This is a bang-up-to-date guide to Manchester Utd Supporters groups and Man Utd pubs in New York State. Find Man Utd soccer bars in New York. Meet other Man Utd fans in their home bars for live Man U games.

See our full list of Man Utd supporters groups in the USA

Guide To Manchester United Supporters Clubs and Soccer Bars In New York

New York Reds

A Brief History Of Manchester United Fans in New York City

Manchester United first introduced themselves to American soccer fans in New York in May 1950. This was the team’s inaugural visit to the States. Matt Busby’s young team served up a 9-2 thrashing to a New York All-Star team on Randall’s Island. New striker Johnny Downie scored four goals that day. The nation would exact a form of revenge one month later. That’s when the USA amateurs sensationally beat England in the World Cup in Brazil. That England team included United Left Back John Aston.

The concept of soccer bars in New York and English soccer supporters clubs in the USA really took off with Manchester United and Nevada Smiths in the early 1990s. That’s when live Premier League games first became available via satellite. Subsequently, a dark, spacious, East Village dive bar with an uncertain future was transformed into a footballing mecca for Man U fans in New York.

Nevada Smiths Owner, Cork man Paddy McCarthy, took out a full-page ad in First Touch. Next, his nephew Thomas McCarthy, along with future business partner, Kieron Slattery, grew Nevada Smiths to the point where it reached legendary status as the best soccer bar in New York City. consequently, passionate United fans Thomas and Kieron then picked up and moved the operation to Chelsea. That’s where they created Smithfield Hall, America’s first state-of-the-art soccer-specific pub. In 2018 they opened The Long Acre in Times Square. This beautiful, purpose-built soccer bar covers 3 floors. Both of these midtown soccer bars are now the home of Manchester United in NYC.

Manchester Utd Soccer Bar in New York – Smithfield Hall,
Man Utd bar in midtown Manhattan – The Long Acre

Buffalo MUFC

Upstate New York Reds now have a voice and a home at The Banshee Irish Pub. This is an excellent and dedicated soccer bar in downtown Buffalo. The group has over 20,000 followers on Facebook but updates from The Queen City are sporadic.

Man Utd Soccer Bar in Buffalo – The Banshee

Man Utd Albany

Also known as the Capitol City Red Devils, there is now a Man Utd supporters group in the New York Capital of Albany. They meet every matchday at the most popular soccer bar in Albany, Wolff’s Biergarten, where you can wolf down some wurst with your Weghorst.

Manchester United Bar in Albany – Wolff’s Biergarten

Do you know of any Manchester United supporters clubs, or Man Utd soccer bars in New York that are not listed here? Or maybe you’d like to add some info. We would love to hear from you.

Watch Man United in New York on TV and streaming.
Check our soccer TV guide for kick-off times and channels

See our full list of Man Utd supporters Clubs and Soccer Bars in the USA

Manchester United Supporters Clubs & Soccer Bars In California

River City Red Devils

The most Northern of the Californian Man Utd fan clubs is the River City Red Devils up in the Capital city, Sacramento. There’s lots of current news and information on their Facebook page and if you want to join them for a match then head to The Zebra Club to earn your stripes.

Manchester United Bar in Sacramento – The Zebra Club

Man Utd Red Army San Francisco

Danny Coyle’s soccer bar on the famous Haight Street opens for 7 am games for the Red Army SF. You can also find them at Maggie McGarry’s in North Beach.

Man United Soccer Bar in San Francisco – Danny Coyles
Man Utd Bar in North Beach – Maggie McGarry’s

MUFC Fresno

Halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco lies Fresno, home of another select Manchester United group. Since their home bar closed they meet for games at Pine & Palm Brewing on W Bedford Ave. and they keep their Facebook page well-updated with information about upcoming matches.

Manchester United Soccer Bar in Fresno – Pine & Palm Brewing

MUFC Los Angeles

Founded in 2011, MULA meets at O’Brien’s Irish Pub on Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica for all United games. It’s a perfect location for a day at the beach following those games with ridiculously early kickoffs. O’Brien’s is open as early as 4 am to accommodate the Red Army faithful.

