Manchester United sell out parts of Old Trafford

Old Trafford has never simply been Manchester United’s stadium.

For generations, it has been the stage upon which the club’s greatest stories have been written.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side once turned the ground into a fortress feared across England.

Steve Bruce’s stoppage-time winner against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993 helped give birth to the legend of “Fergie Time”, while Andy Cole’s delicate finish against Tottenham in 1999 sealed the Premier League title and opened the door to the Treble.

It has witnessed two separate 9-0 Premier League victories, against Ipswich Town and Southampton, while United also hold the competition’s record for the highest average attendance across a season at 75,821.

Yet the Theatre of Dreams is approaching the closing chapters of its extraordinary story.

United are pursuing plans for a new 100,000-capacity stadium around 350 metres from their existing home, with the wider regeneration project potentially transforming the surrounding Trafford Wharfside area.

We previously reported that the project is expected to cost more than £2billion, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe determined to create a new home capable of matching United’s global stature.

Old Trafford will remain United’s home while those plans progress.

But pieces of its history are already finding new homes around the world.

According to The Sun, the first batch of pieces of the Old Trafford pitch have officially sold out.

CentreDevils reported earlier this week that United had begun selling sections of turf removed when the pitch was completely relaid this summer for the first time in 14 years.

Each piece measures just 7cm by 7cm, is preserved inside an acrylic display block and costs supporters £125.

The initiative initially attracted mockery because of its considerable price tag, but demand has evidently followed.

For supporters, however, it is more than expensive grass. It is a fragment of the stage where generations celebrated, suffered and dreamed.

Old Trafford still stands. Its memories are already being carried away.