Urbis.

Sunshine at last!

O has become interested in football over the last few months and so we took the team into Manchester this morning to visit the newly opened National Football Museum.

The collection has been brought to Manchester having previously been in Preston. It's new home, in one of the most striking buildings in the city, was orginally built to house the museum of the urban environment.....URBIS.

I liked URBIS, but poor visitor numbers and a collection that was rather more style than substance heralded its demise. Astonishingly, the building sat unused for quite a long period of time and, while I can't say I was 'over the moon' when I heard of the decision to turn it into the nation's football archive, I was glad that it would at least be open.

Anyway, I was quite impressed and it was certainly busier than I'd expected which is, I guess, the point. Certainly the staff were doing their level best to ensure visitors had an enjoyable time, so good on them. I'd also add that there is enough to interest the non-football fan as well, providing you accept that, like it or not, the game is part of what makes up the fabric of our culture.

On the way back to the team we spotted former NBA star, and ex-SGS pupil, John Amaechi so I took the opportunity to tell him i agreed with what he'd said on Newsnight last night.