It took a while for Manchester United’s pre-season to spark into life this summer, but in the final week, the buzz you usually associate with a summer on the road with this club was back.
After low-key stops in Helsinki, Trondheim, Stockholm and Gothenburg, United stepped it up a level in Dublin and Wroclaw, and once again, it felt like this was one of the biggest football clubs in the world. That hadn’t really been the case at the end of July and start of August.
United flew from Gothenburg to Dublin last Saturday and, just as there had been in April, there was a crowd of supporters waiting to greet them at their Carton House base in County Kildare. Every day there were supporters lining the path from the hotel to the training pitches, hoping to get selfies and autographs.
When United had arrived at their previous stops on tour, the crowds waiting for their arrival had been pretty small. You could walk around those cities without even realising there was a game on or that Manchester United were in town.
That wasn’t the case in Ireland. Merchandise sellers were all over Dublin on the day of the Leeds game and although the fixture was flat, the occasion was not. Those who were there won’t forget the sight of more than 80,000 fans at Croke Park in a long time.
It might have helped the sense that some energy was being injected into pre-season that the whole squad were now back together. Marcus Rashford got a warm welcome when he arrived on Sunday and Lisandro Martinez checked in on Monday.
But it had been the return of Bruno Fernandes that the squad were waiting for. He is United’s very own Claudia Winkleman and when he was back, the cards could come out. Werewolf has become a popular card game based on The Traitors and Fernandes relishes the Winkleman role.
The squad played it every night at Carton House and it was a huge hit. It was said to have really knitted the group together over the last week. Dermot Mee mentioned it when talking in the mixed zone and a video of the squad going wild during one edition went viral online.
That wasn’t the only entertainment. There were a couple of rounds of golf at the impressive courses at Carton House and the table tennis table got some serious work. Fernandes, Luke Shaw and Shea Lacey were the standout players.
It was an interesting week for the players, with Amazon beginning filming for the first time after a slow introduction to the squad. They were in the dressing room at both games and around Carton House, but the production staff and film crews have been welcomed in and have struck up a rapport with key figures. Many of them come from non-football backgrounds, which is considered helpful.
They would have got footage of the chaos that surrounded the Croke Park fixture. It ended early when a series of young pitch invaders started making a dash onto the playing surface for selfies. PA announcements tried to stem the tide and one United security guard produced an impressive rugby tackle as he stopped another fan from making it on.
As they boarded the coach after the game, some VIP fans were hanging around waiting for autographs. JJ Gabriel, who was part of the squad all week without playing, was one of the most popular. Michael Carrick had been on the coach early but disembarked to go and chat to Wes Brown.
The squad flew to Wroclaw on Friday afternoon after one final training session at Carton House, and the reception they received in Poland was a surprise. Hundreds of supporters were gathered outside the team hotel and while some players tried to stop for autographs and selfies, it was considered just too dangerous. Supporters were desperate to get to the front and it was turning into a crush.
The game was full of narrative as well. The presence of Ruben Amorim as Milan’s head coach added extra spice and intrigue. His backroom staff are essentially the same faces that worked with him at Old Trafford and there were a lot of reunions.
In the stands, there were high fives and handshakes between analysts who had worked together until recently. A couple of support staff from either team engaged in a bit of play-fighting while the teams warmed up.
Amorim spoke to director of football Jason Wilcox in the tunnel, despite their bust-up, which essentially signalled the end for Amorim at United. He spoke to other staff behind the scenes and was said to have been friendly and respectful with everyone.
The United squad had waited on the pitch to see the Milan players get their trophy. They then headed for the tunnel, and while half a dozen or so had gone straight to the dressing room, Bruno Fernandes spotted Amorim and went over, and players followed. That included Jack Fletcher, who was given his debut by Amorim.
There were hugs for Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, two signings made on Amorim’s watch, and he had a long chat with Cunha as they walked down the tunnel.
Amorim had posed for pictures on the side of the pitch with a couple of United-supporting VIPs, then signed shirts and took more photos as he left the stadium. On his way out, he spotted the Manchester-based journalists in the mixed zone and came over for a chat.
“Do you miss me?” he said, with that garrulous Amorim laugh. “We miss your press conferences,” he was told. “More boring now,” he shot back, before walking off and laughing heartily to himself. It was classic Amorim.
United are certainly a more stable and settled club than they were in his days. Pre-season came alive in the final week, but for Michael Carrick a summer focused on hard work on the training pitch rather than making headlines on the other side of the world can be considered a success.
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