How do you obtain access to the most tightly guarded training grounds in world, Manchester United and meet the Manchester United team, with a squad the most expensive in history.
Well it certainly doesn’t come cheap, try sponsoring Manchester United for $5 million a year. $5 million is too steep for the majority of us, however luckily I have a friend that sponsors Manchester United.
I was invited last September VIP behind the scene access to the Man United training ground, stadium tour and corporate VIP box seats for the local derby.
Secretly guarded training ground
Being a tightly guarded secret with security that matches Area 51 – Gloom lake - the notorious US military installlation, we often wonder what goes on and where exactly is Manchester United AON training ground.
Well the location remains a mystery just like Coca Cola’s secret recipe. From Manchester, our entourage, were shuffled into a mini van with blackened windows and curtains to prevent us from seeing outside. After 30 minutes we arrived at AON training ground.
Interesting Insights – Eric Cantona the legend
The day started off with a talk by Manchester United legend Andy Cole.
He recounted the stories of playing alongside Eric Cantona and being involved in among the greatest successes of Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson ruled with an iron fist but apparently let Eric get away with more than his fair share and more than other players. Eric was allowed to arrive late for training, which never raised an eyebrow from Ferguson, while his teammates would get a barage of abuse and laps. Eric's performance on the pitch gave him godly status in the eyes of Ferguson.
Meet Ferguson and the Man U star players
Manchester United spent an astonishing £628 million assembling their group of players. This is the most expensive squad in history, beating even Real Madrid at £552 and Manchester City at £532m. Arrival of the star players from across the globe that included Ibrahimovic and most expensive footballer in the world, Paul Pogba at £89m.
We were ushered to meet the players. Most suprisingly the football players were all very slender and petite, despite their enormous presence on the pitch and on TV.
They were all particularly pleasant, happy to sign our football shirts and stop for photoshoots.Paul Pogba was quite shy and Ibrahimovic was jovial
Sir Alex Ferguson was only available for a quick handshake
Manchester United Legend captain fantastic Byran Robson was in much lighter mood
Manchester United Vs Manchester City Derby 1-2 Sept 2016
The Manchester derby is among the fiercely contested football derbies in the world. Attended by over 75,000 people. We had VIP box tickets. Always lovely to stock on great cheese cakes!
The match was even greatly eagerly anticipated considering the rivalry between the coaching superstars Pep Guardiola previously of Barcelona and Jose Mourinho, former coach of Real Madrid. There is no love lost between the Manchester United and Manchester City fans and certainly their bosses. It turned out to be an explosive encounter and a fascinating game of tactical chess between Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho
The atmosphere was electric. Manchester United fans outnumbered City fans 72,000 to 3,000. That said, the blues were immediately dominant that Old Trafford quickly fell silent.
Kevin de Bruyne's cool finish and Kelechi Iheanacho's tap-in after the Belgian hit the post put City in complete control as they dominated Manchester United for first 45 minutes.
3,000 blue fans outchanted the the 72,000 strong Man U fans
Manchester City’s Fernandinho put the shackles on Pogba, containing the formibable drive and muscle of the Frenchman.
United pulled one back just before the break when debutant keeper Claudio Bravo dropped a free-kick to allow Zlatan Ibrahimovic to pull a goal back.
Manchester City struck the first blow in the Premier league title race beating Manchester United 1-2 at Old Trafford.
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