I went to my first visit to Old Trafford with my brother, Steve, and his son Adam. They drove up from Norwich the night before and we made our way to Old Trafford from West Lancashire. While we were at the match, the girls and my son went shopping and we all met up after the match for a curry. Because I couldn''t get a ticket from Norwich I ended up in the Stretford End with the Man Utd fans. I got my ticket last minute off eBay so for the day I was also a Man Utd season ticket holder. There were days when such a thing would have been unthinkable. We arrived around noon with enough time to watch the Merseyside derby on Sky and chose to drive and park near The Quadrant pub, which comes highly recommended on footy-fan websites. Parking here is easy so long as you arrive early enough. There is a small public car park in front of the pub and lots of space in adjacent streets. The pub itself is a basic boozer. Home and away fans mingled without any problems and the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. The beer is a bit poor with no real ale and the food is cheap and cheerful. Adam had gammon and egg, which looked OK and Steve and I plumped for a Greasey Joe''s style all day breakfast that cost only £4.95. There are numerous TV screens in the pub but we chose the only one that was poor with bright lights from the windows and pub lights making the screen hard to see. I think next time I''d park here but walk around and look for a better pub. ............................... The pub is just a ten-minute walk from the ground and the weather was glorious and sunny. I had a cunning plan to go into the Stretford End in disguise with my Norwich scarf pretending to be a hardcore United fan anti-Glazer scarf and a George Best T-shirt with a tiny Norwich enamel badge placed close to the area of my heart. In the end I saw no United fans wearing anti-Glazer scarfs so gave it to my brother just in case. You have to understand, with my slightly scouse accent, one word out of place would have revealed the sham of my disguise and put me in a bit of a sticky position. Norwich fans mingled with United fans on the walk to the stadium and I witnessed no hostility whatsoever but standing on the Stretford End (United fans don''t sit down on the Stretford End), I felt might be a bit more risky especially if my loyalties became at all obvious. ........................... I''ve read a lot of disappointed descriptions of first visits to Old Trafford but I thought it was OK. I was high up in the stand but had a good view of the pitch although a lot of the stadium was obscured, which takes a little away from the atmosphere. The Stretford End also has a long down-sloping roof which ruins the acoustics. Old Trafford is surprisingly quiet and the away fans sounded like a whisper. Now, I know the Norwich fans will have been singing the whole match so the atmosphere has to be dull for other reasons. I thought the United fans were a decent lot but they need some good songs. A lot of their chants hark back to previous golden ages and the United fans almost sound bored. There was also an arrogance about a lot of the chanting that was completely humourless. At one point in the game Norwich kicked the ball out of play because a Man Utd player was injured. From the following throw-in the ball wasn''t returned to Norwich and City''s fans objections were met with chants of ''We''re Man United we do what we want!'' This was followed with an even louder chant of ''You''re Norwich City you''ll do what you''re told!'' Apart from the goals these were the loudest chants of the day. Such soulless arrogance is completely misguided and an awkwardness permiates the ground, making the United crowd the very opposite of a 12th man. ............................. As the game progressed Norwich imposed themselves on the game and had four golden chances all missed before United scored. The crowd turned from muted support to irritated complaining and then back to a kind of relieved arrogance. Norwich had another three golden chances all hopelessly missed before United scored again. Given a bit more guile in front of goal Norwich would have won this although Rooney missed a couple of sitters too. Norwich must have been disappointed at the end. So near and yet so far. Miss your chances in the Premiership and you will be punished. I met Steve and Adam outside the stadium and we walked back to the car without any problems whatsoever. One United fan said ''You got battered,'' to me. I replied ''I don''t think so,'' and he sheepishly shut up. .......................................... We drove to the famous curry mile after the game and had a nice pint of Hydes in The Albert before enjoying a fantastic curry buffet at The Islamabad Grill for only £9 each. Manchester is a great city. Only a fool would visit without having a look around. We had a great day. Shame about the score.