Every supporter likes to think their club has the best fans, the best ground and the best atmosphere, but if recent data is to be believed, Old Trafford has the best atmosphere in the Premier League.
Manchester United’s home has long been considered one of the most iconic stadiums in world football; the Theatre of Dreams is a place that almost every player in world football has literally dreamt of playing at, and while it might not be the most modern, a new study suggests it has what counts: the most buzz.
As per a survey conducted by sports and betting brand Midnite, Old Trafford was the highest-rated for best-home support in the Premier League, taking more than a fifth of the total share of votes with 20.46% of participants concluding it has the best atmosphere.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just Reds propping up the stats; breaking down the results into different groups, the Stretford End and co. also got lots of recognition from other fans, with some 39% of Newcastle fans even voting United as their favourite away day atmosphere. Here’s how the top five panned out:
🚨🔴 A study from @midnite shows Old Trafford has been voted as the Premier League stadium with the best home atmosphere:
1. Manchester United – 20.46% 2. Liverpool – 17.64% 3. Arsenal – 11.49% 4. Newcastle United – 7.56% 5. Chelsea – 7.06%#MUFCpic.twitter.com/prcnSRqLxx
While the votes have no doubt been boosted by the club’s upturn in results and performances since Erik ten Hag arrived, currently sat in third and having won their first trophy for six years, it’d be curious to see what people’s impressions of the 74,000 capacity venue have been in the decade since Sir Alex left.
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As you can see, Anfield came in second with 17.64% of the votes and also topped the list when it came to the atmosphere for travelling fans, with more than 34% of the 1,002 surveyed declaring Liverpool as the best away day. Perhaps not the biggest sample size but many would argue still aligns with the general consensus, historically.
League leaders Arsenalcame in third with over 11% of the votes — the way this current season’s going also helping no end — and equally resurgent Newcastle United’s St James’ Park seemed to live up to its reputation too, claiming fourth place.
On the other end of the spectrum, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham and Bournemouth all bottomed out the list, with just 1.31%, 0.71% and 0.60%, respectively; Wolves also recorded the lowest result for away atmosphere, only managing 4% of the votes.
Interestingly, despite being the most technologically and architecturally up-to-date in the English top flight, Spurs’ sparkly new stadium didn’t appear in the top five and neither did Man City‘s equally impressive Etihad, even despite its wider campus and fan facilities which are reportedly set to be developed ever further.
The designs will see the stadium capacity increased to over 60,000. 🏟️https://t.co/bHRoFveWTH
On the other hand, they didn’t find themselves in the relegation zone of the Premier League table for atmosphere either, so that’s something, I guess.
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So, Old Trafford apparently has the best atmosphere in the Prem, but what grounds up and down the EFL and wider football pyramid are the unsung heroes?
Former Man United man Bastian Schweinsteiger sheds light on brutal exile by José Mourinho
Danny Jones
Former footballer and ex-Manchester United man Bastian Schweinsteiger has opened up on his turbulent time at the club, revealing some fairly shocking details surrounding his exile from the first team at the hands of José Mourinho.
The Germany and Bayern Munich legend retired back in 2019, going down as arguably one of the most revered midfielders in Europe, but some of the latter chapters in his career were less idyllic than they should have been after moving to Old Trafford.
Schweinsteiger joined the Red Devils in 2015 as a seasoned pro by Louis van Gaal but ended up enjoying only a very limited amount of playing time before ultimately departing in 2017 under the Mourinho regime in less than affable circumstances, to say the least.
The 39-year-old has never really opened up on what went ‘wrong’ during his time at Man United until now, revealing to Gary Neville that was quite literally banned from going into the dressing room on practically his first day under the Portuguese coach.
Bastain Schweinsteiger reveals he was banned from training with the United first team by José Mourinho
A pretty strange way to welcome a Champions League and World Cup winner with eight Bundesliga titles and a cabinet full of other cups to his name, let’s put it that way.
While it’s still unclear as to why exactly José didn’t want him around the first-team squad, Schweinsteiger says that former football director and then-head of development John Murtough – who recently left the club after 11 years – told him he couldn’t train with the senior players simply “because the coach said so”.
Already considered a veteran of the sport at this point, he goes on to detail how, ever the consummate professional, he proceeded to train with the under-16s instead after being given no alternative, which kicked off months of largely unexplained exile and only making very sparse appearances for the team.
