The Prawn Sandwich Brigade Grows Stronger

This topic contains 37 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by theMartial Art theMartial Art 6 years, 1 month ago.

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 38 total)
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  • #1595225
    hatters
    hatters
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    So it turns out that the fans who turned up at Old Trafford for the Huddersfield game were lucky enough to get a special edition gift bag in commemoration of the Busby Babes. They got a special match programme, a pin badge, and an ace commemorative book – complete with hardcover, embroidery, and the lot. Lo and behold, just days later we find these precious items being sold on eBay by “fans” for a measly 20 or 30 quid.

    It’s sickening that these people would rather have 30 quid in their pockets instead of keeping and cherishing a rare piece of memorabilia tied to the club’s very identity.

    It’s no wonder Jose is complaining about the atmosphere at Old Trafford. The prawn sandwich brigade has been tightening it’s vice grip on the club ever since Roy Keane uttered those famous words.

    #1595247

    happyhurling
    Participant
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    Yeah. The fact is that a huge majority of the “fans” who turn up each week are Americans who are travelling Europe and want to see a game of soccer before there flight home.

    #1595268
    MacGuffin
    MacGuffin
    Participant
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    Doubt the american tourists are selling their souvenirs but I’m sure the thousands of Huddersfield fans would rather have some beer money than United memorabilia !

    That OT is a tourist destination is beyond dispute but let’s be honest, the club started down that road a decade ago when the Glazers rode into town.

    #1595280
    redblood
    redblood
    Participant
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    And there is poor me searching the Ebay for that sort of memorabilia.

    #1595317
    hatters
    hatters
    Participant
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    @macguffin. It’s a valid point you make about the away support but I can’t shake the feeling that most “fans” are primarily out there to be entertained instead of supporting the team. It’s the reason why in recent years the only chant that ever makes it around the whole stadium is the generic “United, united, united..” chant.

    @redblood. Don’t worry mate. I know you have the best intentions when looking for such memorabilia. Perhaps everyone else on the page will disagree since you called them all cunts.

    #1595330
    MacGuffin
    MacGuffin
    Participant
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    No argument that a good proportion at OT are tourists or day tripper fans there for the “experience” more than the game. And I agree its not good but thats what happens when you sell your soul to the devil.

    PS – How Wonderfuel can talk of the “buzz” at OT and as if the fans there are somehow more knowledgeable baffles me.

    #1595350

    happyhurling
    Participant
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    Mac – pretty sure Tommy sits with the hardcore fans mate, not the tourists. So therefore he can comment on the buzz coming from the OT faithful rather than prawn sandwich brigade.

    #1595363

    Manthistle
    Participant
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    Utd should identify those who are selling the items and revoke their tickets.

    #1595463
    Wonderfuel Gas
    Wonderfuel Gas
    Participant
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    By the match I mean at away games mac…among people I’ve been going with for years. I do think there’s a buzz there that was certainly missing during the reign of van Gaal and Moyes and to a certain extent the late Fergie years.

    The Old Trafford atmosphere is as bad now as I have ever known it. Forlorn and depressing. I’ve a season ticket but I rarely use it And go to a handful of games per season. Ironically the atmosphere did perk up a bit under Moyes, maybe fans taking a macabre pleasure in getting behind a crap team? Not sure what the answer is or if there even is a solution long term. The singing section was full of good intentions but isn’t really working. You can’t just blame the tourists either…often it’s the drunk Irish and madcap Norwegians who make the most noise!

    #1595496
    MacGuffin
    MacGuffin
    Participant
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    @Wonderfuel – Its highly misleading to describe the buzz “among people I’ve been going with for years.” as “on the terraces at the match” and then to almost accuse me of blindness because I don’t see what your mates see.

    And if there your mates are anything like your TT mate happyhurling its no surprise they are buzzing with optimism. They no doubt buzzed about LvG.

    Yes we have a top manager on paper and have made quality signings on paper BUT that in itself is not progress. You spoke of Pogba Lukaku not being big enough for the shirt. Mikki has gone with Ibra soon to follow. Bailley hasn’t played enough to judge his progress. Matic hasn’t maintained his initial form. Lindelof has not even established himself as a regular (neither has Shaw). Martial & Rashford are no closer to being finished product.

    As regards the rest (DDG, Lingard and youth excepted) they have all moved closer to deadwood status. Forgive me if I don’t see significant progress as yet in terms of team rebuilding.

    #1595527
    killyboye
    killyboye
    Participant
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    @hatters, can’t remember the last time I heard anything described as ‘ace’ maybe the last time I read the Dandy or the Beano so thanks for that.
    @Wonderfuel, thanks for perpetuating the stereotype of the drunk Irish, the English, and Norwegians for that matter, are just as likely to be drunk at Old Trafford, you’d have to be with the standard of fare being served up on the pitch at the moment. We’re going to sign ‘Duffman’ for the squad next apparrently.

    Old Trafford has long been a tourist destination, the more global the game becomes, the more likely that’s not going to improve any time soon. Is it because many of the fans can’t speak English very well and therefore can’t sing along to the chants except to sing ‘Utd, Utd, Utd’ so should the club make an effort to hand out hymn (chant) sheets or would that be seen as the corporate club trying even harder to dilute the clubs identity
    Does that make them less of a fan than anyone else? Spending their hard earned money (in some cases saving for years), possibly to fulfill a life’s ambition, to visit OT probably makes them more hardcore than many of the season ticket holders. Yes, there are some who merely want to see a game and aren’t hardcore supporters, but many more of the tourists who go to Old Trafford are committed Utd fans.
    Foreign fans are not the Prawn Sandwich Brigade, Keane was referring to corporate box attendees who don’t care about Utd and spend most of the match leaning against a bar, looking at their smartphones and generally not giving a fuck about what’s going on on the pitch and are only there because their boss or a business partner/contact offered them the ticket and they thought ‘why not?’
    Bar the one off fans who come merely to watch a game, most of the crowd are legitimate Utd fans and just haven’t had the luck/opportunity to follow United at such close quarters. Should these people be more vociferous in their support? Yes, should they be shunned and ridiculed because they’re not? I don’t think so.

