‘Manchester is red’, climate data shows before FA Cup tie

Manchester is red, climate data has shown as Manchester United get set to take on Reading this weekend.

Football will be the main attraction for viewers of Saturday’s FA Cup 4th round fixture at Old Trafford, but Mancunians and UK football fans will also get to see up close how climate change has warmed the planet.

That is because this season’s Royals kits feature the University of Reading’s climate stripes, which take the form of red and blue stripes on the sleeves of the home kit.

Created by Ed Hawkins, Professor of Climate Science at the University of Reading, each stripe represents the average temperature for a single year. Shades of blue indicate cooler-than-average years, while red shows years that were hotter than average.

Ahead of the crunch tie this weekend, Professor Hawkins has created new warming stripes exclusive to Manchester.

He said: “These new, specially produced climate stripes show the city used to be blue, but now Manchester is red. Although this might sound good to United fans, it’s nothing to cheer about.

“The band of deep red stripes at the far end of Manchester’s image show how the city’s climate has heated up over recent years.

“Like all areas of society, football needs to cut its carbon footprint to net-zero. That means we need stars on the pitch and the fans in the stands to all play their part. The first step is to understand the problem, which is why we want to start conversations about our warming planet in the world of football.”

Earlier this month, Professor Hawkins added another dark red stripe to the graphic to represent the average temperature increase for the past calendar year. 2022 was the warmest year on record for Manchester, Reading and the UK as a whole.

He added: “This should be a cause for alarm, but not alarmism. If you think how hot 2022 was, and then realise that those 12 months will likely be one of the coolest years of the rest of our lives, I think we will regret not having acted sooner on these warnings."

Stripes images for more than 200 countries, states and cities are available to download for free from ShowYourStripes.info. Millions of people have downloaded graphics from the site, and they have been shared by the United Nations, used as the cover of The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg, on the main stages at Glastonbury and Reading Festival and on the catwalks at London Fashion Week.

The climate stripes can be seen live on the kits of Reading FC players on ITV4 at 8pm on Saturday, 28 January as Manchester United host Reading at Old Trafford in the 4th round of the FA Cup.