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Like Richard Nixon before them, Manchester United are heading to China. Though it remains to be seen if they will be doing so with their own jowly, struggling overlord. Before the 2016-17 season begins — God, when did we get so old? — United will undertake an eight-day jaunt around China, a country in which the club claims to have "107 million followers".
Followers, note. Not fans. We don't know quite what the distinction is there, but we're guessing that United prefer to count "followers" as that means they can reasonably include anybody that keeps an eye on results, not just people who claims to actively support them. In turn, that means they can inflate the numbers, claim wider engagement, and leverage that into bigger sponsorship. But we're cynical like that.
We've included that brief diversion into corporate semiotics because United haven't provided any details of when, where and who they will be playing, and this article needed a middle paragraph. And we'll end by asking: do we have any readers from that part of the world? Will you be heading to see the mighty United if they end up in a stadium near you?