The first thing that strikes you about Manchester United’s multi million pound, hi tech training ground is that nothing actually strikes you at all. No road signs to mark the way. Camouflaged by an electricity sub station on one side and a chemical plant on the other.

Read the full story

Football can offer many rewards both financial and otherwise for those who are successful yet the good days can come to an end at a relatively young age. One such player was Norman Whiteside whose career was certainly not so much a fairy tale as a roller coaster ride of wonderful highs and devastating lows because of chronic injuries.

He will always be remembered for being the youngest at everything. At 17 he was the youngest United player to play for the first team since Duncan Edwards, the youngest to score in an FA Cup Final and the youngest to appear in the 1982 World Cup Finals for Northern Ireland. Those same finals saw him break the previous record set by Pele as the youngest player ever to appear in a World Cup aged 17 years and 41 days old.

Read the full story

If you only buy one book this year here’s one that has only gone into the bookshops a week ago and should create plenty of interest for any true Manchester United fan. It is the amazing story of the legendary number 11.

Frank Worrall is a journalist who writes regularly for the Sunday Times and the Sun. In this excellent book he gives the reader an inside look at the career of the Manchester United and Wales legend Ryan Giggs. His other recent works include Roy Keane: Red Man Walking and Wayne Rooney: Wayne’s World.

Read the full story