MUSCUSA tours, tickets, info, etc.

[Motterman]

www.muscusa.com (http://www.muscusa.com)


Got a letter last night that Manchester United has terminated all business dealings with Champions World (which was just bought by MLS dudes), so the American fan club is now, once again, run through the MUSCUSA. Pete Holland and those guys are super, real reds. They run tours to England to see matches, and will help you get tickets and stuff.

It's too bad this Glazer thing has thrown a billion pound spanner in the works......

[jammybastard]

thank god.

The CW guys were clowns.

[Achtung]

Great news. I had wanted to take one of their trips, but they had apparently stopped. Hopefully they'll start it up again.

[ASUCruz]

To get tickets to a match at Old Trafford? I'm asking because a buddy of mine are planning a trip to England this winter break and our main reason behind the vacation is seeing a United game. What are the chances we can get tickets to a match? Is it a pipe dream? Long shot? 50/50? Just wondering cause we'd really like to go, he's a Liverpool fan, but I've pretty much sold him on going to watch United, but I've got to do all the work. If you guys don't mind let me break it down and give you the obstacles in our way.

1. Schedule, first off all when the hell does the fixture list for next season come out? The lack of this important piece of information is killing us right now since I have to plan around a game and I don't even know when the games are. Hopefully this comes out soon. My friend goes to UCLA and obviously i'm at ASU, his school is on quarters while we're on semesters, thus our winter breaks are different. This I think is just a big an obstacle as getting tickets, since, I think he has to get back to school early in January. Hopefully we can find a week that works which brings us to my next problem.

2. Tickets, like I said above, how hard do you think it'll be to obtain a pair of tickets? It would be a shame if we could get a find 7-10 days of vacation where we could get away and not be able to go to a game. We'd probably still go sight see but who cares about that right ;). Anybody know of a good way to get tickets, I think both of us are willing to spend money, Ebay is an option I guess, but even that's not a guarantee, winning bids is sometimes so hard.

3. Assuming everything falls into place, I could use some advice as to where to stay, where to go, what to see. Whoever's been to England could really help me here. Is there anything I'd have to go see, other than the obvious Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, etc? What's the food like? Is it as horrid as people say? I know its gonna be cold but so cold and rainy it'll be hard to get around?

4. The Wild Card, This trip could work out really well if there's a midweek game that we could get tickets for. This is because my mom's was an exchange student in Holland and is still very close to her host family. In fact we visted them in the Netherlands not to long ago. Anyways, her friend has offered us a place to stay and tickets to any team in Holland we'd like to watch if we can work it into our schedule, the winter break in Dutch football kind of hurts our chances though.

Anyways any help would be much appreciated, if you guys don't mind I'll keep updating this thread on where things stand of the status of our trip. Thanks for reading this long post, and I could really use some advice/help.

[Motterman]

Well, you can join One United through the MUSCUSA: www.muscusa.com (http://www.muscusa.com/)

By doing that, you can apply for match tickets through the usual route - ticket applications. If you don't get a ticket by that route, contact the MUSCUSA directly and explain that you are two Americans travelling over and would like some help getting tickets to a match.

As for where to stay in Manchester, there are plenty of hotels located in or near the City Centre. You can use the rail to get to the stadium. Also, City Centre is in walking distance from the train station.

When in London, buy a ticket for one of the double decker bus tours. They stop at all the sites, and rotate, so if you want to get off and explore and catch the next bus in an hour, you can. I recommend the British Museum, btw.

The food was good actually. I had the best Indian food in London, and the best Chinese food in Manchester. Any fish and chippy place will work for you as well. The beers isn't served "warm" just not freezing cold.

Oh, and if you go to Old Trafford on the museum tour, try to go more than a day before or after a match so you can see the dressing rooms and stuff... they don't include that as part of the tour if it's too close to a match.

Fixture list comes out in July, IIRC.

[MikeyM]

Since the fixture list hasn't been released, there is no way of knowing for sure. However during the Christmas period, United played 12/26, 12/28, & 1/1. Usually there are 3 matches from X-mas to New Years Day. :)

[Achtung]

Well, you can join One United through the MUSCUSA: www.muscusa.com (http://www.muscusa.com/)

By doing that, you can apply for match tickets through the usual route - ticket applications. If you don't get a ticket by that route, contact the MUSCUSA directly and explain that you are two Americans travelling over and would like some help getting tickets to a match.

MUSCUSA used to do actual group trips for about 3-4 matches a year, but didn't do any last year. Not sure if this One United membership scheme had anything to do with that, but I was really disappointed since I wanted to join a tour. If you don't go through them, I've *heard* that you can call the Old Trafford ticket office and basically say, "we're two Americans coming over and we want to watch a match, can you help us out?" and they are sometimes willing to find something for you that way. Of course with recent events, who knows if their attitudes towards Americans have soured.

