Oldham firm’s red-letter day

DELPH mountaineer Paul Braithwaite was the brains behind the new sign on the North Stand at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium which has been renamed in honour of Sir Alex Ferguson’s 25 years at the Premier League champions.


Paul, a partner in Vertical Access Ltd, which has relocated from Rhodes Bank to a unit in Mossley, was called to a top-secret meeting with Ian Collins, head of group property services at the the club.

“I was told only a handful of people knew about this plan — I was even asked to sign a confidentiality agreement on behalf of the company,” said Paul, whose firm has been working on high-access contracts at Old Trafford for 20 years.

Paul assembled a team of six and reported to the Theatre of Dreams under the cover of darkness to put the sign in place prior to Saturday’s unveiling.

His team lowered themselves on abseil ropes to secure the structure and then covered their work with a huge banner to maintain the secret.

Vertical Access then did the big reveal watched by 75,000 fans in the ground and millions more from around the world on television before United kicked-off against Sunderland.

Paul added: “The whole job was shrouded in secrecy so that Sir Alex did not find out ahead of the unveiling. I took this so seriously I didn’t tell anyone back at the Vertical Access office and I didn’t even tell my wife.

“On the Thursday night when we gathered to erect the sign, I told my team and stressed the need for absolute secrecy — no-one let me down.”

Vertical Access returned the stadium yesterday — once again working on the sign.

Sign-maker Stewart Neill spotted that the ‘S’ in Ferguson was upside down and Paul’s team had to right the wrong of the sign manufacturer.

Paul explained: “Our lads fitted the sign blocks that were delivered to us — so it wasn’t our fault.

“In fairness to everyone involved, they didn’t really have a full look at the sign in daylight until it was in place — such was the secrecy surrounding the project.”