My first visit to
Old Trafford by Daniel Cuschieri
I
first visited Old Trafford around ten years ago, it was the first time in ten years that I visited the UK since I was a teenager. The match I was going to attend was against Everton. I had been planning to visit for years, however due to work and study commitments I never managed to do so. This labour of love with the club started through going with my uncle to watch the match on the telly in a pub and whenever I was in England, I would hear him mention Manchester United. As I got older (6 years old or thereabout), I started to take interest, even though my mother’s family live in the North East and are vivid Newcastle United supporters. I would be given a NUFC kit or birthday card in order to get swayed, but I was fascinated by Giggs at the time and also Kanchelskis: two fast wingers, who left defenders in their wake and were deadly in front of goal. During the 90s live matches were like golden nuggets, rare to watch on TV. At times, I would go to Valletta on a Sunday to watch a taped game on the TV next to the bar, short as always trying to get a glimpse of the match. As the late nineties got on, my parents would buy me the monthly MUFC magazine as part of my pocket money and once I started working, I kept it going till I had too much and gave them all to charity apart for some which were
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my favourites. I still purchase one magazine together with a match programme for every match I attend. Growing up and earning abuse from AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus & Liverpool fans, held me in good stead for what we are experiencing at the moment which is still changing of the
guard and trying to restore normality to the club after a lot of chopping and pasting, but that story is for another day. During the 2008 season, I started saving up to go and watch a match, I booked the tickets through Joe, and was petrified that something would go wrong and it nearly did which you will hear about shortly.
