Football research centre backs City of Football bid

IN less than 24 hours Sport England will be visiting Manchester to hear why it should be given the title of the first City of Football – and a group of MMU academics will be waiting with bated breath for their verdict.

The Centre for the Study of Football and its Communities, based in the university’s Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, is a partner in Manchester’s bidding consortium, providing insight into football engagement approaches for the city and to support the city’s bid.

Centre Director Dr Annabel Kiernan said: “This is a football city from the grassroots to the Premiership and it would be fantastic to build on that and for Manchester to showcase its vision.

“We have been working with the consortium to provide research insight into football engagement and to propose an evaluation and impact strategy. We are very happy to be involved and support Manchester’s bid.”

Huge investment

Manchester is one of three shortlisted cities vying to be Sport England's City of Football in 2015.

It is battling it out against Nottingham and Portsmouth for the title, which will be announced at the end of September.

Sport England will invest up to £1.6m in the winning city towards improving opportunities for playing and coaching football, in both the formal and the informal game, with the long term aim of improving the number of young people who engage with the sport.

The judges have said they expect winning city to be a showcase of innovative thinking for attracting underrepresented groups to the game and of keeping young people involved in football for longer.

Sporting events

Tomorrow’s events will include football coaching and skills sessions from both Manchester United and Manchester City, and live music.

Events will take place between 11am and 3pm at Cathedral Gardens.

A website for the bid, www.gokickabout.com, will also go live tomorrow.