On Monday, Manchester United boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe was warning about how close the club was to going bust. On Tuesday, he was unveiling a plan for a brand-spanking new stadium that will cost £2bn.
Without wishing to make the Craig David remix any more boring, Manchester City will not be in love with the idea of their nearest rivals leaping out of the past after letting the city turn Blue by clinging to their past.
Demolishing Old Trafford is certainly a bold move - it would ruin the song that City fans started up last season for one - and a new 100,000 seater would outflank the Etihad however good the North Stand revamp is.
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City have done what they can to modernise their stadium and keep it competing with the best in the business but improving an existing site is almost never going to be as effective as building a brand new one.
That doesn't mean that the club and the fans shouldn't wish for the final piece of the Etihad puzzle to be the very best that it can be, just that it has never been the perfect solution so may not serve all purposes.
What it does have going for it is that it has been relatively quick to build and will be ready to start adding to the atmosphere and the revenue from next year. Test events will begin in January 2026 if all goes to plan, with hopes that the new stand will open before the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
As impressive (if rather unfortunately like a circus) United's new design looks, it is just that. Building work has not started because it is not yet clear how it will be funded at this very early stage of their process.
United CEO, and City's former COO, Omar Berrada acknowledged to reporters that investing in the stadium could make United less competitive by limiting their spending on the playing squad in a way that Arsenal and Tottenham have been hindered moving to new sites.
"That is a risk," he admitted. "Clearly, it’s something we want to avoid. We don’t want to inhibit our ability to invest in the team, for us to continue being competitive while we are building a new stadium.
"There are various ways around that. One of the things we are looking at is to shorten the construction timelines so we can have a new stadium within five years, that’s our ambition."
As United dream about a new start in five years time, City can think about pressing home their advantage before then. Blues have never taken their success for granted and every year they finish above United - this season will be the 12th in a row - will be celebrated.
However imperfect or not the North Stand ends up, it will be able to add to City's competitiveness at home from next year. Whatever happens to United's risk, City's expansion is a certainty.
