Back in the 1970s, a life-long Red transplanted to New York from England, and nearly 20 years after landing in America, he finally took the onus to establish the Manchester United Supporters Club USA (MUSCUSA).
With no professional league in the United States since 1984, America was starving for some sort of connection to football, so Peter Holland took the initiative to complete all of the necessary groundwork to establish this as the official branch in 1991, and it has been growing the Manchester United fan-base here ever since.
With the involvement of David Herman as the Prime Minister of Public Relations, MUSCUSA has been since re-branded “One United USA: Manchester United Membership and Supporters Club of America” in 2007 to reflect with the club renaming its official membership package, One United.
Without the vision, expertise and connections that both Mr Herman and Mr Holland possess, the fan-base of Manchester United would not be what it is today in the States, because of the tightfisted, unmethodical behavior of Americans.
What started out with just an army of one in the 1990s, has now grown into a strong Red Army of 5,000 supporters across the United States, and because of the vastness of America, we have individual branches in various cities as well.
For some American fans, the first real glimpse of the magnitude that Manchester United possesses was during the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, and to see them overcome the adversity not only made the hair on their arms stick up, but it struck a chord in their heart that they will never forget.
Yes, the successful branding of Manchester United, coupled with the growing popularity of the Barclays Premier League has definitely helped grow the image of the club, but people who live in States want something tangible to hold onto when the Reds back home at Old Trafford – which is exactly what the club offers.
Tours
The football fans here in the United States might be a bit fickle, but they have always turned out in droves to watch Manchester United play The Beautiful Game during three successful tours to America in the last decade.
Prior to United’s ChampionsWorld Series summer tour in 2003, United has only appeared on American soil eight times and had not been back here since May 1982.
During that tour, Manchester United drew a record crowd of 66,772 to Qwest Field in Seattle, and then opened up Lincoln Financial Field in front of 68,396 to face, FC Barcelona – and those amazing numbers still serve as the record attendance for both of those American football stadiums today.
Most recently, United came over on the Tour 2010, which allowed our members to get up close and personal with our insider access to see the Reds training sessions at all of the stops on the tour.
About
“A vast ocean lies between the United States and Old Trafford. We built the bridge,” is our catchy, but very fitting slogan for our supporters group, because what we offer our members.
One United USA extends to its members a truly unique opportunity for American-based Red Devil supporters to voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to see the world’s most celebrated football team by conducting at least four different tours per season.
Due to our established relationship with the Club, we are afforded access to Tours of Old Trafford with Legends, United Soccer Schools as well as visits to Carrington.
On top of those exclusive tours, which normally are to some of the most-anticipated matches of the season – Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea – a member of the supporters club also has the inside track to match tickets as well.
Our supplemented membership package includes an Official USA Membership Card, an One United USA emblem badge, a one-of-a-kind USA Supporters Branch Scarf, the club’s official 2009/2010 Season Review DVD and access to Members Only Promotions, Special Offers and eNewsletters.
The introduction of the internet and social media sites, such as facebook and twitter, have immensely helped getting awareness of our supporters club.
One United USA also has a Red Views section, which allows our authors to express their varying opinions about everything United.
For more information regarding One United USA, please visit our website, www.oneunitedusa.com, follow us on twitter: # oneunitedusa, become a fan on facebook – facebook.com/oneunitedusa.
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