I’ve strayed onto local history once or twice before in these pages but in a week when the Evening News decided to launch it’s first paid for digital content to promote the Dream Factory (a celebration of 100 years of Old Trafford) one can’t help but think back to those magical days at the beginning of the 20th century. Nowhere more magical in fact than Little Italy right here in Ancoats.
Another unknown milestone we reach this year is 60 years since the passing of the remarkable Louis (Luigi) Rocca, the unsung hero and kingmaker of Old Trafford and an Ancoats Italian to boot, relevant to me three times over. While modern day football overlaps nonsensically into the world of business and celebrity, the more nostalgic aficionados cherish these stories and struggle to benchmark the 2010 vintage of association football with the romantic sport of yesteryear.