for the collective strength of the city. An idea born out of Victorian times and the emergence of the industrial revolution, essentially saying that this city was made by the people and not by royal influence or power.
As I find another bee around the Gay Village, en route to Piccadilly train station, I remind myself of the last words from Desmond from the National Football Museum.
“Manchester is about being practical. It’s not a pretentious city. It will change, but I think it will change in a Mancunian way,” he says. “It’s an accepting city and a melting pot and I only see it becoming more diverse and creative as time goes on with its socialist values, and if we use football as an example, it will do it with passion and engagement as well.”
Ahead of Saturday’s derby, Manchester United and Manchester City fans — for all their differences, how they view the current state of their clubs and how they exist within their communities — can remember the eternal meaning of this game and how in the end, football — just like Manchester — exists because of hard-working, passionate, open-minded people. It’s up to these communities to make sure it prospers.
Thanks to Rob Dawson, Mark Ogden and Carl Anka for extra guidance on the piece.