    #1595543

    happyhurling
    Participant
    • :

    Tommy – We don’t feel like tourists at Old Trafford, Manchester is in our blood, mixed with lots of Guinness obviously! There are coachloads who head over from Dublin every weekend as well as the more affluent who fly! I’d be interested to know how many Irish season ticket holders there are actually.
    As for mad Norwegians you’re spot on! I met one last time i was at OT and he was crazy, had his two young boys with him and he was smashed at the bar, loving life. Lovely fella he was though.

    #1595555
    Wonderfuel Gas
    Wonderfuel Gas
    Participant
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    Exactly happy, the connection with our fair city and your green isle is pretty strong including my own family who all came to Manchester in the fifties. As my uncle Frank used to say, “all the lazy shites got off the boat and plotted up right where they were in Liverpool whereas those with a bit about ourselves travelled further afield…” So you got a train to Manchester, how outlandish?

    Don’t know the stats about season tickets in Ireland itself but I know loads who move over and have a few years following the reds…bit like a gap year to a cold rainy city with good music. A fair few stay on permanently an all, including two in our intrepid little gang who’ve been here since the heyday of the Hacienda and Madchester. They still keep threatening to go home…

    Anyway, I don’t think the atmosphere will ever improve at Old Trafford now, no matter how many drunk paddies turn up.

    #1595570
    O.T Fax Machine
    O.T Fax Machine
    Participant
    • :

    Well I have to lean towards @Killy on this one, so I will briefly share my O.T experience.

    I am a SAFFA and our current economic climate dictates that I have to spend less and save more, hence I won’t make the long haul to Manchester this season. But, having 1st had my experience as a keen 18yr old (Was part of a Coca cola sponsored trip after my school made the finals of the coca cola football stars initiative in SA and hence gt selected to represent SA in a tour which included visiting Carrington, seeing a game at O.T and played the United u17’s). I then told myself I will work hard to make the journey up north atleast once a season. This was in 2003 and attended my 1st paid match in 2011. It was so overwhelming that I spent the entire 1st half just in Awe if my surroundings. But then as the years went by and I got used to the venue, I started learning pretty much all the chants. Luckily a chap called Steven Whickam was kind enough to compile a cd of most of the chants and I listened nd learnt them word for word.

    Yes OT is an attractive tourist attraction, but I think the fans should actually realize why they even bought a match day ticket and start embracing not only the beauty of OT, but the atmosphere as well. Fortunately I’m a thorough football person and attend matches locally in SA quite frequently so I know what is expected of me as a spectator.
    Some people just attend to tick off bucket lists or to then its just a social event with no significant meaning if just how fortunate they are to even see Manchester United at Old Trafford….

    #1595578

    happyhurling
    Participant
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    Nice post OT. Who were you on the previous version of this forum, if you don’t mind me asking?

    #1595582
    O.T Fax Machine
    O.T Fax Machine
    Participant
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    Rona Van Rooney. I didn’t contribute as much as I do back then because I was constantly busy. I always read every hour thou and was always fascinated by evratime. He was articulate, treated everyone with respect and he just had a way to diffuse any tensions with facts, and common sense….

    #1595583

    happyhurling
    Participant
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    Ah yeah he did, didn’t he. Wonder what happened to him? Maybe he’s posting under a new name?

    #1595590
    hatters
    hatters
    Participant
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    @killeboye. I completely take your point on board and if these type of fans you speak of are in any way inclined like our dear old OT Fax Machine here, then these are not at all the type of fans who are selling their memorabilia on the interweb. Though it may be a “daytrip” for him I am certain he isn’t responsible for the lack of noise on the terraces. It’s not like I’m the most regular attendee either but I definitely feel the difference between how it is now compared to the early to mid 2000’s.

    @happyhurling & wonderfuel gas. There’s only one man to thank for those mad Norwegians and that’s The Baby Faced Assassin. He rode off into the Molde sunset and left us with a generation of wild Old Trafford bound Norwegians looking for a koselig experience coming in their droves.

    #1595621
    Wonderfuel Gas
    Wonderfuel Gas
    Participant
    • :

    I don’t think fans coming over for their dream trip however many times a season is the reason…if anything they bring more enthusiasm to Old Trafford, although that absolute danger who goes bareback and paints him and his son red should be barred and investigated by social services. There’s loads of issues…having the family stand and a massive wedge of executive seats in the Stretford End. An increasingly ageing supporter demographic and that’s not me being ageist as I’m about to turn fifty. But you just don’t get as many kids or young uns at the match these days and I think that’s an important cycle…and us old codgers don’t make the same racket and we forget the words to songs.

    OTFM…that’s fascinating about that trip. Out of interest, how did you get on against the Under 17’s and were you playing anyone we’d recognise?

    #1595767
    killyboye
    killyboye
    Participant
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    I’ve never been in the Stretford End but having executive seats there is just plain wrong. Get rid of them and bring in a safe standing section instead. Watch the atmosphere ramp up then

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