Boos rang around Old Trafford on Wednesday, and manager Michael Carrick is already feeling the heat. The piece from Japan Today (via the Associated Press) is a sports story rather than travel news, but it captures a moment many football-loving travellers to the UK will want to know about if they're planning a matchday trip to Manchester this autumn.
Carrick, a Champions League winner with United in 2008 under Alex Ferguson, earned the top job on a long-term contract after impressing as caretaker last season following Ruben Amorim's firing. The optimism has faded fast: three losses in the opening six games, an early English League Cup exit, and a VAR error that handed Manchester City a wrongly-awarded Erling Haaland winner in last week's derby. The club's most exciting academy prospect has asked to leave, fans are protesting against the ownership again, and United sit eight points behind leaders Arsenal and City.
Carrick is the seventh permanent manager since Ferguson retired in 2013, following big names like Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho who also failed to restore United to the top. He has publicly accepted the pressure, saying results are on him, ahead of a home game against winless Fulham.
The weekend fixture list has other drama: Tottenham, winless despite $400 million spent on new players, face Aston Villa, also without a win. Defending champions Arsenal visit Brighton, Manchester City host Sunderland, and Liverpool — with new signing Bradley Barcola from PSG — travel to Bournemouth. Chelsea's Joao Pedro has withdrawn from Brazil's friendlies injured. Meanwhile, the officials at the centre of the VAR blunder, Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus, have been stood down for this round.
For travellers, the takeaway is simple: the Premier League remains one of the most atmospheric live-spectator experiences in world sport, and Old Trafford on a Sunday is still an event worth building a Manchester trip around — just expect a tense crowd if results don't improve soon.