The Manchester United connection with Los Angeles is both interesting and varied. It started on the 1950 tour when Matt Busby’s side thrashed an LA select team 7-1 and then played out an equally dull 6-6 draw with Atlas of Mexico. Later, in the 1970’s George Best played for the LA Aztecs in the old NASL. The Belfast Boy even opened his own bar, just down the coast from Santa Monica in Hermosa Beach, called Besties. It’s now called The Underground and the owners insist that George still haunts the place (ask them about the mirror).

Back in Santa Monica you can drop by another United haunt that is one of the nation’s oldest British Pubs. Ye Olde Kings Head has seemingly been around since the old King was in power. From Eric Idle to Billy Idol, this famous pub has been the hangout of many British thespians and other Hollywood-loving ex-pats for decades.

Man Utd Soccer Bar in Santa Monica – O’Brien’s Irish Pub
Man Utd Bar in The Valley – Fox & Hounds

MU Orange County

Orange County occupies a large area south of Los Angeles and includes Laguna Beach, and the MUOC, It’s also the home of Disneyland, so you can expect things to get animated. The Red Army meets at Killarney’s Pub & Grill in Huntington Beach since they lost their old home, the Olde Ship in Santa Ana.

Manchester United Bar in Long Beach – The Auld Dubliner
Man Utd Bar in Huntington Beach – Killarney’s
Man Utd Bar in Mission Viejo – Mulleady’s Sports Pub

Red Devils of San Diego

Red Devils have inhabited San Diego ever since the first settlers arrived in the Golden State. They started out watching football at the legendary Shakespeare Pub & Grille but didn’t become an official Manchester United supporters club until 2019. They have a great website where you can find out more about the club and join them for a match, if you feel so inclined, at one of their local haunts. You could be in Mexico by lunchtime.

Manchester United Bar in San Diego – Shakespeare Pub
Man Utd Bar in South Bay – Liberty Call Distilling Company
Man Utd Bar in North Park – Fairplay

Find TV info for Man Utd games in California.
Check our soccer TV guide for kick-off times and channels

Having officially announced his retirement from football this week, Wayne Rooney will be remembered as a player of unique natural ability and for moments of sublime skill.

Despite going down as one of the best footballers of his generation, however, there is also a sense that Rooney never quite reached the grand heights his talent warranted, partly due to ill-timed injuries but also a willingness to prioritize what was best for the team over individual glory. 

By Greg McKay 

Rooney burst onto the scene in 2002 when as a mere sixteen year-old substitute against Arsenal, he scored a brilliant, curling right-footed effort from distance against England international goalkeeper David Seaman. The goal would be the first in a highlight-reel filling career the Englishman would subsequently embark on in the years to come. At the age of eighteen, Rooney left boyhood club Everton for the bright lights of Manchester United. 

Under Sir Alex Ferguson’s guidance, Rooney went on to win numerous honors—including multiple English Premier League and Champions League titles—and in the process scored 253 goals for United to make him the club’s top goalscorer of all time. More than a few of the goals were truly spectacular. 

There was the 2005 goal against Alan Shearer’s Newcastle where Rooney was mid-argument with the referee when the ball popped out to him twenty-five yards from goal and he lashed a stunning volley into the top corner. In 2011, Rooney hit a bicycle in the Manchester City derby to keep United’s title pursuit on track and pin back the hopes of the upstart Citizens.

Even later in his career with Major League Soccer’s D.C. United, Rooney contributed an iconic moment when, in the dying minutes of injury time against Orlando City, he chased down an opponent, won the ball back with a last ditch sliding tackle and then hit a perfectly placed cross-field ball to Luciano Acosta for the winner.

Tenacity

For all his individual brilliant moments, Rooney was also renowned for his tenacity and guile on the pitch. In some ways, he represented one the last vestiges of a more fiery brand of English football. Unafraid to berate officials, teammates and opponents or throw in the odd dirty tackle, Rooney retired in an age where players are more likely to swap jerseys in the tunnel than have a bust-up with their rivals. 

Though Rooney’s trophy cabinet is full and his reputation as one of the greatest footballers of his generation unimpeachable, the Englishman never quite hit his stride at the international level and in some ways was a victim of his team-first mentality. Most commentators look to the 2004 European Championships as Rooney’s best chance to lay down a marker on the international stage.

England

England was very much in the midst of a golden generation, with Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard providing a wealth of talent in midfield. After a series of impressive displays in the group stage, Rooney was injured in the quarterfinal clash with Portugal and England were unceremoniously eliminated on penalties. 

