Taking the stadium tour of Old Trafford at Manchester United really brings home the fact that, in England, there is no stadium and no club like the one in the red half of Manchester.

Sir Alex Ferguson Stand.

Any Liverpool and Manchester City fan reading this is no doubt howling, but as a neutral, I have to point out certain facts. Man U has more titles. Their stadium is the biggest for a club in the country; only Wembley, the national stadium, is bigger. The sheer size of the whole operation is rather staggering, as is the history, the names, the trophy case, the stories …

Touring Old Trafford should be a part of anybody’s soccer tour in England. It’s certainly easier and cheaper than getting into a game! The standard tour is £25 for an adult (there are discounts for members). There is also an Old Trafford Experience for £35; it sounds like a lot more than it is, which is a stadium tour with food in their Red Cafe.

One thing unique to Man U is that there is a version of the tour (£35) that includes a boat ride on the nearby canals, followed by a stadium tour. That one is available some weekends in summer but sells out well ahead of time.

There’s also the standard Legends Tour, led by a former player that neutrals and casual fans will probably have never heard of, which here is £140. (Ryan Giggs is not leading tours at this price!)

The tunnel walkout is a standard stadium tour feature:

You’ll see all the usual stuff: the media room, the dressing rooms, the dugout, the posh section, and the tunnel. You’ll also go through their museum and learn all about the Munich Disaster, when a young and promising team was devastated by an airplane crash. You’ll also see that English people used to use the word soccer, even though they now make fun of Americans for saying it.

For more info on the tours, head on over to the amazingly cluttered and crappy ManUtd.com. Meanwhile, here is my photo gallery from a tour back in 2014: