Walsh, who achieved global fame for his work in the aftermath of the 2017 Manchester Arena bomb, performed This Is The Place (2012) at the beginning of the meeting. The poem starts:
This is the place You can read the poem in full here. Few pieces of writing have better summed up the attitude and revolutionary history of Manchester and while Academy staff and players are not all born or raised in Manchester, awareness of how the city's identity has shaped our football club is crucial to their development.
In the north-west of England.
It’s ace, it’s the best
And the songs that we sing from the stands, from our bands
Set the whole planet shaking.