Nobody could ever accuse the people of Manchester of being apathetic towards the Beautiful Game, and the success of the September 1-10 Manchester Football Writing Festival has once again reaffirmed the city’s passion for debate.

United finished a relatively respectable 12th, whereas the Citizens fared much worse, ending up 67th, with several other clubs around them also having had recent large investments.

As Roy Hodgson’s England troops travel to Stadio Olimpico in Serravalle to face perennial whipping boys San Marino in Euro 2016 qualifying, the long-winded debate surrounding these David vs. Goliath matches reappears.

The link between non-league football and the current Syrian refugee crisis may not be immediately obvious, but then FC United of Manchester have never been a football club that unthinkingly conforms to the norm.

The transfer window, complete with its deadline day denouement extravaganza, reached new levels of absurdity this year, with over £870million spent in the Premier League alone.

MM takes an in-depth look into where the money went this summer transfer window for both Manchester United and Manchester City, and what fans from both teams can now expect from the year to come.

David De Gea will stay at Manchester United beyond the current transfer window after Real Madrid opted against appealing to FIFA over their paperwork catastrophe.

Manchester United attacking pair Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj will be plying their trade in the Bundesliga this season, after they sealed moves to Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund respectively.

Speaking at the National Football Museum in Manchester, multiple Guinness World Records holder and widely-regarded world’s best freestyler John Farnworth from Preston believes its unique nature and wide appeal could see it break into sport’s highest echelons.

The confidence created in the Manchester United squad from equalling the Champions League qualification record on Wednesday is clear to see as they prepare to face Swansea on Sunday.

Manchester United have been pooled with PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg while Manchester City will face Juventus, Sevilla and Borussia Moenchengladbach after the Champions League group stage draw was made on Thursday.