Investment into grassroots football in Manchester since 2000 has seen it receive 30 fewer grants than Leicester, according to new figures released by the Football Foundation.
Manchester have been given 267 grants to Leicester’s 297, while Manchester’s second-city rival Birmingham has received 458 grants with Liverpool awarded 290.
A considerable amount of artificial pitches have been installed in Manchester, 24, but fewer grass pitches have been fewer grass pitches put in (70) than Birmingham (93), Staffordshire (84) and Surrey (97).
The total investment in Manchester has been £17,615,080 out of the £1.2billion given out across the country by the foundation.
This total investment is just half a million more than Leicester, but does rank the region sixth behind London, Birmingham, Middlesex, West Riding and Durham.
In total, nearly 13,000 grants have been awarded worth £510million towards grassroots projects, attracting a further £719million in partnership funding, totalling more than £1.2billion of investment into community sport since 2000.
The Football Foundation was founded in 2000 and is the UK’s largest sports charity – it is funded by the Premier League, the FA and the government, via Sport England.
The foundation awards grants towards developing better local sports facilities and increasing participation in football, and other sports, right across the country.
Breakdown by numbers:
| Manchester | Birmingham | London | Liverpool | |
| Total grants given | 267 | 458 | 748 | 290 |
| Total FF investment | £17,615,080 | £20,507,562 | £48,723,472 | £14,321,765 |
| Partnership funding attracted |
£16,879,223 |
£27,749,512 | £49,911,977 | £37,132,785 |
| Artificial grass pitches | 24 | 22 | 40 | 8 |
| Grass pitches | 70 | 93 | 98 | 112 |
| Changing facilities | 22 | 30 | 39 | 21 |
Since the foundation launched, it has:
· Supported 12,822 projects with grants worth £510,020,109
· Supported schemes with a total project cost of £1,229,307,430
· Leveraged £719,287,320 in additional investment
This includes 493 artificial pitches, 3,245 grass pitches and 869 changing facilities.
Main image courtesy of RWD via YouTube, with thanks.
