Manchester United in the 80s: My first United match

Norman Whiteside

Stretford-end.com is a website that offers a place where Reds can discuss current issues, transfer gossip, tactics and anything to do with Manchester United. In the four years that we have been running we have had some great contributors and excellent discussions. Below is a superb account from Daniel, a match going Red for over twenty five years, on his first United match back in 1986 against our next opponents in the FA Cup – Southampton. Ron Atkinson was still manager and Fergie was two months away from the United hotseat. I’m sure you’ll enjoy Dan’s superb account of his first United match and Manchester United in the 80s.

You can follow Daniel on Twitter here.


The 1st ever Manchester United match that I went to is still very clear in my mind – it was at Old Trafford in September 1986 and we were playing Southampton at home.

Football in the mid-1980’s was very different to how it is now. I had been following football for a couple of years by the time I went to my 1st match at Old Trafford. Back then, there were only occasional Sunday live matches and some highlights on a Saturday and Wednesday night, plus round-ups on the national news and regional news on television. England matches, cup finals and semi-finals were always shown, plus World Cups of course, but it was nothing like it is today with satellite television and the internet, where football fans around the world have a huge choice of matches to watch on an almost daily basis. It was around 1985 that I really became aware of Manchester United, its players and football in general. I remember that was when I started to collect Panini football stickers and I also got Shoot! and Match football magazines each week – I used to love reading them and kept them afterwards. I’ve still got a lot of them now, minus the posters of United players like Bryan Robson and Gordon Strachan that I took out and put on my bedroom wall.

1985 though, was not seen as the best year to start going to football matches – due to a number of incidents of crowd violence, hooliganism and also stadium disasters. The worst of these were, firstly at Bradford City, when their main stand burnt down during a match, killing a large number of fans. Secondly, at Luton Town – Millwall fans rioted on the pitch, wrecking the stadium, which led to Luton banning away fans permanently. Thirdly, at Heysel Stadium in Belgium – there was a huge amount of trouble on the terraces at the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus fans. This was serious trouble too, as it resulted in a large number of Juventus fans being killed when a wall collapsed on them, as fans were being crushed against that wall. The result of all this, and the violence that was occuring at a large amount of football matches, meant that English clubs were banned from playing in any European competitions indefinitely. All of these things meant that my parents weren’t happy about me going to football matches at such a young age.

In the summer of 1986, though they changed their minds and said that it would be alright for me to go, as long as I sat in the seated areas of stadiums. They clearly understood how much I wanted to go and how much it meant to me already. I was getting more and more interested in football. The matches from the 1986 World Cup in Mexico were all shown live on TV and I was allowed to stay up late for the matches. I saw some brilliant matches then – apart from watching all the England matches, including the famous Maradona Argentina one, I also got to see lots of other great teams. My favourite match was a really dramatic Quarter Final between France and Brazil that went to extra-time and penalties. So, having seen this growing love of football that I had, they said that I would be able to go to Old Trafford with my Dad for some matches. My 1st match would be in the newly built Family Stand at Old Trafford, which replaced terracing in that corner of the stadium. It was called ‘L’ Stand and it is now where away fans are given tickets at Old Trafford.

At the time, United were really struggling under manager Ron Atkinson. United had started the previous season with their best ever start to a season winning their first 10 league games and at the time, it looked like United were on course for their 1st league title in 19 years. However, it was not to be as they suffered a big loss of form and injuries, meaning that they only finished fourth at the end of the season. At the end of the season, the hugely unpopular decision was taken that Mark Hughes was being sold to Barcelona for a huge amount of money, where he would join Everton’s Gary Lineker. The 1986-87 season started shockingly for United under Atkinson. I remember being on holiday as they lost their first 3 league matches in the space of a week – Arsenal away followed by West Ham and Charlton at home, which meant that they were bottom of the league. After that, they got a point away at Leicester, with the next match being against Southampton at home.

I remember that day so well and how excited I was to be going to the match. Once we arrived and parked nearby in Trafford Park, it was a short walk to the stadium. The old floodlight pylons were still there, although they were no longer used by then. We stopped at the souvenir shop and I was given my 1st ever red United home shirt and United scarf. I still have the shirt, but I left my scarf at Old Trafford amongst the tributes to the late Sir Matt Busby before the Everton home game in January 1994 – so it’ll now be in the base of his statue outside Old Trafford. From there, it was into the Family Stand and then up to our seats. I immediately noticed two things and can clearly remember them now. Firstly, how big the stadium seemed, especially the 3 sides of the stadium with the cantilever stands. Secondly, the Southampton fans in the Scoreboard Paddock, who were singing ‘when the Saints go marching in’ – the 1st song I ever heard at Old Trafford. The Stretford End at the opposite site of the ground was singing songs as well. The people who were stood in there used to arrive in the stadium earlier to take up the best spots on that famous terrace. I had a look through the match programme – they had the team line-ups in them then, even though they were often wrong. I was disappointed as my favourite player Bryan Robson was still not listed in the line up – he hadn’t played any football since injuring his shoulder playing for England at the Mexico World Cup that summer. I was soon cheered up though, as on the scoreboard at the back of J stand, the correct teams were put up and listed at Number 7 was Bryan Robson, which raised a big cheer from the crowd. For the pre-match warm up, only 5 United players came out in tracksuits to warm up, which surprised me. This would change once Alex Ferguson took over and all 11 players plus the 1 substitute (that’s all they were allowed then) all took part in a proper warm up before the match.

