Just a few short weeks ago, we all witnessed a monumental sporting moment – football finally came home.
And it was the women’s game that did it, only a year since the England men’s team came so close to lifting the Euros trophy themselves.
The nation is bursting with pride for the phenomenal achievements of every player on England women’s team, affectionately known as The Lionesses, but we just had to give a little shout out to one of our local girls.
Ella Toone. The Wigan-born star has been called wonder kid and a golden girl, but she prefers to be ‘just Ella’.
The 22-year-old has built the bulk of her sporting career here in Greater Manchester.
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Born in Tyldesley, she spent many years as a junior at Manchester United – but the team, until very recently, didn’t have a senior women’s team for her to move up to.
So it was off to Blackburn she went, then briefly she played for Manchester City, before finally joining Man Utd in 2018 for their inaugural season.
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In an interview with BBC Sport, Ella – a life-long United (and Cristiano Ronaldo) fan – said: “It’s the best feeling in the world. Growing up a Manchester United fan, and then being able to play week in week out for the club that you love and support is really special.
“Growing up it was tough – I was in the United academy for seven/eight years, and there was nothing to look up to. There was no women’s team to try and get in to.”
But once news of a Manchester United women’s squad landed, Ella said: “It was home. I knew that my ambitions matched theirs. I’ve been happy ever since.”
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Fast forward to 2022, and she has become a household name thanks to her stunning performance with the England Women’s team at the Euros.
Ella’s impeccable chip into the net had all of Wembley on its feet during the final, and it was one of two goals that saw England storm to victory.
Along with her teammates, she is now riding the wave of the team’s success to try and make changes that will last an eternity.
The Lionesses recently penned an open letter to Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, demanding that young girls are given the opportunity to get into the sport and that women’s football is given proper investment from school age onwards.
They told the prospective PMs that only 63% of girls can play football in PE at school, saying ‘a generation of school girls deserve more.’
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The letter stated: “Throughout the Euros, we as a team spoke about our legacy and goal to inspire a nation. Many will think that this has already been achieved, but we see this as only the beginning.
“We are looking to the future. We want to create real change in this country and we are asking you, if you were to become Prime Minister on 5 September, to help an achieve that change.”
The highly-praised letter went on to ask the Government to ensure all girls have access to a minimum of two hours a week of P.E.
The co-signed letter said: “They deserve to play football at lunchtime, they deserve to play football in PE lessons and they deserve to believe they can one day play for England. We want their dreams to also come true.
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“This is an opportunity to make a huge difference. A change that will impact millions of young girls’ lives. We – the 23 members of the England Senior Women’s EURO squad – ask you to make it a priority to invest into girls’ football in schools, so that every girl has the choice.”
And as Ella Toone herself once said – “I was once just a little girl with a lot of dreams, and I’ve managed to achieve them.”
About Manc of the Month
We all know that Manchester is home to some special people, some born here and others drawn here, and after a bumpy two years that effectively amounted to one big lockdown, it’s these special people that have inspired and led us through the tough times – so we decided to start a series that shines a light on those who should be celebrated.
Following on from our ‘The Mancs of the Year’ feature towards the end of 2020, Manc of the Month officially kicked off in July 2021, with Marcus Rashford MBE, Manchester’s mural king Akse P-19, the local chef feeding the region’s vulnerable families Mary-Ellen McTague, and Manchester’s groundbreaking new Council leader Bev Craig among previous honourees.
Featured image: England Women’s
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2024 Manchester Marathon raises £29 million for local economy and over £3.7m for charity
Danny Jones
Just under a fortnight on from the 2024 Manchester Marathon and the numbers are finally, with the annual race generating nearly £30 million for the local economy and raising over £3.7m for charity.
This year’s Adidas Manchester Marathon saw record numbers of runners and spectators as over 30,000 took part in the popular race, up by roughly 6,000 from 2023, and more than 125k turned up to line the streets of Greater Manchester.