I'll throw my hat into the London sights query by saying that some of the ones I liked best were the Imperial War Museum, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and also sitting in on a session of Parliament. Also its worth checking out a few of the London-area football stadiums too, though I'm not sure of all the tour policies. I do remember that Highbury had a surprisingly lean tour schedule, I think only one day a week or something. If you're going to be there for more than a few days, pick up a good guidebook (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1740593383/qid=1118155664/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-4438436-9524759).

Like Motter said, don't worry about the food. London is perhaps the most diverse city in the world after NYC, so finding good ethnic eateries won't be a problem regardless of what you like. They also of course have McD's, Burger King, Subway... pretty sure I saw a TGI Friday's too.

In Manchester (as well as in London) if you're in college and trying to save as much as you can (like I was when I went), there will be plenty of hostels for like £10 a night or so. If the local universities are on break, sometimes you can stay there, though policy varies from place to place. To get to the stadium, take the tram to the stop labelled, surprisingly, Old Trafford.

[Motterman]

To get to the stadium, take the tram to the stop labelled, surprisingly, Old Trafford.

Yeah, and when you get off the train and start walking down the street, it's the second Old Trafford stadium on your left. :cool:

[Numquam Moribimur]

Just wondering cause we'd really like to go, he's a Liverpool fan, but I've pretty much sold him on going to watch United, but I've got to do all the work.


if you get to see United play at OT make sure your buddy wears his livepool top and ask him to try and sing YNWA :D i am sure they wont mind


But you best bet is to go through ONE UNITED

[Achtung]

Yeah, and when you get off the train and start walking down the street, it's the second Old Trafford stadium on your left. :cool:

Ugh, I wasted so much time trying to figure that out. Stood around thinking, "man this place looks different on TV." :D

[ASUCruz]

Thanks for all your help so far rep for everybody, I'm pretty handcuffed right now since there's no fixture list, but all the advice as been very helpful and informative. I also noticed on Manutd.com there's a ticket/hotel package you can get through them. Has anybody used this? If so how expensive? I would imagine it would be pretty steep but at least you guaranteed a ticket.

[0413117]

If you can't get tickets to the match, and i know this is a last resort, go and watch the game in the pub. the atmoshere is awsome. I reckomend the robin hood in stretford, i watched the fa cup final against millwall there and it was ace

[ASUCruz]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=335287&cc=5739

That certaintly puts a hitch in my plans.

[Motterman]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=335287&cc=5739

That certaintly puts a hitch in my plans.

Well, if fans boycott in droves, demand will drop and the touts will have to sell them for cheaper. :o

[JC7rox]

Did I read correctly, or does it not say that after the complete ticket hike, tickets will still be slightly less than tickets to a Chelsea match, today?

[Vermont Red]

f I make the trip to OT from here (NYC), I figure I will have spent enough money that the incremental increase in ticket prices won't deter me from going to the game. However, I don't see myself making the trip as things stand now. (I wonder how much tickets will be for the Tampa exhibition.)

[Motterman]

1. Schedule, first off all when the hell does the fixture list for next season come out?

End of this week.

[Achtung]

What are your guys' feelings on Gl*zer and getting tickets to games? Do you guys feel it would be useful to not go to any games? I'm kind of on the fence, mainly because I realize that if fans boycott games, the stands will be full of other people instead. United just aren't going to play home games inside a half-full Old Trafford. But I don't know, maybe its because I just really, really want to go see a game.

What do you all think?

[johno]

I think giving up going to games to boycott Glazer is something that should be reserved to those who've been to a sizeable amount of games. Part of growing to love a club is to experience the atmosphere in the stadium while a game is being played... actually being there.. that's an experience that cant be properly explained, imagined or captured until you do just that... experience it.

In short... Go for it.


P.S.

I can see myself at a game around Christmas, or perhaps near the end of the season next year. It will be my first trip to Old Trafford (hopefully that will still be the name) and I can't wait. I've not made even tentative plans yet, but its something I may have recently acquired the means to do and something that I've wanted to do for some time now.

[Achtung]

I think giving up going to games to boycott Glazer is something that should be reserved to those who've been to a sizeable amount of games. Part of growing to love a club is to experience the atmosphere in the stadium while a game is being played... actually being there.. that's an experience that cant be properly explained, imagined or captured until you do just that... experience it.

In short... Go for it.


P.S.

I can see myself at a game around Christmas, or perhaps near the end of the season next year. It will be my first trip to Old Trafford (hopefully that will still be the name) and I can't wait. I've not made even tentative plans yet, but its something I may have recently acquired the means to do and something that I've wanted to do for some time now.


Yeah that's kind of my feeling. Gl*zer can take away a lot, but he can't take away the Old Trafford atmosphere (not yet, at least). I really want to be able to take part in that experience while I still can, and sadly I haven't been able to see a game there yet, only been in the offseason. The empty stadium was amazing enough, can't imagine what the games are like. :)