For Manchester United, Rooney is no doubt one of greatest to ever don the red shirt. But, he spent several years in his prime catering in some ways to the talents around him, often doing the hard work to accommodate the likes of Ronaldo, Berbatov and Tevez.

Ferguson knew he could trust Rooney pretty much anywhere in the park, whether out wide, up front or even at times deeper in midfield. Rooney always seemed willing to play whatever role was needed and one wonders if he missed out on individual accolades because he wasn’t always the central focus of the team. 

Regardless of whether he fulfilled his potential, Rooney was an absolute joy to behold from the moment he stepped on as a substitute against Arsenal in 2002 to his retirement into management this week. A singularly committed, naturally talented footballer the likes of which are increasingly rare in today’s game.

By Dave Bowler

In the wake of such catastrophe, football seems such a trivial little pastime, and yet it was the game that gave those left behind a reason to go on, offering a momentum to their ultimate and necessary recovery, providing purpose. As the front cover of the United Review proclaimed on March 5th, “United will go on� After all, what other choice is there for a great institution?

Shockwaves

That plane went down in Munich on February 6th, a disaster that sent shockwaves far beyond the environs of Manchester, right across the country and into the heart of the footballing community, wherever they played the game. Future Wales and FA Cup winning captain Graham Williams was a young footballer starting to make his way in the game while simultaneously doing his duty elsewhere, as he recalls.

“I was doing my National Service and Bobby Charlton was in the same camp with me, Duncan Edwards as well. In 1955, West Brom had played United in the FA Youth Cup Final, so we had history with them and I had a lot of feeling for those boys. I vividly remember hearing the news �I can’t remember where I was when Kennedy was shot but I remember when I heard about United’s plane.

We’d just finished a regimental game, we were coming in to eat afterwards and somebody said the United plane had gone down. The shock was horrendous, everybody trying to find out who had survived. We lost friends, not just footballers.

“It was very early in the days when people started flying to games. People were frightened of flying anyhow, so when that happened, it sent a shiver through everybody. A few years earlier, Torino had lost a team in another crash, so purely from that point of view, as a footballer, you were a bit worried about your team going abroad and having to get on a plane yourself.�/p>

United had a side that was loved at that time, even by the neutral, an age long before much of the populace became jaundiced by their Premiership success. The recipe for that far reaching admiration �youth, excitement and genius as Graham Williams explains.

Busby Babes

“Manchester United were such a side at that time. They played great football, they were very exciting, and they were all very young men with their best football still in front of them. The Busby Babes were going to be the biggest thing we’d ever seen in England because they were a beautiful footballing side, great skill, lovely to watch. Early in the �0s, it had been Albion who had nearly done the double in 1954, Wolves were a big side as well, but United were overtaking us both, so they would have become huge anyway.

“Eddie Colman could send a whole stand out of the ground with the way he swerved, a brilliant player. Tommy Taylor was some centre-forward. They were playing here one time when I was still just a youngster and I watched them training, preparing, and to see what he could do was just incredible. Van Basten was about the closest I’ve seen  to Tommy, that’s how good he was. He had a brilliant scoring record for United and England and he would have gone on to do amazing things in the game.

Duncan Edwards

“Then there was Duncan. Duncan Edwards was from just down the road, from Dudley, and it’s a pity he didn’t come here instead of going to United! He was such a great player. You have to be careful because the tragedy, the fact that he died so young, the fact that he played so little football, it all turns him into a legend and we shouldn’t. We should remember him for the great player he already was because that’s more than enough. He was a man, not a cartoon.

“Duncan gets bigger every year, the more we talk about him, but he actually was a giant, he really was. He played against us in that youth game in 1955 and he murdered us because he was already a man. We were in awe of him even then. We had a great youngster called Barry Hughes that people were expecting great things from, but Duncan destroyed him and the rest of us.

He was in the England side at 18, I remember going to see him play for England at Wolverhampton, he was just so mature and he wasn’t out of his teens. Here was a player that could have played in the World Cup in 1966, maybe in 1970 as well. A truly great player.

“Yet even Duncan didn’t look immeasurably better than the rest, great player that he was. That was because it was a football team filled with very special players. They were already a phenomenon with a couple of titles behind them, they might have done the double in 1958, even the treble they had to wait another 40 years for. Great as Liverpool became as United were again, I don’t know that we’ve ever seen a better team than Manchester United were since then