Manchester United and M.E

In early August we received an interesting message from a very good friend of ours, media heavyweight extraordinaire, Matthew Lorenzo. Matt told us that a good friend of his was writing his autobiography (along with Matthew's help) and was looking at having a small number of books printed. He asked if this was something we could help with. "You bet it is " we replied. The client was Michael Edelson, Manchester United's longest serving director and one of the UK's most successful businessmen.

The initial brief was to produce a few books which would have roughly 30,000 words and 50 pictures, so roughly 100pp book. Simple. We sent Michael an example of a book that we'd recently printed, to show a case bound cover. Michael loved the sample and decided that was the way to go. So rather than a simple setting and artwork job we now had to design a "masterpiece" to compliment Michael's interesting life. Our dear pal, Kevin Smith, was brought in to work his magic. Once again he pulled a rabbit out of the hat against all the odds.

Following all Covid safety procedures, Michael and Matt came into The Hub London. Michael brought two suitcases with him containing pictures of his life's journey. The guys came into the office once a week for just over a month, which we must say was highly enjoyable. We had a hotline to the fantastic Janet Quinn, P.A. to the Manchester United Foundation, who's help was unmeasurable. After lots of Coke Zero, orange juice, croissants, bagels and laughter the original brief of 30,000 words and 50 pictures developed into over 68,000 words and nearly 450 images! After many Zoom meetings, hundreds of emails and calls we were ready to print.

The book is made up of a 4pp casebound cover with Colorplan Bright Red (Manchester United red) endpapers. The text was printed on a 170gsm Symbol Freelife Satin Premium White. The paper was chosen to accentuate each and every image throughout the book. The whole book was printed our Indigo 5600. The original order was for 50 books and so far we have printed 165 and counting.

The mailing list was something to be admired. We used the Royal Mail for despatch, the first three books mailed out were for Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Charlton and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer! The look of the face of the counter staff whilst processing the packages was something to behold.

The book has been well received and we are now looking at helping Michael publish the book for the a wider audience. All profits will be going to the Manchester United Foundation which use football to engage and inspire young people to build a better life for themselves and unite the communities in which they live. They have dedicated staff delivering educational and community outreach programmes to help young people make positive choices in their lives.

We love what we do here at The Hub London and after a year we'd all rather forget, this project was indeed a highlight. If you have an idea you want to bring to life, we are always here to help.