The Birth Of The Stretford End

The West Stand – somehow it has a very unfamiliar ring about it. I look at the towering monument which is very much part of the magnificent stadium that is Old Trafford today, but in my heart I feel that it has replaced something that contributed so much to Manchester United’s proud history. In reality, it has replaced something that really was irreplaceable – the Stretford End. It’s like having Roast Beef without Yorkshire Pudding, Morecambe without Wise, Stilton without Port. Something drastically is missing.

I first stood at the Stretford End of the ground in the late 1950’s. Back then, it was just a small insignificant row of terracing. I suppose that its main claim to fame in those days was that before a match started, be it first team or reserves, you could stand at the top of the Stretford End terracing and look down over the surrounding wall of the ground, then out over the Glover’s Cables Sports Ground, and watch their work’s teams playing. It wasn’t unusual before a game to hear and see the crowd at the Stretford End cheering on their adopted team!

Contrary to popular belief, United’s attendances back then were nowhere near as big as has been made out. People were selective in the games that they watched. The average was around 30,000 per game. In the aftermath of Munich, attendances did soar, but they did settle down again in the following years to an average of between 30 – 35,000. People loved to see the goals scored and they would flock to the areas behind the goal. The ground was such in those times that you could walk around it from either side of the old player’s tunnel without hindrance. It used to be fascinating during the half time break, watching fans moving from one end of the ground to the other like an army of marching ants descending on their prey! One end would be sparsely populated and the other end would be bulging!

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, there was an initial huge surge in home gates, but again, as the ‘57/’58 season came to an end, attendances did tail off. In the 10 home League/Cup/EC games after the tragedy, the average attendance was 48,907. Before the tragedy for 18 League/Cup/EC games, the average attendance was 44,850. In the 1958/59 season, United rode a crest of a wave and finished runners-up in the League – a phenomenal feat given that the season had kicked off just six months after the tragedy. It was reflected in attendances, when for the first time in their history, over a million fans pushed through those old turnstiles in 21 League/Cup fixtures. The total figure was some 1,066,425 in 21 League/Cup games giving an average attendance of 50,782.

Harold Hardman, the then Chairman was a shrewd old fellow and with that increase in attendances he saw the potential for increased revenue for the Club. At the beginning of 1959, at a Board meeting, it was decided to improve the facilities in the stadium. The dilemma was, which part of the ground would they improve? It was decided to increase the capacity at the Stretford End by taking the terracing a little higher and also putting in 1500 seats and building a covered stand. At the Scoreboard End, they decided to rebuild the old Scoreboard by demolishing the old wooden/corrugated and erecting a purpose built brick structure.

Work began immediately the ‘58/’59 season ended and continued throughout that summer. When the ‘59/’60 season began, the work had been completed and the ground had a completely new look to it. United opened that season away to West Brom at the Hawthorns, on Saturday August 22nd, losing 3-2 in a terrific game which I recall attending, mainly for Bill Foulkes scoring a wonderful goal with a diving header which flew like a rocket into the back of the net. Unfortunately for United fans, Harry Gregg never saw it and it happening in the last few minutes of the game, proved to be the winner for Albion!

The following Wednesday evening, August 22nd, the first home game of the season was played against Chelsea and 57, 674 fans poured into the ground to watch United lose 1-0. The team that night was; Gregg; Greaves, Carolan; Goodwin, Foulkes, McGuinness; Bradley, Quixall, Charlton, Viollet and Scanlon.

The Streford End in those early days was no more vocal than the Scoreboard End, and most of the noise during matches used to come from the Popular Side or Glover’s Side as it was then known, and which is now where the North Stand is situated. It was like that until the 1962 World Cup Final competition which had taken place in Chile, was over. During that World Cup, apart from Brazil retaining the trophy which they had won in Stockholm in 1958, and the rough play the competition had witnessed, the thing which is remembered most is the chanting which came from the Brazilian fans. They would clap their hands in rapid succession and finish by chanting “Braaaaa- zilllllllll” Chanting was unheard of on British grounds up until then but at the start of the ‘62/’63 season, British fans started to copy the Brazilian chant.

At the start of that season, the Stretford End started to come into it’s own, and it was the area where most of the young fans began to congregate. It was also no coincidence that the emergence of the Streford End began with the arrival of a certain lithe, athletic, blonde, inside forward from Torino by the name of Denis Law! He’d been signed by Sir Matt during that close season and on August 18th, 1962 in the first game of the season, against West Bromwich Albion, he played his first game for Manchester United. 51,685 fans turned up and the United team that sunny afternoon was; Gaskell; Brennan, Dunne; Stiles, Foulkes, Setters; Giles, Quixall, Herd, Law and Moir. United attacked the Stretford End in the first half, and in the eighth minute of the game, Giles had the ball out wide on the right. He was hemmed in by Graham Williams (the same full back George Best was to face a little over a year later on making his debut for United) the Albion full back. As Williams jockeyed Giles, the United man feinted to go outside but then suddenly checked back and made half a yard of space for himself. He hit a hopeful cross into the area designed to land around the penalty spot. It seemed a “nothing” ball until that is, there was a blur of red and white, sprinting into the penalty area at full pace. A prodigious leap, and the body seemed to hang in the air for an eternity. The timing had been perfect, and there was a quick turn of the blonde head as the ball was met full on with the forehead. The ball absolutely rocketed into the back of the Albion net to give United the early lead. It was a classic goal, and it mattered not one iota to those United fans who were stood on the Stretford End that afternoon, that just over eighteen months previously, the scorer had been turning out in the sky blue of Manchester City! The scorer had fallen as he landed and picking himself up he wheeled away in front of the Stretford End, his right arm raised in the air, his finger pointing to the heavens, and his face aglow with that wonderful smile. The roars of approval rolled down that Stretford End terracing and the fans came tumbling down in waves to greet their new hero. We were beginning the dawn of a new era – we had a our first “king” – and the Stretford End had been born. The sight of Denis Law wheeling away in that classic pose after scoring was to become a familiar sight in the years that followed. For those of us stood there that day, little did we know the pleasures in store for us all during those coming years. The Stretford End grew in stature from that moment on and the chants became more discernable and voiciferous. It was the start of an era that we became to know as “Best, Busby and Bachus” – but it was also the beginning of the “Stretty End” and the start of some wonderful, memorable experiences to come!

 

The Stretford End just before it was pulled down in 1993.



And again as it was in the early to mid 70's