I’ve long been aware that the ship on the badges of both Manchester football clubs represents the city’s historic seafaring trade. I’ve also long known that cotton transported from slave plantations in the deep south formed a huge part of that trade.
As a lifelong fan of the club from the blue side of the city, it has been an embarrassment to wear the crest although, I admit, not enough to stop me buying and wearing replica shirts. My personal get-out clause has always been that Manchester’s connection with the slave trade is “complicated”.
