Irish fans excited for United friendly
Manchester United will return to the Irish capital of Dublin for the first time in six years today for the final match of our pre-season schedule.
Erik ten Hag's men take on Spanish La Liga side Athletic Club at the impressive Aviva Stadium, with kick-off at 16:00 BST in a game you can watch live on MUTV, ManUtd.com and the United App.
Tickets for the game are sold out and there promises to be a raucous atmosphere for our first match at the venue since a 2-1 friendly win over Italian side Sampdoria back in 2017.
To get a sense of how fans are feeling ahead of the Reds' return, we caught up with Louise Berney, the membership secretary at our Manchester United Supporters Club in Dublin. Scroll down to read her thoughts...
How much are you looking forward to United being back in Dublin?
“I’m really looking forward to it. I’m interested to see what team they put out considering the game on Saturday against Lens was organised after announcing Dublin. But the way I look at it is these friendly games give the manager the opportunity to give some of the young lads a run-out and see how they get on. The amount of Irish fans over here is just phenomenal, so there’s going to be an absolutely fantastic atmosphere around the ground.”
Do you remember the last time United were in Ireland?
“Yes, it actually popped up on my Facebook page as a memory the other day! It was six or seven years ago when we played Sampdoria in pre-season. There were about 30 or 40 of us all sat together and we were initially in the third last row in the Aviva. It was a nice sunny day. Just the build-up before the game was nice, especially seeing the young kids going around wearing their jerseys and trying to get a glimpse of the players, the same as it is at Old Trafford. So yeah, looking forward to Sunday. The Aviva Stadium is a lovely stadium too.”
Which player(s) are you most looking forward to seeing?
“I’m actually looking forward to seeing the new goalkeeper [Andre] Onana and Mason Mount, hopefully they are coming over. It’s always good to have a look at the new players and get a first glimpse of them. But once they are wearing that jersey, they play for our team and whoever has the jersey on, you have to back them regardless.”
Tell us about the supporters club that you are involved in...
“I’m the membership secretary of Manchester United Supporters Club Dublin and I’ve been on the committee for 10 years. I’ve been a member for quite a long time! We were established in 1969 and we were originally called Manchester United Supporters Club Ireland. But the community of supporters clubs has grown and grown and is still growing, so then we were renamed as Dublin. Obviously we are based in Dublin but it’s just because there are so many other branches around which is brilliant. We have our committee and we try to organise a trip for every home game.”
Why do you think United as a club has such a strong affinity with Ireland?
“I think if you go back over the years and the Irish players who have come through the club. I remember years ago they did a DVD called The Irish Connection and we did a little bit of an interview for that as well. The connection goes back. I actually spoke to one of the female Irish footballers recently, Stephanie Roche, and I didn’t realise she was a United fan. She was talking about Keano [Roy Keane] and Denis Irwin. I think when you look at the Irish team going back to the 1990s and you had the likes of Keane and Irwin and they played for United as well, for me it’s such a big part of the connection. You can go back to the likes of Paul McGrath too. I only recently watched the documentary with Kevin Moran called Codebreaker and that was just a great watch as well to be honest. I think you have to link it back to the players who have come through for Ireland and then gone on to play for United. You kind of get the best of both worlds when the players who play for your country sign for the club you love.”
Who is your favourite Irish player for United of all time and why?
“I would definitely say Keano [Roy Keane]. He was passionate, he played for the badge, he wore his heart on his sleeve, he told you off if you were wrong but he did that because he cared. He wanted the team to do well regardless of whether he was wearing his Ireland jersey or his Manchester United jersey. The mentality that he had was always a winning mentality. Only up until recently, if you look at the players we have, especially Casemiro, we never really replaced Keano in all of the years. We have tried and you could just never fill that big gap that he left there. I think the mentality [Erik] ten Hag has and what he sees in certain players, he is slowly filling that gap. Personally, I think Casemiro is the closest thing we’ve had to Keano.”
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What are your hopes for the season ahead?
“Obviously, we want to progress from last season. I think at the end of the season there was the disappointment of not winning the FA Cup but I think if you had given us the choice at the start of the season, we would have taken being in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, finishing in the top four in the Premier League, winning the Carabao Cup and being in the FA Cup final. It wasn’t a bad old start for Ten Hag to be honest with you, so we just need to focus more on the Premier League. I know it’s going to be a big task with [Manchester] City and the other teams building their squads too. Erik had a great first season to be fair, he’s got a couple of new players in the squad to strengthen the team, a new captain in Bruno [Fernandes] so there are a few changes and they are all good changes. As a United fan, over the last couple of years, we haven’t really had too much to look forward to but we still get up, do all our travelling for the 90-minute match because that’s what you do. We always watch the team regardless and it’s good to have that excitement back and that winning mentality back. It’s been more of a pleasure the past few months watching certain games than it previously has been.”
What have you made of the club’s summer transfer window so far?
“I think Onana and Mount have strengthened the team. I think there could be one or two more surprises too. The new goalkeeper is not afraid to shout at the back four if needs be as we saw last week [against Borussia Dortmund] and you need that as well. You need somebody to shake things up. There is a lot of potential there and you have to have faith in Ten Hag that he’s picked these certain players for a reason. He knows what he wants to do and he knows how he wants to strengthen the squad and rebuild. I think it’s a job that has to be done. Even before Ten Hag, there were a lot of changes over the last couple of years and you can’t make all the changes at the same time. But genuinely, I take little interest in the transfer window because of all the stories you see so until I see a player sitting next to the manager putting pen to paper, that’s the only time I pay attention.”