Magical and Moving: The 2024 Old Trafford Sleep Out
Allow me to let you into a little secret: Old Trafford can be completely magical when it's full, but it's even more spellbinding empty.
I don't quite know why that is. But for me, at least, it's true.
Don't get confused: I'm not saying I feel more joy sitting on a lone seat in the stands than I do when United score a last-minute winner, or lift the Premier League title. Only that a bare Old Trafford teases something more unique, more emotional out of me.
Normally, those moments come when, as a staff member, I walk around the stadium on a weekday and allow myself five minutes or so to take in the peaceful majesty of this sacred place.
But last Friday, I got to experience that intimacy with a new twist, when I took part in the Old Trafford Sleep Out – a yearly fundraising event powered by the club's Foundation, aiming to drive awareness and funds towards homelessness and poverty.
Stadium Sleep Out raises more than £30,000
ArticleOver 120 participants braved the cold in aid of our Foundation and homelessness charity Centrepoint.
Well, I say 'intimate', but I wasn't quite alone. Around 130 of us took part. Fans, staff members, ex-players, Treble winners – the lot.
Yet, still, when the noise finally died down sometime after midnight and we settled down in our sleeping bags, everyone was left with the sound of silence, bar the gentle night drizzle patting the stands and the holy turf below, and the sight of the steep Stretford End rearing up in front of us.
Ever since, friends and family have been asking me: "What was it like?"
Well, here goes.
The first thing to stress is that this night was all about homelessness. The second thing to stress is that those of us taking part were not homeless.
When I sent a few WhatsApp messages around, encouraging donations, one of my best mates replied: "I am mostly impressed you have found another way to spend even more time at Old Trafford."
When I sent a few WhatsApp messages around, encouraging donations, one of my best mates replied: "I am mostly impressed you have found another way to spend even more time at Old Trafford."
He had a point. For Reds, who made up the overwhelming majority of the night's participants, kipping out (even in the cold and the rain) at a place that most of us regard as a 'second home' is a pleasure and a privilege. Load me up with a few pints and I might even describe it as a near-spiritual experience.
When we gathered in the South Stand (now Sir Bobby Charlton Stand) early in the evening, Manchester United Foundation chief executive John Shiels confronted this head-on: what we were about to undergo was a 'deluxe' approximation of what it is like to be homeless.
Ultimately, we were here to raise money for the poor people for whom there is no deluxe experience right now.
A talk from Lou Macari – whose deeply humane work to combat homelessness in Stoke has, rightly, enshrined the United legend as a national treasure – came next, amplifying the importance of the issue we were here to tackle, in our own small way.
Lou was frank: most people never permanently escape homelessness or the issues that have forced them towards life on the streets. But some do.
He spoke of one of the Macari Foundation's former service users, who walked 32 miles from Derby to Stoke to seek help some years back. Now that individual is one of life's success stories: he has a job, a house, two cars. And he returns every Christmas to thank Lou and his team for the impact they had on his future.
On Friday night at Old Trafford, we had comparative luxury to those suffering on the streets of Greater Manchester right now.
A proliferation of coffee machines, plentiful supplies of soup and chocolate, plus cosy Q&As with David May, Danny Simpson and Albert Morgan, who swaddled us with golden memories of the Ferguson years.
When we snuggled up in our sleeping bags, we had a glorious view of the Old Trafford pitch, a permanent wellspring of spectacular memories.
I found my eyes searching for the exact spot where Paul Scholes speared one into the Scoreboard End (East Stand) net against Barcelona 16 years ago. I picked out my old seat in the North Stand (Sir Alex Ferguson Stand), which was warmed by my grandad, then my dad, then me, from 1966 to 2009, when I moved into the Stretford End.
But while this moving night was a far cry from the reality of homelessness, it did offer some eye-opening insights.
When my colleagues and I had stopped chatting, around 12.30am, I tried to go to sleep, and at first I managed it.
It was a mild evening, and I was fully kitted out, having taken the Foundation's instructions very seriously: 3-4 season sleeping bag, base layers, Gore-Tex waterproofs, bivvy bags, hot flasks – you name it. I looked like the Stretford Sherpa Tenzing.
I was warm, so that was no problem, but it turns out sleeping on a concrete floor is quite uncomfortable. Who knew? I sleep on my side and, while I had a sleeping mat and some cardboard underneath my bag, my shoulders soon started to ache after an hour or so. I had to turn over, and then turn over again not long after that. Unbroken sleep was an impossibility.
The rain had been steady since midnight, but when a bit of wind kicked in about 3am, the drizzle was repeatedly blown in my face. It was uncomfortable. Despite having had barely two hours' sleep, I started to look forward to 6am and a bit of breakfast. To getting home.
When that time came, I was relieved. There were warm sandwiches inside – bacon, sausage, egg – and more hot drinks. And even though this experience was a really special one, full of camaraderie and good will, my mind quickly flipped to what a similar experience might be like outside Old Trafford.
Bedding down at Old Trafford
GalleryView images from Friday night’s Sleep Out, as more than £30,000 was raised for charity.
Imagine existing on two hours' sleep night after night after night? Imagine you didn't have coffee machines, security guards and a centrally heated Ability Suite as back-up for your coldness and fear?
Hours earlier, we'd heard telephone conversations recorded by Centrepoint – a charity that helps homeless young people – and what came through clearly from the tone of the vulnerable people on those calls was their pure dread.
They didn't know where to turn, and were audibly terrified about sleeping rough. Often they were escaping violence, and frightened that more was coming their way on the streets.
After leaving M16, I had a conversation with my partner, who works for a homelessness charity. She explained to me that many homeless people prefer to sleep in the day time, simply due to this fear of physical violence. Those are the kind of nuances and details that most of us simply never consider. It's why events like this one – which raise awareness, not just dough – are so important.
The Old Trafford Sleep Out was nowhere near as terrifying as the personal testimonies we listened to, of course. Quite the opposite. It was one dodgy night of sleep in a safe, secure place.
But it provided just a small window into some of the inherent problems of a world that most of us, blessedly, will never have to endure.
I was proud to have been part of it. Proud to have raised more than £1,000 alongside some of my media colleagues, as part of a total that surpassed more than £30,000.
But there's much more to do. Sadly, things are only getting worse, due to the constant stripping of funding, not to mention the broader social and structural issues behind these problems.
If you can donate to Manchester United Foundation and Centrepoint, please do. If not, why not attend next year's Old Trafford Sleep Out and find out more about homelessness? It's a rewarding, eye-opening, unforgettable experience.
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