It is actually rather encouraging to read that Ryanair's new chief marketing officer cites Manchester as being his favourite city in the world and commutes to his Dublin office from here. He speaks highly of the area's tourism potential. It can't do any harm to have positive awareness of Manchester and its passenger appeal well represented in the higher echelons of Ryanair.
He is well trained in marketing, he was hardly going it say it wasn't his favourite city was he!