Why Scotland has an affinity with United

The fans turned up in their droves to make the most of a rare chance to see the Reds play in Scotland, almost 50,000 were in attendance at impressive BT Murrayfield to witness the 1-0 friendly victory over Lyon.

Even arriving at the ground three hours before kick-off, it was busy outside the main gates. It had the feel of a big game, rather than a pre-season fixture, and everywhere you looked in Edinburgh long afterwards, there was a United shirt - men, women, children all decked out in one of our tops.

Of course, our hardy support travel far and wide to watch Erik ten Hag's men but there were clearly a sizeable chunk of locals there too, enjoying the sunshine before it went behind some clouds and lapping up the experience, enhanced by Donny van de Beek's brilliant goal.

Even in these early days of their fledgling careers, you can identify certain traits and characteristics of a young footballer’s style. Charlie Savage, introduced to me in the Academy building at Carrington by a very senior staff member as one of the nicest lads you could meet, has lived up to that reputation with his friendliness and helpful nature.

He was forwarded by some of his colleagues to take on the task of an interview on this occasion, performing the media duty with warmth, allied to a conviction to do well in the upcoming season.

Yet, on the field, it was noticeable how he was focusing on the ‘switch’, passing from one flank to the other with unerring accuracy, even on a small pitch. The clean way in which he struck the ball indicated he would be capable of pulling the strings in midfield.

Back from his loan at Forest Green Rovers, the Wales Under-21 international even took on the armband for the second half in Norway, which I am sure must have been a proud moment for him and all those who have aided his development over the years.

Working covering United in Edinburgh was actually not a new trip for me. I attended an Academy pre-season camp here in 2021, seeing first hand how the staff dealt admirably with difficult conditions in that Covid period.

The superb facilities at the Herriot Watt University hosted some of the youngsters on show against Lyon, including Alvaro Fernandez, Marc Jurado and others, and it was a mere four miles from the campus to Murrayfield, where they would be showing how far they have progressed.

I'm also old enough to remember all five of our competitive fixtures north of the border, beginning with a narrow 3-2 victory over Dundee United in late 1984, with Arnold Muhren, a player much admired by Ten Hag, scoring the winner in the UEFA Cup tie.

However, our affinity with Scotland is, of course, largely due to the fact that the two of the most successful and influential managers in football history hail from those parts.

Sir Matt Busby was born in Lanarkshire and Sir Alex Ferguson was brought up in Govan. Both strong-willed men, with even stronger principles, they have done more than anybody to shape Manchester United and build the aura and reputation of a club that attracts supporters from all over the globe, as we are about to find out again in the States.

In the 1970s, in particular, we had a whole host of Scotsmen in the side under Tommy Docherty, and, before then, deadly Denis Law must have done much to attract a generation of Reds followers from his homeland. There must have been a lot of pride when Brian McClair replicated his success with Celtic at Old Trafford and our links with the country run to this day with Scott McTominay turning into a goalscoring machine for Steve Clarke's side.

So this felt like a rare chance to see United in Edinburgh, a wonderful place to visit, and extend our connection and bond with people in the area. For me, it was an inspired choice of location, and the same can be said of the venue, as it's one many United fans will not yet have ticked off their list.

You can pick any city in the world and our superb supporters will turn out in huge numbers but there was something about Scotland that felt special, and the excitement generated by those present will have provided the perfect send-off for the squad ahead of their flight to New York.

The opinions in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Manchester United Football Club.