The Dawn Of Old Trafford

Back to 1909

The Dawn Of Old Trafford

As you might already know, plans are underway in Manchester to build a new 100,000 seat stadium to replace Old Trafford.

This got me curious. What was it that caused Manchester United to move to Old Trafford in the first place?

Well, the history books will tell you that it came as a result of the 1909 FA Cup victory.

This was United’s first FA Cup — and it came in the glory days of pre-war football reporting. Here’s a quick glimpse at some of the original coverage:

From The Daily Mirror, April 24, 1909, page 14

From The Gloucestershire Echo, April 24, 1909, page 4

Journalism has never been the same since the war.

Old Trafford, of course, was originally the sight of a cricket ground that dates back to 1857. Most vintage newspaper searches for Old Trafford result in cricket articles:

From The Manchester Courier, June 25, 1909, page 9

I haven’t been able to find any articles about the new football grounds that predate this one from July 1, 1909:

From Manchester Evening News, July 1, 1909, page 4

But, of course, this article insinuates that the reader already knows about plans to build a new stadium in Old Trafford. My guess is that the newspaper database I have access to is incomplete.

The other part that we forget about these days is that the construction was beset by delays. Not only was the stadium not ready for October, but it was still facing delays in November:

From Manchester Evening News, November 11, 1909, page 2

Of course, it wasn’t until February 19, 1910 that Old Trafford was officially opened:

From The Manchester Courier, February 19, 1910, page 8

The result, however, was a 4-3 victory for Liverpool:

From The Manchester Courier, Febrary 21, 19190, page 10

And so it was.