Tips For Organising Trip To See Premiership Game

[Devil]

[Macclad]

I'd definitely use the tram as a means of getting to the game.I'm from South Cheshire so would normally drive to Altrincham and get the tram to Old Trafford (Cricket Ground) from there.....about 15 minutes.

Altrincham is about 8 miles from the City Cente and has reasonably cheap accomodation.A couple of Premier Lodges ?,I think they are called.Also the Cresta Court Hotel.

But the City Centre has similar hotel chains.Probably best to stay there if you want a good night out after the game.If you stay in the centre get the tram from Piccadilly Square to Old Trafford,about 10 minutes.

Note if you catch a tram from Piccadilly Square make sure its not one to Bury as you will be going the wrong way !

Great tips Macclad. Thanks. Altrincham sounds like a good place to stay. Will look into it.

rixalex,

If you stay in Altrincham there is a Premier Inn attached to a pub called the George and Dragon,which is about 15 minutes easy walk to the tram station.

Just up the road is the Cresta Court which is about 10 minutes easy walk to the tram station.

With it being between Xmas and New Year you might get a discount price at either of these places.There is parking at both locations and also next to the tram station but there it is a bit costly so better to walk from your hotel if you can.

Nightlife in Altrincham is pretty good.I've got friends that live there and there is no shortage of pubs and restaurants.

Two minutes from the Cresta Court there are two pubs,the Old Market Tavern and the Orange Tree.Both these are OK to drink in and their is a good Indian restaurant next to the Orange Tree called the Shere Khan.

But there are plenty of restaurants in the centre....English,Italian,Thai....take your pick.

Also you can get the tram direct from Altrincham to Manchester city centre if you wanted a night out there....takes about 25 minutes.Check on the time of the last one back though,maybe not much later than 11pm.Plenty of cabs to bring you back but a lot more costly than the tram.

Whatever you decide,hope you have a great time and enjoy the experience.When I was last over with my Thai wife I took her to Old Trafford a couple of times and she thought it was amazing......75,000 fans plus Ronaldo,Rooney and Berbatov,what more could you ask for !!

[rixalex]

Thanks for all your advice Spiderman. (and sorry for polluting your computer!)

It actually seems to be quite a lot more hassle than i'd bargained for, and potentially quite a bit more expensive than i planned (anyone would have thought they were the Champions of Europe or something!).

My reading of it on Man Utd.com is that we both need to become members. I wouldn't normally be this tight but the trip to Old Trafford is on top of quite a lot of other expensive activities whilst in the UK.

Naively i thought a game against Middlesbo would be just a simple matter of turning up and handing over 30 or 40 quid at the gate.

Starting to think that maybe we'll just go there on the day of the game with the intention of just "taking in" the place. If we manage to get tickets it'll be a lucky bonus. If not, hopefully the next day we can get into the grounds and have a look round. Truth is though i'll probably be gutted.

[rixalex]

I'd definitely use the tram as a means of getting to the game.I'm from South Cheshire so would normally drive to Altrincham and get the tram to Old Trafford (Cricket Ground) from there.....about 15 minutes.

Altrincham is about 8 miles from the City Cente and has reasonably cheap accomodation.A couple of Premier Lodges ?,I think they are called.Also the Cresta Court Hotel.

But the City Centre has similar hotel chains.Probably best to stay there if you want a good night out after the game.If you stay in the centre get the tram from Piccadilly Square to Old Trafford,about 10 minutes.

Note if you catch a tram from Piccadilly Square make sure its not one to Bury as you will be going the wrong way !

Great tips Macclad. Thanks. Altrincham sounds like a good place to stay. Will look into it.

rixalex,

If you stay in Altrincham there is a Premier Inn attached to a pub called the George and Dragon,which is about 15 minutes easy walk to the tram station.

Just up the road is the Cresta Court which is about 10 minutes easy walk to the tram station.

With it being between Xmas and New Year you might get a discount price at either of these places.There is parking at both locations and also next to the tram station but there it is a bit costly so better to walk from your hotel if you can.

Nightlife in Altrincham is pretty good.I've got friends that live there and there is no shortage of pubs and restaurants.

Two minutes from the Cresta Court there are two pubs,the Old Market Tavern and the Orange Tree.Both these are OK to drink in and their is a good Indian restaurant next to the Orange Tree called the Shere Khan.

