Old Trafford, Manchester, England

A childhood dream was finally realized. Being here make me feel so surreal. I get to visit my favourite football club and was quite satisfied with just the tour.
Prior to coming to Old Trafford, I tried to get the match tickets from the internet, unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get it as it was all reserved for season tickets holders. So my best bet was to buy it from the touts. The team that Manchester United is playing against with is Derby (who is currently bottom of the league), so my rationale is that the season tickets holders will not be interested to watch this match and would want to sell this ticket at below par value or par value. Like my predictions, it was rather true, BUT, they sell these tickets to the touts and the touts then marked up the price. The face value of the ticket cost probably about 15-20 pounds but the touts sell it for 60-100 pounds a piece, depending on how stupid or clever you are in striking the deal.
As I was catching the match with Tiann, the job was made more difficult because it is hard to get 2 tickets literally together. We tried to ask all the touts for tickets and they asked us to quote the price we are willing to buy, so we are willing to buy 2 tickets for 60 pounds MAX, and many of them ask us not to watch and go home because we would not be able to get tickets at that price. They know is a sell-out (is sell-out for the entire season because for the fact that they are Manchester), so they took the opportunity to jack up the price.
We thought we would not have the opportunity to watch the match, because I will definitely know want to be held ransom to the ridiculous price the touts want. So we decided to walk around the stadium, even though the match has already started, then we met someone who has a pair of tickets and he asked us how much we are willing to pay. We say 60 pounds and he say alright. But eventually, we manage to bargain to 50 pounds which is a damn good deal. =) Our seats were really quite near to the field too.
The feeling of being in the match is so differently from what you usually see on the TV. Is the moment that is worth anything and everything… The match ended 4-1 to Man United (obviously). I saw some great goals and the price I paid was worth everything.
The day before, I get to have a tour around the stadium, and there was this boy who knew all the questions asked during the tour. Almost all the young supporters know the history and everything about the club. It was really unbelievable. I wonder if they do the same in their academic studies.