Man U's wave of fans washes over Seattle

There have been bigger and more culturally significant British invasions, to be sure.

But when Manchester United arrives in town tonight to play Celtic in an exhibition soccer match at sold-out Seahawks Stadium — the first of four the club will play in the United States the next two weeks — it won't be coming alone.

Several thousand fans — as many as 9,000 by some estimates — are expected to make the trip from England for at least one of the games, with about a third to a half of that number expected to make it to all four.

"We were surprised how popular it was going to be," said Andrew Boyle, the business development manager for Travelcare Sports, the official travel partner for Manchester United.

He said his company sold more than 2,000 tickets for the games and about 600 in packages that included going to more than one game.

"Going to America is a great holiday anyway, and getting to see United is a bonus," he said.

Various Manchester United fan clubs, such as rednews.com and the Manchester United Supporters Club USA (MUSCUSA), also helped organize tours.

Manchester fan Kerry Davies will be making the trip from England to the games in Los Angeles, New Jersey and Philadelphia, though he will miss out on Seattle.

"I think we all feel that seeing United over in America is a big deal," he wrote in an e-mail. "It's one thing to go on holiday with a group of five or six mates and see a place, but when you know that 300 or 400 people you know will be making the trip, it makes it that much better.

"To wander into bars and clubs and bump into mates, swap stories, drink vast quantities of beer — that kind of thing — it's hard to appreciate unless you do it. But it's great fun."

Rivaling the number of fans coming from England, however, will be those who live here but consider themselves hard-core followers of Manchester United.

Many were born in England and live here now, such as Stephen Pratt of Woodinville. Pratt is one of about 20 members of a local chapter of MUSCUSA, having been here since 1996.

Pratt has tried to explain his obsession with Manchester United — he flies back for several games a year — to new American friends, with often indifferent results.

"I know a buddy of mine hasn't seen many soccer games, and he can't believe it goes 90 minutes and nobody scores," he said. "What's the interest in that?"

But he thinks Americans who see Manchester United play in person will have a better understanding of the phenomenon.

"The U.S. is just an incredible untapped market for teams like that," Pratt said. "We want to win and play well. But it's more important to show well, to play hard and score some goals because Americans like to see lots of goals."

Paul MacFarlane, a St. Louis resident and Man U fan, usually travels to England to take in a game at least once a year. He plans to see the games in Seattle, Philadelphia and New Jersey.

MacFarlane said the trip won't cost him that much thanks to frequent-flyer miles and sharing rooms on the road with other fans. But he said that wouldn't really matter, anyway.

"There are definitely people going to all four games, you betcha," MacFarlane said. "Depending on where your passions are in life, this is a big deal. Like, if you followed the St. Louis Cardinals and lived in Egypt where there's no baseball and they came to do a tour, you'd drop whatever you had to do to go."

Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com.