Old Trafford is worth the trip

DUBIOUS of what I see as a multi-million-euro plc organisation intent on squeezing every last drop of revenue from its fans in order to pay their players’ grossly over-inflated salaries, it took me a very long time to come around to even considering the idea of helping my 12-year-old son realise his long-held fantasy of going to Old Trafford and watching Manchester United play.

But a Christmas present that makes a child’s dream come true is a valuable one indeed, and we joined a number of other father/son football pilgrims on a flight to Manchester in early February.

The centre of Manchester is unapologetically chaotically mixed in its architectural style. Here, it seems, was a city that was just too damn busy since the very beginning of the industrial revolution to worry about looking pretty. What prettiness there is to be found in Manchester comes in fleeting glimpses amidst the commercially ugly and austerely industrial: St Mary’s Church on Mulberry Street, for example, looks like a haven of tranquillity in a sea of bombast.