And first-team games were only the half of it.
“Around 14-15, I started going home and away with the Reserves too. This will sound pathetic, but when my mates were meeting girls round the back of school, I’d be off to Oldham to watch the Under-18s. I was a late developer! It was all about United. I’d be at Carlisle on Tuesday afternoons for Pontins League games.”
Eventually, Stu settled down and had two kids, Rebecca and Daniel. But when he and their mother separated, the football obsession only intensified.
“It sounds corny, but whatever’s happened in my life – splitting up, not living with the kids – United’s your constant,”
he admits.
“Any issue I’ve had, it’s always been there for me.”
