I have no problem with all the Emptihad banter and not being able to sell out our allocation for a semi final, but your statement that Stirling did not pay for the 550 tickets is uninformed ignorance and spouting your kind of quote is dangerous. Firstly, this has nothing to do with Stirling helping his own image. Stirling, like many top players at many clubs, are consistently making significant contributions to their own personal choice of charities and other supportive organisations and these players do not look for or seek any kind of external gratification. I know this as I work at the Christie Hospital Trust and witness first hand so many incredibly generous contributions by way of money and time, from so many players both from the red and blue sides of manchester. Working in this sector allows me to hear about many other amazing contributions from football players all over the country. In the case of Stirling and the 550 tickets, 100% confirmed that he paid full price for all the tickets from the basic price for Under 16s, for which many were in this bracket, but also across all the various categories from Cat 5 up to basic Club Wembley. This was a big story and it was bound to get out and in fact it was the school itself that issued a press release about this amazing gesture which is why the story came out and became public.
So, rather than put out unfounded, ignorant and biased statements, just wind your neck and and accept that Stirling made a genuine gesture to his old school in a deprived part of London.