A woman has been left furious and disgusted after a pile of dog poo and a savage note addressed to Manchester United fans was dumped on a path outside her flat this morning.
Natalie, 25, lives along the Ashton Canal path, which connects Manchester city centre with the Etihad campus and beyond. It is a path frequently used by those visiting the Etihad stadium to get to and from the Manchester City ground on match days.
When she left her flat at around midday today (Sunday 8 May), she was shocked to be confronted with a pile of dog faeces on the path in front of her, along with a note reading: “If found, return to Old Trafford.”
“I didn’t even think, 'oh that’s funny',” Natalie told the Manchester Evening News . “It was like, that's gross. Why would you do that?”
She said she thought the note was most likely left by rowdy City fans on their way to this afternoon’s game. But she said it wasn’t clear exactly how the mess had arrived at her doorstep. Had the City fans transported them specially through the city? Or had one of them simply had a stroke of comedy genius when they saw them, already stinking, on the path?
“Number one, it's gross,” she said. “But I was also like, did they think it was funny? And why would you have a post it note and pens ready?
“Did they find it? Was it [the poo] just there or did they bring it? I'm so confused!”
Natalie admitted, as a United fan herself, the ‘joke’ hit a particular nerve. “At the end of the day, it's an offence not to pick up your dog litter,” she told the M.E.N.
“And, I will admit, I am a United fan. I didn't find it funny, but also, if it was the other way round, and it was directed at City I also wouldn't find it funny. It's just gross!”
She also pointed out that canal paths such as the Ashton Canal are used by a variety of people, including those who live along them.
“So many people walk down there that it's just not nice to see. Even if you don't live there, even if that's the way you're walking to the match, I mean, it's funny, it gets a laugh, but also, it's not okay, and it's kind of gross.”
