One quarter of Europe’s football faithful (41 million) are classed as Fans Without Borders, with FC Barcelona the most popular foreign team (29%), followed by Real Madrid CF (10%) and Manchester United FC (8%).

Fans Without Borders have been categorised into three groups:
1. Highlight Fans, representing 60% of all Fans Without Borders, are attracted to a club’s playing philosophy (85%) and success (79%).

2. Regional Affinity Fans account for 12% of the total number of Fans Without Borders. Many of these faraway followers feel a special connection with the team because of a link to the city, with 55% of these fans regularly visiting the club’s region.

3. Star Followers represent 11% of Fans Without Borders – their loyalties are firmly set at the feet of great players and coaches and these fans are prepared to switch allegiance in line with wherever their favourite stars go.

Fans Without Borders ring up €35bn worth of spending each season and here’s how:
- One fifth of the total spend, or €7.5bn, is on Pay TV.
- Merchandising (club-branded goods) earns 13% of our far-away follower’s money.
- Actual match attendance consumes 10% of Fans Without Borders’ spending, with an additional €2.5bn allocated to food, drink and other goods purchased when there.
- 6% of spend is given over to visiting a pub or sports-bar to take in a game on the big screen, and subscription to a club’s own TV channel takes 5%.
- One in four fans attends home matches abroad. Accommodation and travel relating to match attendance, or visits to their favourite stadia, cost Fans Without Borders €8.75bn each year – one quarter of the total spend.
- The impact on tourism is positive; one third of all Fans Without Borders have booked a trip for the sole purpose of watching a match or visiting a stadium. One fifth intentionally combine match attendance with a short city break, or integrate the game into a regular holiday. In total, cities hosting Fans Without Borders at live matches, benefit by around €4.5bn per season.

The club have offered us the current away section at Old Trafford to use as a singing section next season and the aim is to bring back the atmosphere and colour of the old Scoreboard Paddock, making this section a fans area and raising the volume at Old Trafford.

The section will offer fans the chance to relocate and be seated with friends/family and more importantly, like minded vocal supporters. The section not only offers one of the best areas for acoustics within Old Trafford, it offers one of the better views too.

Manchester United’s official website now has a link for season ticket holders to officially register your interest. Once the official renewal process is in place, you will be contacted about your move and you will be given the opportunity to relocate seats so that you can sit together with friends or family.

The season ticket price for this area is likely to be £722, giving a matchday price of £38 per game. The area will be season ticket holders only, ensuring that the same fans are in there for every game. Whilst the section will not provide any under 16′s Junior tickets, the 16-20 reduced price ticket range will apply.

Lee Clayton – Head of Sport at The Daily Mail
Rooney to score. I’m loving his calmness and his focus. There’s no better player in England right now. This is his game to own. City to score first in 1-1 draw.

Nick Coppack – ManUtd.com journalist
The “biggest ever Manchester derby” surely can’t live up to the hype. A tense and turgid affair will end 0-0.

Steve Bartram – Contributing Editor for ManUtd.com, United Review and Inside United.
Midfield congestion. Nervous first hour, frantic last half-hour. Whoever has enough energy left or makes better subs will take the points. If City win, I’d be intrigued to see how they’d cope with having pressure and no margin for error in final two games, if United win both.

Mark Ogden – Northern Football Correspondent at The Telegraph
I fancy City because they have to win and that makes a difference. They also have better players in key positions. Being at home also helps. If United treat it like a Champions League game (not this season’s form, obviously!) it could go their way. Whatever, it’ll be massively tense!

Barney – Editor of Red News
The long drag over! Refuse to believe a Ferguson led side will let us down. He is the added factor. Players need to right themselves. It will all be good!

United Rant – United blog
City’s midfield superiority should tell. Neither Scholes not Carrick do well when out-manned or out-muscled. Both may happen on Monday. United have enough players to produce a moment in the game. It’s last chance saloon now – one of Fergie’s big players will grab a goal 1-1

Annie Eaves – Writer for Sport Witness
1-1. Both sides will be nervous. Perhaps an early goal for either side and the game slows, equaliser towards end.

James Maw – Writer/Online Features Editor for FourFourTwo
The pressure’s on City – how they handle that will be key. But on current form they should create chances, and I suspect they may just edge it 2-1.

Rob Dawson – Football writer at the Manchester Evening News
A lot depends on whether United set up with 2 or 3 in midfield. I think Fergie will go 4-4-2 which will make for a more open game. 2-2.