But there are plenty of restaurants in the centre....English,Italian,Thai....take your pick.

Also you can get the tram direct from Altrincham to Manchester city centre if you wanted a night out there....takes about 25 minutes.Check on the time of the last one back though,maybe not much later than 11pm.Plenty of cabs to bring you back but a lot more costly than the tram.

Whatever you decide,hope you have a great time and enjoy the experience.When I was last over with my Thai wife I took her to Old Trafford a couple of times and she thought it was amazing......75,000 fans plus Ronaldo,Rooney and Berbatov,what more could you ask for !!

Brilliant advice Macclad - owe you one. Many thanks.

[technocracy]

To be quite honest with you Old Trafford is probably one of the least atmospheric grounds in the country! Particularly with a game such as M'boro.

Do yourself a favour taking the Stoke v Man U game and if seeing OT means that much go and do the tour of the ground they do everyday.

I probably would do as you say mate, just that over 100 quid seems a bit steep to get into grounds like that. No offence, but it's not exactly Wembley is it?

You misunderstand! The £112 shown on Thomas Cook includes a ticket in a Neutral seating area, accomodation in a local hotel, parking at hotel and a match day programme. So it breaks down as follows £42 for ticket, £3 for Programme, £67 for hotel. Which how way you look at it, it ain't bad value money.

But then again spending a Christmas Day night in a hotel near to the Britannia is exactly something I'd want to do!

Stoke now enforce a dual ticket purchase for home fans to put off wouldbe local glory hunters or away fans wanting sit in the home end. In other words if you went to buy a ticket in the home end you'd have to buy a ticket for a specified following game at the same time.

As for getting away tickets for the Britannia - dunno but all away teams get around 3,000 tickets.

[LancasterBFC]

The OP has no chance of getting a ticvket for the away end at Stoke, and if he/she goes in the home end I'd advised him/her not to wear any colours of shout support for Utd. Stoke fans are not the friendliest bunch to say the least and I wouldn't put too much faith in the 'neutral area' cobblers that the travel firm comes out with. To put it bluntly, if you shout support for a visiting team in a home area you will probably be ejected. If you show support for a visiting team around the stadium or even around the city, you have every likelihood of suffering physical violence, so take care. The bad old days of English hooliganism are behind us, but that doesn't mean elements aren't there, especially in a town like Stoke.

that said, even if you don't get into a United game, you should definitely take in an English soccer game, the atmosphere for a good match is something else. I'd strongly advise checking on tickets before you leave but for most games, away from the big clubs, you should be able to get a ticket on the day (although you may save a decent sum of money by buying in advance from the club)

[technocracy]

The OP has no chance of getting a ticvket for the away end at Stoke, and if he/she goes in the home end I'd advised him/her not to wear any colours of shout support for Utd. Stoke fans are not the friendliest bunch to say the least and I wouldn't put too much faith in the 'neutral area' cobblers that the travel firm comes out with. To put it bluntly, if you shout support for a visiting team in a home area you will probably be ejected. If you show support for a visiting team around the stadium or even around the city, you have every likelihood of suffering physical violence, so take care. The bad old days of English hooliganism are behind us, but that doesn't mean elements aren't there, especially in a town like Stoke.

that said, even if you don't get into a United game, you should definitely take in an English soccer game, the atmosphere for a good match is something else. I'd strongly advise checking on tickets before you leave but for most games, away from the big clubs, you should be able to get a ticket on the day (although you may save a decent sum of money by buying in advance from the club)

LancasterBFC? Bury? Barnsley? (I guess not Brentford!)

The actual location of the Neutral zone is in the upper tier of the John Smths stand aka the West Stand. It's actually near to the directors and media boxes the likelihood of any trouble in this area is absolutely minimal. If you are stupid enough to go in any of the other parts of the stadium and cheer for the opposition I can pretty much guarantee you will get trouble!

As for visiting Stoke in general I think you'll find that prior to the game home and away fans in colour or not mix quite freely at the pubs next to the ground. I've never witnessed any violence here - mainly decent supporters having a chat and some banter.

It's not as bad as you make out! But I wouldn't advise any away fans particularly ones in colours going into pubs in the town centre but this is just common sense when visiting any away ground.