For many fathers, the ability to pass on to your child the love of a football team is a very special and treasured ritual, but not for this guy.
Ian Charters is not planning on making his son love his team, rather he's decided to auction off his son's footballing allegiance to the highest bidder on eBay. Little Eddie is unlikely to support his beloved Watford, given that they live in Manchester, and so he decided that he'd give the people a chance to decide between him supporting Manchester United or Manchester City.
Charters told The BBC that although he's a big fan of Watford, "I wouldn't want to inflict that on the poor child", and that "It's a bit of fun. I'll buy him a shirt and when he's old enough I'll take him to a match. I'll make sure he supports them", no matter who wins the auction.
The whole thing is an effort to raise money for charity, as Eddie was born prematurely by emergency caesarian section, and was extremely ill for several weeks as he began to lose weight. He recovered in hospital and is now happy and healthy, but the parents were helped by the Bliss charity for premature babies, and wanted to do something in return, so Ian began thinking of ways he could raise funds when this quirky idea popped in to his head.
The auction started last night and will run for another nine days, but despite that, the leading bid is already at £680, and there's plenty of time to get that figure up before it ends.
Via BBC Sport
