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Premier League: A derby day in Manchester
Train cancellations and crowded platforms mark a busy Sunday as fans from London head to Manchester for the derby, with mixed fortunes for United.
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London/Manchester: The 7.51am to Crewe is cancelled, and Best shuffles out of platform No.8. So does the man with B.Fernandes on his back. With everyone else, they return to waiting and scanning for the platform for the next train scheduled to depart Euston an hour later. Without a murmur of protest.
Passengers for two trains are accommodated on one and that means the courtesy and politeness -- accepted as a way of life in this part of the world -- is tested by two, their twang giving away their Americanness, who have placed large suitcases on and in front of seats. It also means Mbuemo, white ear pods in place and brown cap pulled firmly in front, has to stand in the vestibule in the one that leaves London at 8.53am.
Emblematic of the London Northwestern Railways service on this line, one hour into the journey, past houses with slanted roofs and countryside looking like it has been tended to, the clock in our carriage shows it is 8.54am. “Too full to move,” said a passenger after a long stop at Northampton. Turned out, the driver was delayed by a marathon. “It is not an excuse though it sounds like one,” he says on the public address system.
Deep Dive
Theatre of dreams
Not everyone was heading to Old Trafford on this grey, wet Sunday but years after it drew David Beckham, born not far from a place in London named Whips Cross, the season’s first Manchester derby pulls in a fair share of faithfuls on the four-hour ride to Manchester Piccadilly that includes a change at Crewe and takes you through Stockport, home to both Kobbie Mainoo and Phil Foden.
Michael Carrick’s team had lost only once in 10 home games in 2026 averaging 2.7 points per game at Old Trafford. Going into the 199th match between the teams from Manchester, it was the best home record in the Premier League this year. Reason enough for men, women, boys and girls of Manchester United persuasion to spend a sunny afternoon at the “theatre of dreams.”
Old Trafford looms in front, rather the white beams that support the cantilevered roof do, from the Brian Statham Way as you emerge from the tram from the Piccadilly station.
On Matt Busby Way
The cricket ground, the one that had George Best confused because he didn’t know there were two Old Traffords, comes first. You walk past the Lancaster County Cricket Ground, cross the road and a stall that calls itself the King of Burger and is bookended by images of Eric Cantona and Bobby Charlton. The Trafford Bar, with murals of Best and Charlton on one side and Denis Law and Cantona on another, is on your right. You walk a bit with a throng that grows thicker and bigger by the minute and you are on Sir Matt Busby Way.
The legendary Manchester United manager is somewhat overshadowed by an advertisement featuring Bryan Robson, the former United captain, but there he is one hand on the hip, the other on the ball smiling beningly at those milling below and looking on at the Trinity Statue, Manchester United’s way of immortalising Best, Law and Charlton, that is a landmark and a meeting point.
Not everyone is a ticket holder and that is okay. Even as people go in, others walk through the Munich Tunnel, a memorial for the air crash victims of 1958, wait in front of the Stretford End to boo Manchester City as they arrive and cheer the home team. You can go around the amphitheatre, buy the match day programme for £4, half-and-half scarves for £15 and any other memorabilia of your choosing. Imagine doing that on match day at any stadium in India.
The security is present, mounted police and dog squad too, but they let tourists, tickets holders and protesters who are ticket holders do their thing. With red and green smoke flares, a large group of United supporters with banners that called for the Glazers to be ousted marched in, chanting, “we know who you are, cheating ba####ds,” the dig aimed as much at City as to United’s American owners. Kick-off is around the corner and pubs disgorge boisterous people who make their way to Old Trafford.
The pub experience
Beyond the stadium, pubs are a good way to live a football game in England. Adam and Eve in East London’s Stratford felt like a miniature Emirates last week, stunned by Morgan Rogers’s early goal and erupting when Martin Odegaard equalised. It shook when Kai Havertz scored the winner. By the end, chants of “Champions” and “Arsenal” were bouncing off its high ceiling.
At The Rat and Pigeon, off Manchester’s Piccadilly Garden, things were quieter. The pub has two spacious floors and the crowd was evenly spread as referee Michael Oliver started the derby. When Foden was sent off, there was disbelief, anger even at how Bruno Fernandes had made the most of it, till replays showed retaliation.
Manchester United struggled to impose their numerical superiority and with City trying to defend their way out, the mood didn’t change much till Erling Haaland’s slick, sucker-punch of a goal. That sparked a debate about off-side and whether Enzo Fernandes was interfering with the play.
Meanwhile, the bankruptcy of ideas at United continued. Their crosses for Benjamin Sesko were poor. And because they failed to break down the low block, Manchester was blue; City supporters doing the Poznan to drive home the point. A few beers down and a few more to fuel the ride home, one United supporter on the train to Sheffield spoke for many when he wondered aloud: “why are we so poor against teams with 10.”
