This Is The Place

This is the place in the North West of England. It's ace, it's the best and the songs that we sing from the stands, fill the air it's a glorious thing.

It's a place where we bake every bean and we brew, where our kids played on flags and we drank them all in, where the world came to know what Mancunians do.

This is the place in our hearts, in our homes, this is the place that is ours. This is the place, open arms if you please, there's no city like this, there's no city like these. From the Arndale to the Etihad, every man-jack, every single one of us, all the way back.

This is the place. We're all part of the plot. From the oldest of us to the youngest of tots. There's a fire in our hearts and a light on our faces, this is the place, there's no place quite like this.

This is the place. In the West of the east, to the east of the west, this is the place with the greatest of fests, there's no place quite like it, this north-western state, from the Irwell to Irk – great Manchester – great.

And we've got crumbs of comfort as well as great loss because we're Manchester, and we'll get through this. We'll mourn and we'll grieve, we'll never forget. We'll always believe in Manchester's grit.

This is the place where they built a great city, from the blighted and beaten, the weak and the small. From the Celts and the Normans, the Romans before, there have always been people here fighting for more.

This is the place where the great poets sat. The Williams and Emmelines stood tall and at that, they picked up the gauntlet and threw it right back. To the people of Manchester for strength it was that.

This is the place where the suffragettes sewed the first flag of resistance to stand against those who would see us walk back. They climbed the highest tree, looked out at what could be and they said: 'Yeah, this is the place to be.'

This is the place where the first men in flight to the moon landed first and last, on the furthest shore, this is the place made the world what it is, this is the place that will do it again.

And I say this city of Manchester, England's north, for the north is where the heart is. The north is where the soul is. The north is where it starts.

This is the place. In the minds of the many, the spirit of one. Forever. For the heart of Manchester has always and will always be more than the sum of our parts.