As a result, these huge crowds spent upwards of £29.2 million at business around the city centre and around the 10 boroughs last weekend, serving as one of the most significant contributions to the local economy on the annual calendar.
Not only was this an approximately £8m increase on last year’s tally but, most importantly, a sizeable chunk of that went straight into both regional and national charities.
Beyond the boost to local vendors, the hospitality sector and retail businesses, over £3.7 million were allocated to charities such as Alzheimer’s Charity, Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation and The Christie.
Over £32,000 was also raised for the Trafford Active Fund, with £1 from every paid entry to the Adidas Manchester Marathon and Manchester Half donated directly to the initiative that benefits local sports clubs and organisations through Trafford Council.
Better still, with City of Trees selected as the chosen ‘Green Runner’ charity, the eco-friendly drive saw roughly 7% of participants opt out of receiving either a finisher t-shirt, medal or both.
The money saved in production goes towards maintaining woodlands and wildlife across Greater Manchester.
This year’s Manchester Marathon also helped produce some of the highest number of passengers on public transport in the city’s history, with a over 175,000 journeys made on Metrolink alone – the highest number of journeys ever recorded on a single day.
This was a 20% increaseon 2023’s race day (145k), spotlighting how the event continues to be more environmentally conscious as years go by.
With the 2025 adidas Manchester Marathon confirmed to be taking place on Sunday, 27 April next year – and over 12,000 places already sold – the city can already look forward to reaping the economic and social benefits of hosting one of Europe’s largest, flattest, friendliest and most-loved marathons.
Featured Images — Adidas Manchester Marathon/The Manc Group
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‘Enough is enough’: Marcus Rashford calls out fans for ‘months’ of abuse
Danny Jones
Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has put his foot down in a social media post, calling for an end to ‘months of abuse’ from both his own supporters and beyond.
It’s fair to say that the 26-year-old hasn’t been enjoying his best season in a United shirt and while he has had his moments this year – his goal against Arsenal and stunning opener in the Manchester derby, just to name a couple – he’s come under a lot of pressure from supporters.
Rashford previously came out to address the situation in a Players Tribune interview back in February, stating, “I can’t have people questioning my commitment to Man United”, but now the England international has reiterated the point after someone came to his defence on X.
Quoting a fan who wrote that “the way Marcus Rashford is being treated is absolutely disgusting”, calling the behaviour online and on matchdays in some cases as “cruel” and downright abuse”, he responded by declaring: “Enough is enough”.
The Wythenshawe winger has already labelled doubts over his effort levels, love and loyalty to the club “ridiculous”, reiterating time and time again that he’s a boyhood Red, but that hasn’t stopped people continuing to criticise him online.
Sadly, while he’s also insisted that he “can take criticism” and headlines when his performances aren’t quite up to scratch, the negativity hasn’t just been limited to social media and has been spilling out into the matchday stands.
Reports of Rashford being booed off the pitch by his own supporters at Wembley during United’s admittedly chaotic performance against Coventry City in the FA Cup semi-final were confirmed by multiple sources at the time.
Although he didn’t comment on the response from the travelling Reds at the time, it’s now clear he was abundantly aware of the frosty reception as he was substituted, with many within the fan base and beyond calling the decision to boo your own players “classless” and “shameful”.
With seven goals and five assists to his name across all competitions this season, it’s fair to say Marcus Rashford has been a far cry away from the heights he has managed to hit in recent years.
It was only last season that he hit a career-high record of 40 goal contributions, sitting as one of the most prolific players in all of Europe during another difficult season for the club, even managing to surpass club legend Andy Cole’s record.
Just goes to show how short people’s memories can really be – especially when it comes to football – and Erik ten Hag has already urged patience from his fans when it comes to his players, and not just his number ten.
‘The Beautiful Game’ is and always will be a fickle sport but it’s worth reminding of just how much the academy product has already delivered during his time at Man United. Anyone can have a tough season.