If it's true that Manchester City are, in former manager Kevin Keegan's words, 'a massive club', then their neighbours United beggar superlatives. That much is clear when you turn into Sir Matt Busby Way on the approach to Old Trafford. Not for nothing is this place called the Theatre of Dreams. First sighting is no letdown.
The magnificent stadium, which seats 68,000 (going up to 76,000 next season) sits like an island in acres of space near the fringe of the city. It will make for stark contrast in the next few days when I also visit three other hallowed arenas of English football - Anfield, Highbury and Stamford Bridge.
The whistle-stop four-day tour of these Premiership giants (arranged courtesy of Smartone-Vodafone) gives an opportunity for comparison, a comparison in which United invariably come out ahead. There are two dimensions to the magnitude of the Manchester United phenomenon - the commercial and the emotional. Sometimes the two go hand in hand, other times they clash.
In its simplest form United's greatness can be seen by dropping into the club Mega Store on matchday ... if you can get in the door, that is.
The thronged shop, the front of which is adorned by a statue of patriarch Sir Matt Busby, boasts a cornucopia of United merchandise. Rows of customers line up 30 deep to pay for all manner of items bearing the famous Red Devil insignia.
That was the scene a full two hours before kick-off on the day United hosted Chelsea two weeks ago in one of the biggest matches of the season.
