United fans wanted

The Waterside based club, which was founded in 1975, has 60 members but club chairman Alec Birney is appealing to local Red Devil followers to join them.

“The more members we have the more tickets we get for the big matches,” admitted Birney.

“They (Manchester United) have changed the rules now because if you don’t have more than 50 members then you aren’t recognised as a supporters club and that is incredible because we are going 37 years, but that is the rules.

“So because of that we are always pushing for new members and with the Foyle Branch having packed in ages ago, there is no other club in the town, yes Eglinton have a branch, but they seem to have their group of members.”

The club, who meet every second Thursday of every month in Brigade Cricket Club at 8pm, have 11 season tickets to all home games for Premiership, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup matches.

“The 11 season tickets which the club have are very good seats at Old Trafford,” he added.

The branch membership is £30 and £60 family for two adults, while under 16’s are free, while the ‘One United’ membership is £30 to renew and £32 as a new member. The club also have two charity walks a year for Foyle Search and Rescue and Foyle Down Syndrome Trust and every year the club organises a bus trip, with in the last two years they have taken in the Liverpool game.

Birney also admits that the terrible financial climate everyone is facing at the minute is maybe a reason why their branch numbers have started to dip.

“I believe why we aren’t getting as many members going to Manchester is because of the financial situation, but as a club on our bus trips we don’t stay in Manchester any more, we stay in Altrincham and it’s dead-on out there.”