The only holdall bigger than a small handbag allowed inside the stadium is the club shop’s branded carrier – if full of items purchased in the megastore.
The £5 fee has been introduced for supporters turning up for matches only to discover they can’t take bags inside the stadium.
Apologetic club bosses said profits from the bag-drop system would go to the Manchester United Foundation.
But fans hit out, with one telling The Sun: “This is a classic move by executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward – and possibly one way to justify paying £350,000 a week to striker Alexis Sanchez."
Under latest security measures, no bag is allowed inside United’s ground that is bigger than a small handbag.
Fans are also urged to arrive two hours before kick off following enhanced security measures.
Bags carrying essential medical or childcare items which may be required during a match are allowed inside.
Fans are warned it could take an hour to collect bags left at one of the six drop-off sites after full-time.
The club tells supporters: “There is a £5 charge to leave an item with us in a Bag Drop, with all profits going to Manchester United Foundation to support their work using football to engage and inspire young people across Greater Manchester to create a better life for themselves and the communities in which they live.”
Fans were told: “Please do not be alarmed by the extra security measures, they are to ensure your time at Old Trafford is as safe as possible.”
The club wrote to fans last year in light of the terror attacks in Manchester, London and Paris.
The introduced a number of new changes ‘to ensure the safety of all supporters, visitors and staff at Old Trafford.
The measures included enhanced searches of supporters at turnstiles, which were likely to take longer.
And officials warned of lengthier waiting times to enter the ground.
Restrictions were introduced on the size of bags allowed into the iconic venue.
United were the first club in the Premier League to employ a Counter Terrorism chief.
United’s home match against Bournemouth in 2016 was abandoned when a ‘bomb’ was found strapped to the back of a toilet door in a corporate area.
The device turned out to be a dummy left mistakenly by a firm that carried out a training exercise the week before the game.
Last weekend, disgruntled United fans paid for a plane to fly over Turf Moor with the message calling for Ed Woodward to be sacked.
The message read: "Ed Woodward – A Specialist in Failure."
Another United fan said of the £5 bag drop fee: “The club must be raking it in. Thousands of fans turn up each hope game unaware of the bag ban, and face having to pay out.
“Everyone understands the need for heightened security, but this just seems like a money-making initiative.”
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