Thank you to Charles Clowes who submitted this review of his tour of Old Trafford. For anyone thinking of going, this is well worth a read as it goes into a lot more detail than all the promotional stuff about the experience.

Old Trafford Tour Review  Driving about the outskirts of Manchester, you suddenly see the unmistakably massive silhouette of Old Trafford. Truly, the stadium is simply monstrous in its size and the sensation of driving ever closer to the home of Manchester United is spine tingling.

Once I drove up and parked, I found myself in a group of 20 fans who had made the pilgrimage from all across the country, as well as with a few from all over Europe. While most people paid on the day, I’d got a gift experience voucher that let me in for free!

Once through the turnstiles, we met our tour guide for the day who was an old boy dressed in a big winter coat with a Man U scarf wrapped round his neck and speaking in a thick Mancunian accent, I suppose you really couldn’t ask for a more stereotypical chap to lead a tour like this.

His knowledge about the club, the sport and all the players was incredible and while he talked endlessly throughout the tour, with the odd joke and anecdote here and there, you couldn’t hear a pin drop. I can’t remember much of it, but it was all riveting stuff!

As for the tour itself, it would have been a bit bland were it not for our tour guide and the sheer magic and majesty of Old Trafford and Man U bringing it all to life.

The tour began with a seat in the stands, with many of us grabbing a hot drink, as it was cold out. Here we were told about the history of Old Trafford, how many seats it has, how it was built and the experience of seeing Man U play in a fully packed stadium was described to us too. Although this seemed to be a painful reminder of how difficult it is for more people to actually get tickets to see them play. As we all know, you can’t seem to get them for love nor money of late. Well, an awful of a lot of money perhaps…

Then we had a tour of the very swanky players’ lounge (from which the manager is banned unless invited by the players) and after a quick drink from the bar we took a tour of the changing rooms where more history and anecdotes followed to keep everyone smiling, while a few lockers of the top players were pointed out.

Then we all made the long walk down the tunnel to the pitchside dugout. Walking down the tunnel, you could imagine walking out into a roaring crowd of thousands upon thousands of people. The sheer size of the stadium was dizzying, even when empty, cold and wet out. We all seemed to share a moment taking it all in.

After thanking us for taking the tour and wishing us all well, our guide left us to wander the MU-seum and browse the long history of Man U FC, including the 12 league titles, five FA Cup titles, two UEFA Champions’ League trophies and a long long list of all the players down the decades.

There was also a screen where you could watch the best goals and even a holographic cat with Sir Alex Ferguson, which was a bit bizarre. But by this time, the tour had been going for a fair few hours, so I simply saw myself out through the gift shop, buying a Man U scarf on the way.

But while the tour sounds rather simplistic from what I’ve written here, it was absolutely brilliant! This is mainly thanks to our incredible tour guide, whose name escapes me. But he made it an experience to be remembered with all his stories and the way he told them, even if I can’t remember most of it a week later.

So I highly recommend this sort of experience, whether you fancy learning a bit more about Man U or you’ve got a mate who’s mad about Man U and you need to buy them something for a birthday, Christmas or whatever.

Just be sure to wrap up warm if the weather’s overcast, because it gets quite cold and blustery in that big stadium.

Ashley Young will not be playing for the last five Premier League games of the Manchester United season as an ankle injury has taken the Winger out of the game. Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed this week that Young will have to sit out the rest of the Premier League campaign in order to recuperate.

Young suffered an ankle injury during the Manchester City derby defeat just a fortnight ago. When the injury first occurred Ferguson stated that the winger would have to sit out for a fortnight but further tests have showed that the damage is actually a lot more extensive and will take longer to recover from.

It is not yet known yet if Young will be able to recover before the post season friendlies start between England and Brazil and the Republic of Ireland. However, at the time that these matches occur Young will have had already sat out two months and may be feeling up to playing again.

Ferguson stated that this is a very bad blow to the team as they have already been dealt quite a few blows due to the absence of two significant players. He went on to explain that they thought that Young would be back in just a few weeks but after a meeting with a specialist this past Wednesday in London they found out that the prognosis is not so pleasant.

Instead, Manchester United will have to make do without him for remaining games of their season. The outlook is not great for the team that has lost several of its key players due to injuries over eth long football season that has not been going in their favour.

They have been berated in the past for their wild parties, so for this year’s Christmas bash the Manchester United team decided to go a lot more low key.

They started off the night at the restaurant owned by United star Rio Ferdinand; Rosso but once the word was out that they were partying at Panacea night club, the wannabe WAG fraternity was out in force and descended upon the club in the hope of bagging themselves a player.

The line of ladies was way longer than any ordinary night at Panacea, and they all seemed to be in their brightest and tightest dressers to try and catch the eye of a footballing hero. Despite the freezing conditions, there was a distinct lack of jackets as these girls seemed determined to let their dresses, and there oh so obvious assets, do the talking.

The stars were certainly out if force with Robin Van Persie, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Phil Jones and stalward Ryan Giggs all snapped looking very dapper for their Christmas bash. The only notable absence was Wayne Rooney, who in light of past misdemeanour’s wisely chose to stay home with pregnant wife Coleen.

Van Persie, despite only joining the reds this season has clearly settled in well and led a rousing rendition of ‘Glory Glory Man Utd’ at Russo. The striker, bought from Arsenal for £24m, is one purchase that Alex Ferguson will certainly not be regretting as he has already scored 15 goals from 21 games, placing them 6 points clear at the top of the premiership.

As to whether any of the wannabes actually got up close and personal with one of the players remains a mystery, but watch out for what appears in the gossip columns.