At the turn of this decade when football clubs were building their new stadiums on deserted wasteland on the edge of cities, chairman began to wonder how their great concrete bowls would make some money on those days when football was not being played.
Many of these stadiums were being built on various loans and guarantees and the task to recover the money had to begin as soon as the stadium doors had opened and for a while, it seemed that anything goes regarding how money could be made. In areas of a city where there had been no history of innocent casual visitors, chairman seemed to believe that fans would start to treat their new multi-million pound stadium as a shopping centre/ social club.
A club museum began to be regarded as a useful new income stream. These attractions would include a stadium tour where the fans could access those areas, which were usually out of bounds on matchday. As far as I can see, these attractions had limited success. The brightly coloured levers and fancy video screens would brake down without much persuasion by screaming kids. I also presume that there would be a limited amount of times that a fan can sit on the changing room bench where their football idol prepares for their match, or sit in the director’s box.
Some of the attractions have been a success and it is not that surprising that these museums are at the clubs who maintain a loyal global following. The museum and tour centre at Anfield is one of the best that I have ever visited. It effortlessly told the story of this proud club and contained an impressive range of club memorabilia. There was a small cinema where you could watch some of Liverpool’s greatest matches and enjoy the goals of the club’s famous idols. The tour allowed you to touch the ‘This Is Anfield’ sign as you walked out of the dugout, and you were taken to the empty kop that still possesses a slightly scary nervous excitement, even when you are only part of a party of thirty-five.
Manchester United’s museum and tour centre gave you a comprehensive tour around Old Trafford. With a bit of musical fanfare and the sounds of a crowd cheering, you took the steps of the United team and the hapless opposition who would look up at the massive North stand and wonder whether this stadium could touch the clouds. You were taken on a mazzy tour around endless corridors to be deposited at a museum that contained a memorable database of facts and figures about the club.
Being a man who is unable to enjoy a museum without pressing a range of buttons and pulling a range of leavers, this database was fascinating. Some of the recent matches contained video of the various goals scored. For some reason in a fit of random sadism for an Ipswich fan like me, I decided to watch all of United’s nine goals that were humiliatingly scored against my beloved team during a pretty dire Saturday afternoon in March 1995.
Manchester United and Liverpool are slightly different to other clubs. It is fair to say that they will probably guarantee a coach load of tourists on a wet Tuesday afternoon in February. Anfield and Old Trafford have been engraved on the consciousness of football tourists for nearly a quarter century. Stamford Bridge and the Emirates Stadium do not have a similar profile, and lesser-profiled clubs have generally struggled to get a regular attraction off the ground. Former museums lie empty like failed High Street shops full of broken furniture and peeling wallpaper. However, some attractions have been turned into additional banqueting halls. After all, a set of old football cigarette cards in a museum display case can provoke some happy memories, but money talks in the credit crunch world that we currently live in.
I was so interested in football history and how the story of the game could be told in museums that I decided to write my MA dissertation about the subject. I christened my work with the corny title of ‘Kicking and Screaming,’ and much of the work was based on a placement that I was lucky to have undertaken at the National Football Museum in Preston. This attraction is housed in Deepdale stadium and it is a must visit for anyone who cares about football on a greater level than who scored what goal last Saturday.
It was a privilege to work at this attraction in 2002. The museum was proud of its football treasures, and I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the 1966 England World Cup squad when they opened a new interactive feature that tested your ability to score penalties. I scuttled up to Geoff Hurst like a five-year-old schoolboy and whimpered for an autograph on a piece of letterhead paper. I am not sure what Mr Hurst must have been thinking, but he behaved like a true gentleman and provided his signature.
Preston has many delights but struggles to be known for more than the place where people need to turn off the M6 to get to their summer holiday in Blackpool. Despite having a fabulous sandwich shop down the road from the stadium, Deepdale is not on the Lancashire tourist trail, and many people struggled to understand why the National Football Museum was situated in this impressive, but slightly random stadium.
Whilst I was doing my placement, the attraction was struggling for visitors. Museum corridors would be unhealthily empty for many days and it was such a shame. The displays were exciting and lovingly maintained. You could quite easily spend a morning in this museum and the time would rush by. However, it seems that many fans appeared to be not especially interested in the history of the game, and more concerned about the need for current success for their particular club. I remain concerned that there are certain fans who believed that football began with the advent of the Premiership in 1992.
All things must pass and the fad for a football museum and tour centre seems to have calmed down. Many clubs seem to do tours but many outfits do these activities on request, or during a particular evening. Historical items are available on an as-and-when basis, or in MDF-lined cabinets around the boardroom. It seems such a waste. Football has a rich heritage and needs to be preserved for the sake of future generations.
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