Fresh from Manchester United’s 3-2 Champions League win over AS Roma at Old Trafford the night before, Kobbie Mainoo and Leny Yoro brought an added layer of excitement to the school community as it unveiled the new facilities. Mainoo in particular, as someone born and raised in Stockport, received a warm welcome as he returned to his home town.
After taking part in a training session with some of the school’s keen footballers, the pair joined Principal Janine McCann in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to declare the pitch officially open. Both players then stayed behind to sign autographs for all the students who had taken part in the opening.
The visit was arranged through Stockport Academy’s longstanding relationship with Manchester United Foundation, which began in 2019. The Foundation has a full-time school partnership officer based in more than 30 high schools across Manchester and beyond, supporting the development of young people alongside their school education. These officers are based in the school on a permanent basis, working alongside the school to help students with mentoring, wellbeing, qualifications and work and volunteering opportunities to help make a better life for them.
The group of students that took part in the session are part of the Foundation’s targeted intervention work that runs before school every morning with students from Year 7 to Year 10.
Two lucky students – Bella Cox, 12 and Harry Oliver-Harper, 14 – were given the opportunity to quiz Mainoo and Yoro in front of the cameras about the advice they would give to young people and how to improve their game and set themselves up for success. This offered plenty of genuine insight for students to take with them through their studies and training sessions.
Year 9 student Harry said: "I will remember the day for the rest of my life, the whole experience was unreal. Kobbie is my favourite player of all time and I told him he is my idol. I am so grateful to my school and Manchester United Foundation for the experience."
The new 3G astro pitch represents a £268,000 investment from the school itself and follows building work over the summer and recent months. Since its official opening, it is already being put to great use by students – both in PE lessons and across Stockport Academy’s wide range of extracurricular clubs, including boys’ and girls’ football teams, handball and hockey. The local community is also benefiting, including local junior football teams Stockport Dynamoes and Stockport Vikings using the space to train each week.
Janine McCann, Principal of Stockport Academy, said of the experience: “This was one of those amazing occasions the students will never forget and we are so grateful to Kobbie Mainoo, Leny Yoro and Manchester United Foundation for the experience.
“For the girls and boys at our school, the chance to meet players at the top of their game is immensely inspiring and it was a pleasure to hear about their work ethic, training routines and advice for success – be it in football, sport or anything our young people put their mind to.
“Our new astro pitch represents another significant step up in our facilities and is already being put to use daily – not only by our own students and youth teams but also by others in the community. It is fantastic to be able to offer this and to know that it is going to benefit our young people for many years to come.”
Mr Bramley, Manchester United Foundation’s school partnership officer at Stockport Academy, said: “It’s been fantastic to have Kobbie Mainoo and Leny Yoro visiting here to give some advice to the kids and join in with their Football With Character session, which aims to provide students with a positive start to their school day through a free breakfast, classroom workshop and football sessions.
“Our students will remember the players coming down for a lifetime, it will have a massive impact on them and it’s so well deserved. They see the benefit of coming to the programme, hopefully this now encourages them to have the confidence to keep going and to continue trying new things.”
Manchester United Player Visit Gallery