Neville‘s face is understandably aghast at the revelations, going on to admit he was left “stunned” by what he was hearing and labelling Schweinsteiger’s treatment not only “embarrassing” for the club and as a fan but verging on the “illegal”.
He only made four appearances for United while ‘The Special One’ was in charge.The controversy was never made public at the time.Credit: Wikimedia Commons)/Дмитрий Голубович
Citing the only real reason that was given for banishment was that Mourinho claimed he “didn’t see [him] happy here at United”, although he did qualify that this was around the time of his injury when he also spent time recovering in Germany.
José did eventually go on to apologise for his treatment in those early days, admitting that his decision fell into the category of “feeling sorry for what I did” and in turn granted him the move to his final club Chicago Fire where he spent the last days of his playing career.
Were he to have been given a different introduction to the club and eventually integrated into the first-team squad in a less confrontational way, his time at Manchester United could have been very different.
You can watch Bastian Schweinsteiger’s full interview on The Overlap, including what he made of other players that José found ‘problematic’ like Paul Pogba down below. Safe to say it’s quite an eye-opener.
Featured Images — The Overlap (via YouTube)/Дмитрий Голубович
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Rodri takes a swipe at Real Madrid tactics as Manchester City bow out of the Champions League on penalties
Danny Jones
Manchester City star Rodri has taken aim at Real Madrid for their tactics in Wednesday night’s Champions League quarter-final as the Blues bowed out of the competition on penalties.
Rodri, who scored the winning goal in the UCL final to secure the treble for Man City last season, cut an understandably disappointed figure in the post-match interviews as his side ultimately conceded the first of their three trophies in a tense night at the Etihad Stadium.
Speaking to the media in the tunnel, the Spaniard was asked if he saw the game as simply being a case of two elite teams cancelling each other out and only being separated by small margins, to which he simply replied: “To be honest, today I saw only one team”.
The 27-year-old went on to note that Madrid’s gameplan was obviously to defend and “to [make us] suffer” but that they always knew how tough Carlo Ancelotti’s team would be to come up against in such a crucial tie like this.
"To be honest, today I saw only one team"
"In my opinion we should go through"
Rodri on Real Madrid's tactics, after they beat Manchester City on penalties in the Champions League quarter-finals.#ManCity#MCFC#UCL
Rodri criticises Madrid as he suggests only one team came to play.
Nevertheless, Rodri reiterated that he believes City “deserved to go through” based on their performance across the two games and given how much they tried to play during the home leg.
While Madrid were always going to try and frustrate their opposition and trying and stop Guardiola‘s squad from playing the more free-flowing, expansive game that so often suits them, they did have plenty of moments where the game looked more open and like a counter could come off at either end.
Ultimately, though, an early goal for the visitors from Rodrygo was enough to give Madrid breathing room for the majority of the game and even after Kevin De Bruyne’s explosive equaliser – which saw the stadium erupt as it looked like they might go on to win it – they still managed to eke out extra time.
As for Pep himself, he was predictably cautious of getting drawn into any big exclamations and made sure to hold back, simply reiterating Rodri’s sentiment that the performance was “outstanding” and that given stats like 32 shots attempted (a third of those on target), he could not question their commitment.
"We did absolutely everything… but they are in the semifinals and we are not."@AnitaNnekaJones chats with Man City manager Pep Guardiola after the defending champs fall to Real Madrid 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/MtFjD3zaeQ
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 18, 2024
While Rodri had a sly dig at Madrid, Pep chose to focus only on his players instead.
The admittedly ridiculous-sounding ‘Treble-Treble’ might now be off the table but with two trophies still left to defend and another potential record break on the cards if they manage to win a fourth Premier League in a row, there’s still more than enough glory to play for.
City’s next big fixture is the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea this Saturday as rivals Manchester United take on Coventry City in the other draw on Sunday.
Safe to say it’s looking very much like we could get back-to-back Manchester derby FA Cup finals.
As for the title race, the Blues have a slim two-point cushion at the top of the table but with Arsenal and Liverpool slipping up last weekend, it could prove to be the key slip-up they needed to now set the tone and finish the season strong as they often do. It’s going to be a blockbuster few weeks.
Danny Jones -
23rd March 2023 
