much as i like the piers have we compromised ramp space in order to provide gold standard facilities for what is predominantly the bucket and spade brigade
There comes a point where you have to ask yourself what do you actually want? MAN has the biggest capital investment in new facilities of any UK airport since LHR T2 and now it's a worry that by actually building piers so people can board without getting soaked (Welcome to Manchester!) that's a tragedy because there's a net drop of a handful of stands? There's enough to worry about without actively looking for more. They're trying to get back to world class facilities for international travellers, something T2 used to have once upon a time. It's not snobbery to do this, it's ambitious. So it might mean 2 or 3 less Ryanair based units but in the grand scheme of things, take a win when you're given one!
Given one B777F/B747F stand can hold 2 x B737/A320 what's your preference? Send cargo to another MAG airport or tell a based carrier to drop two based units?