Somebody rattling about Aston Villa and being older than Man Utd. huh, as a season ticket holder at Sheffield Wednesday, let me tell you, heritage has nothing to do with success, (1867, and as of next season, fizzy pop league.)

The original question was about wanting to know a bit more about Man Utd. I suppose if you were coming at this from a "know nothing" stance, it would be best to background football in general. I don't mean this badly, but football is not as popular in the States as it is in the rest of the world, and most of the planet's population smile with a wry grin when we hear of American sports such as baseball and American Football having "World" series / champions etc. Most of my American colleagues are equally bemused when they cannot follow their sport easily on the telly when here in the UK.

Two years ago, I was in Santa Monica CA for a short while and was delighted to see all the sports shops having lifesize cutouts of David Beckham, his replica shirts selling like hot cakes. LA Galaxy have certainly heard of Man Utd then, as Beckham was very instrumental in ensuring they retained their position as a force to be reckoned with, when other clubs were getting large financial backers and importing the world's best players.

Football is globally big on a scale that is dizzying, and if Man Utd are coming to your town for a closed season match, you are indeed lucky as you have perhaps the most well known and recognised club in the world coming.

Me? I'm one of the ignorant masses, but I'll let you into a secret; ignorance is bliss....