With the Paul Scholes Testimonial on the horizon, the New York Cosmos wanted to get to know the local Manchester United supporters here in New York City. We were able to speak with Peter Holland of One United USA, the official American membership branch and supporters club of Manchester United. Peter is the Founder and General Secretary of One United USA and is one of the longstanding figures in the circles of New York City soccer.

New York Cosmos: Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to talk to the New York Cosmos. We wanted to talk to you about One United USA and the presence of Manchester United in New York City.

Peter Holland: I started the organization in 1991. My good friend worked with Werner Roth, who used to be the captain of the Cosmos. He was on our first advisory board. When I submitted my proposal for One United to create a connection with American fans here and Manchester United I had Werner with me for my presentation with Mr. Toshi Matsuda, who at the time was a member of the board with Sharp Electronics, who were then the shirt sponsors of Manchester United. The three of us took photographs, and one of those photographs made it into the official Manchester United match program in a match against Portsmouth in the 1992/1993 season.

There was a full-page spread, and the title was “The American Connection is Formed”. So that was our origin and the club’s earliest connection with us.

NYC: And what about your connection to Eric Cantona?

PH: I have a huge personal Manchester United collection, and my personal connection with Eric Cantona began when I had his official Nike tracksuit from the game he scored the only goal against Liverpool in 1996 and he signed it for me. Also, when we do our trips to Old Trafford, when Eric was at Manchester United he was very engaging with our USA fans. He was happy to pose for pictures and because we are an official branch we were able to see the team train and see Eric train. Eric was always the last one off the pitch, so we were able to just watch him kind of hone his skills and see what a fantastic, hardworking player he was.

NYC: How long have you been doing the tours to Old Trafford with One United?

PH: The tours have been going for 15 years.

NYC: And has it grown in popularity over time? Or was there a strong initial interest?

PH: There was always initial interest. It started out as a hobby, but turned into a business. And we’re average 25 people a trip, and you have to be a member to go on the trip.

NYC: You talked about how Werner Roth was on the initial advisory board. How did that all come together? How did you decide to start One United in the first place?

PH: Well, I’m from Manchester originally. I’ve played football at a very high level. I came over in the late 70s to try my luck in the NASL. I was a big fan of the Cosmos myself back in the day, though I was a little younger than Werner and Giorgio and Carlos Alberto. But 10 years later, Werner and I were playing football on a co-ed team. We became fast friends and he’s a connosieur of football, very knowledgeable about the game. And he’s a Manchester United fan as well. When I asked him to be on the advisory board, he was like “Yeah yeah, whatever I can do to help. I’m a big fan of the club’s philosophy, the club in general, and what they’re trying to do with football.” United have always been synonymous with bringing kids through their coaching ranks and Werner was really interested in that. And from there, Werner introduced me to all the New York and New Jersey-based Cosmos players. I’ve been to various Cosmos events of the years and I have a very large Cosmos collection as well.

NYC: How has the reaction been in your Manchester United contingent with the Eric Cantona appointment as the New York Cosmos Director of Soccer?

PH: Very pleased, but kind of surprised. I think it was a great coup by Paul Kemsley to lure Eric into this role. He’s the right man to lead the club in the right direction.

NYC: Have Manchester United been in contact with you when they are in the New York area?

PH: Well, we have a wonderful relationship with Manchester United because we are their official membership program in the United States and we work exclusively with the marketing department at Manchester United. We’ve been doing this since 1991, 20 years, so we’ve built some wonderful relationships with everybody, from the managers to the laundry ladies. They’ve given us a great deal of resources to get more members here in the United States.

My model has always been around Manchester United’s Scandinavian branch, which has nearly 50,000 members. We have about 10,000 fans in our database right now and my goal is to have 100,000 members in our database. And I think we can do it. With United’s tour in the US, we had booths outside every stadium and that generated more interest and more promotion for fans. That helped gather momentum and United will come back to the States again because they love coming here, so that will help increase the membership, at least threefold.

NYC: So One United is based in New York, but there are branches all over the country?

PH: Yeah, our main office is based in New York, but our memberships are all across the country.

NYC: Any prediction for the Paul Scholes Testimonial?

PH: I think we’ll beat the New York Cosmos, let’s put it that way. Hopefully Eric comes on. I know he can still play. But all in all, what a wonderful place this is for the New York Cosmos to start again, at Old Trafford for the Paul Scholes Testimonial.

You can find out more about One United USA at www.oneunitedusa.com