Manchester father auctioning off his son's football allegiance on eBay

Well, this is one way to raise money for a good cause.

Thirty-year-old father Ian Charters is putting his seven-month-old son's football allegiance up for auction on eBay to raise funds for Bliss, a charity based in the United Kingdom that works to provide care and support for premature and sick babies.

Beginning on Thursday, Ian, who is from Cheadle, Greater Manchester, will allow bidders to select either Manchester City or Manchester United as the team his son Eddie will adopt.

Eddie was born with jaundice and digestive system problems that saw his weight drop to 3 pounds, 11 ounces before returning to a healthy 16 pounds. While Ian doesn't support City or United himself, he feels that one of the two clubs are the appropriate choice for his son, and sees the auction as a solid way of raising money for charity.

"Eddie was an emergency caesarian section and he was very ill for a couple of weeks," Ian told the BBC. "I wanted to do something for the Bliss charity and so I am going to run the London Marathon next year. I set myself a target of 2,500 pounds and was thinking of ways to raise money when this popped into my head.

"Being a Watford fan is not going to happen. My dad supports Dumbarton and I don't care about them. If he's from here he's going to be United or City. 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. It's mostly City fans where we live but it's 50-50 at work. Everyone thinks it's a good idea."

Ian wrote on the eBay page: "The winner will also receive a signed agreement from me, binding me to my vows for all eternity."