With the match itself, I can remember it quite well, as United played so much better than they had been doing so far that season. I also clearly remember the 1st goal too. It was a penalty taken and scored by Jesper Olsen at the Scoreboard End of the stadium, so was right in front of me. The match ended with United winning 5-1 – the goals were scored by Norman Whiteside, Peter Davenport and 2 by Frank Stapleton. I was very happy about the result, as it seemed were all the fans in the stadium that day. It seemed like things would turn around for the club after such a terrible start to the season. They did not though and Ron Atkinson was sacked less than 2 months later, to be replaced by the then Aberdeen manager, Alex Ferguson.

After that match I was completely hooked on going to United matches and my parents could clearly see that. For the rest of the season we either bought tickets in advance or paid on the turnstiles. We sat wherever we could get tickets – Family Stand, F stand, D Stand, J stand and on a few occasions K Stand (where I would get a League Match Ticket Book, then Season Ticket in 1991, in seats I still sit in to this day). At the time there was no membership scheme at the club, so you did not have to be a member to apply for match tickets. Also, only a couple of home matches ever sold out – Liverpool and Man City, so it was easy to get tickets then. We also started doing some away matches too, as they went on general sale to fans, once Season Ticket holders had bought their tickets. The 1st away game I did was Man City in October 1986 at Maine Road. I immediately absolutely loved the atmosphere of a United away match, especially the singing and the banter with away fans. We were in the Platt Lane Stand and I remember even back then being stood on my seat, as all our fans remained stood in the seated area during the match.

I was fortunate to be at the QPR home match in November 1986 when Alex Ferguson was presented to our fans on the pitch as our new manager. What stood out for me was that as he went onto the pitch, all the club directors and officials went over to him and started shaking his hands, congratulating him and patting him on the back. Ferguson immediately stopped them doing this and backed away from them. He was clearly saying ‘I’ve only just begun my job here and I’ve got a big task ahead – pat me on the back and shake my hand when I’ve achieved something. That was the 1st time I noticed what set Alex Ferguson apart from other people.

So, 1986-87 turned out to be a hugely memorable season for me, starting with that 1st match against Southampton. At the start of 1987-88 season, my Dad got us Season Tickets at Old Trafford. He still has these same seats in the stadium to this day, which he goes to with his friends. I sat with him in there until 1991, when I got my ticket in K Stand where I have been sat with my wife for the past 12 years.

3 Comments on Manchester United in the 80s: My first United match

  1. United were the first team I ever watched on tv & even though they lost the game I liked them and supported them from then on.Liverpool talk about misery….we were relegated at one point as they were successful.united fans have experienced worse in my opinion.

  2. 80’s was when it all started for me as well, though a touch later than you. My first ever away game was the infamous 1-5 thrashing dished out by the Bitters. ie remember my dad leading by the hand through those dirty back streets, piss everywhere and the odd scuffle. I remember being scared but excited at the same time. Part way through (i think it was the first half) it all kicked off in City’s end and the game was stopped. I don’t remember much about the game save for a cracker from Sparky which I didn’t actually see as my view was blocked. My main memories of the day is of my dad propping up on top of a high wall at the end of the away stand so I could see and watching a 20 stone monster of a United fan being dragged down the adjacent tunnel by about 5 coppers. I was only 8! Magic

  3. Well written piece. Nice to hear from a fan who obviously can relate to both the good and bad times of Sir Alex’s reign. He reportedly came close to getting the boot but Martin Edwards and co. stood by him.

    I remember some of the god awful players we had to endure in the early times. Ralph Milne, Mike Duxbury, Maiorana and the other “Fergie Fledgings”

    I am gutted growing up in the late 80’s that i never got to see the early United play at OT. Being from Yorkshire, my parents consider Manchester to be in another time zone.

    But those early years and that FA Cup Final against Palace will always stick in my memory as one of the sweetest moments as a Utd fan. Les Sealey was amazing in the replay and deserves big recognition for putting the wheels onto the Sir Alex juggernaut that has moved the whole football scene for the next 21+ years.

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