Sam Pilger – Sports Writer for FourFourTwo, The Times Magazine and Esquire.
In my worst nightmares Tevez gets a late winner, but I think it will probably be a nervy, tense affair in which we secure a 1-1 draw.

Howard Nurse – BBC Sport website Football Editor
Can’t make my mind up. 1-0 to United.

Mark Tattersall – City fan
Initially cagey with main battles being Agüero & Tévez v Ferdinand & Evans and Valencia v Clichy. Nasri or Welbeck to score winner in 2-1.

Lauren Wyke – United U15s
2-1 to United.

Last season, a total of 164,000 applications were made for the 55,000 away tickets available.

As Manchester United had already decided to relocate away supporters to North Stand Tier 3, a decision made by the club before the singing section proposal was submitted, this has left an empty space within Old Trafford.

Manchester United will trial the movement of away fans to North Tier 3 for the Aston Villa home game, if this trial is successful, then all away supporters will be moved to tier 3 next season, for all games.

Should this move be sanctioned by the local council and authorities after the Aston Villa game, then the current away fans area will be empty for next season.

Manchester United have offered this area for the proposed singing section and as a result, we have accepted this offer. This area will incoporate blocks E230, E231, E232 and E233 and will give us approximately 2,698 seats. The current price bracket of these seats are £37 and £38, putting them in line with the current prices in Stretford End Tier 2. The singing area will be a season ticket holder only area and existing season ticket holders will be given the opportunity to move into the singing section.

Andy Mitten, who attended the singing section meeting as a representative for the fanzine United We Stand has written this excellent article in Evening News.

The key factor is that those wanting to sit in this area, are there as singers and people applying to sit here should be aware of that. Supporters will be given the opportunity to relocate into the area and to submit a request to sit with friends, family etc, so that you can be sat together.

This area offers the best acoustics within Old Trafford due to its location and the proximity of the East/South Stand quadrant roof.

As the area holds 2,698 fans, the Old Trafford Singing Section Committee are now trying to gage the reaction and estimation of people willing to move here.

If you’re interested, send an e-mail to otsingingsection@hotmail.co.uk stating your name and your current season ticket location.

Giggs has no problem with friendly banter and cited the chant our fans were singing during Saturday’s victory over Liverpool.

“The rivalry will always be there, but let’s have it as healthy rivalry and nothing else,” Giggs told The Telegraph. “The fans were chanting about me winning more titles than Steven Gerrard on Saturday, but that’s what you get between fans and it’s what you want – you want good, healthy banter between fans.”

Given I only get to the ground about ten minutes before kick-off, I missed the opportunity to buy the latest edition of Red Issue which went on sale today. Why? Because the GMP, without receiving a single complaint, deemed the picture on the back page “potentially offensive” so went about confiscating it and threatening the sellers with arrest.

Ch Supt Mark Roberts said anyone found selling the fanzine or displaying the image faces prosecution. He said: “Shortly before kick-off we were made aware that a Manchester United supporters’ fanzine being sold outside Old Trafford featured a potentially offensive image. Officers are now seizing the fanzines and in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service we will take appropriate action against anyone either found selling this particular fanzine or provocatively displaying the image in public.”

Fans were refused entry in to the game if they didn’t hand over their copy of the fanzine. It is interesting to note that within this edition they had been critical of the GMP, which surely was completely coincidental and obviously had nothing to do with this complete overreaction.

You can still buy the ‘banned’ copy online. The UK, Ireland/Europe, and the rest of the world.

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Thanks to Andrew Kilduff

Why does this company have access to Manchester United away tickets?

I’m not going to publish the name because I have no intention of advertising them but it is scandalous that any one who fancies it can buy up to as many eight tickets at a time for our away matches.

Fans pay a fortune for their season tickets every season and to ensure they have even the chance of getting away tickets, must purchase the League Cup tickets too. So many fans get knocked back for every away allocation so the find out that companies have access to the limited number of away tickets on offer is fairly sickening.

How is this allowed to happen?

“We have taken into account the improvement of the Manchester United supporters at the most recent Premier League fixture relating to the blocking of gangways and aisles,” said Stephen Clare, Liverpool City Council’s principal licensing officer. “Liverpool FC will be responsible for determining the actual numbers that this will result in.”

It is expected we’ll get the bottom tier of the Anfield Road stand, holding just under 6,400, but two seats at the end of each row, around 300, will not be sold.