Gerry

From past experience, I know they only have two songs left to play in their set before they make their farewells to God Save the Queen. I take a glance around the arena and see blocks of empty seats that only minutes before had people rocking away in them. Some of my fellow punters seem to have left to beat the traffic. I stand there, horrified that anyone could leave before the end and shake my head in disbelief.

OK, so this didn't actually happen. Yes, I went to see Queen live in concert but as far as I could tell, nobody left the arena early. Every fan who'd paid to see the band perform heard every note of every rousing song.

So why is it that fans of my favourite other English institution, Manchester United, feel the need to leave Old Trafford early? At every home game, there are people who begin to leave 15 minutes from the end of the match. This is not a new phenomenon, it has been happening for many seasons, but I am still completely baffled why supporters feel the need to leave before full-time.

Already this season, the early leavers will have missed superb goals like Welbeck’s sensational strike against Stoke City, Vidic's last-minute winner against Sunderland and most recently Macheda's sublime winner in injury time against Aston Villa. Indeed, in the latter case, some fans will have also missed Ronaldo’s equaliser as well, such was their eagerness to get out of OT.