I think Manchester is better than it has ever been - with the exception of the Piccadilly area.
The Corpy should own up and admit the redevelopment of the area was a disaster and start again. Most visitors arriving by train come into Piccadilly station and walk down into one of the few open 'piazzas' in the city to find a run down square which is frankly intimidating, brutalist architecture worthy of Stalinist Russia and a death trap of buses, taxis, trams and cars.