Man City can inspire Manchester United and Sir Jim Ratcliffe's masterplan

If Sir Jim Ratcliffe is in attendance at the Etihad Stadium, he might swing by his old hometown of Failsworth, just two miles away from Eastlands.

Ratcliffe probably knows the area like the back of his hand, but the Etihad and its surroundings will look mightily different than when the 71-year-old grew up down the road. For a start, City were entrenched in Moss Side at Maine Road back then, before moving to East Manchester in 2003. Since repurposing the City of Manchester Stadium, built for the Commonwealth Games, City have transformed the venue into a world-class sports arena, and are in the process of expanding it for the modern era.

Having purchased 27 per cent of United, taking over the football operation and pledging to regenerate Old Trafford, Ratcliffe is mulling rebuilding the famous stadium to bring it into the 21st Century. He will hear City fans mock his new purchase, brutally telling United that 'Old Trafford is falling down'. With Ratcliffe using City as the standard to reach on and off the pitch in his opening days as co-owner, he could do worse than look around the Etihad for inspiration of how to fix his club's own home.

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There are the technological innovations inside the Etihad, and annual improvements for fans to ensure going to City is a positive, forward-thinking matchday experience. There is the ever-prominent decision-making to maximise commercial revenue at every point at City, which he will notice in the LED boards around the ground on the upper tiers, and that is the kind of focus that a businessman like Ratcliffe will