How Manchester United have helped Salford City prepare for Man City FA Cup tie

Manchester United let Salford City use the indoor training facility at their old Cliff training ground this week, as the Ammies battled weather disruptions to prepare for their FA Cup third round clash with Manchester City on Saturday.

Salford City now lease United's old Littleton Road training facility on a regular basis, but the pitches have been frozen this week, with the North West hit by a barrage of snow and icy conditions, leaving Karl Robinson's side frantically searching for an alternative.

They couldn't use their Moor Lane ground either, with the conditions putting paid to that, and briefly considered asking Saturday's opponents if they had a pitch they could use, although having rejected the chance to play a reserve team friendly against City last week, decided against it.

That left the Class of 92 to call in a favour from their old club. Ryan Giggs is now hands-on as director of football at Salford and helped broker the deal that saw Littleton Road become Salford's first full-time training ground. With the iconic Cliff venue just down the road, he helped Robinson and his players get access to the indoor pitch there this week, although it hasn't been without its problems.

"The Cliff has still got the indoor facility, which we’ve been very, very thankful for," said Robinson. "The problem we've got is it's only 50 yards wide and I think only 80 yards long. I can honestly say to you, the size of the opposition's pitch at the weekend is going to feel a lot bigger than that.

"So we’ve had to do our best to give ourselves the greatest opportunity to put a performance on, but we’re very happy we've got somewhere to train."

Robinson and his staff were grateful for United's help and they trained at the Cliff again on