Meet Pete Sibley: the man who draws cursed cartoons of famous footballers that you’ll never see the same way again
Social media can often be a two-sided coin: sometimes you see humanity at its absolute best, other times less so. This is neither of those — we just can't stop laughing.
While scrolling aimlessly through Twitter over the last few days, we looked beyond all the worthwhile news stories and cutting-edge journalism and, instead, we chose to spend hours looking at daft, cartoon-based portraits of some of football’s most recognisable faces.
Caricatures of footballers are nothing new — they spark memories of walking down the beachfront on holiday and eyeing up fake Real Madrid shirts and so on — but these comedic little cartoons are like the kind you’re used to seeing.
Drawn by artist Pete Sibley, whose popularity online is growing with each comical even if admittedly cursed cartoon, he depicts footballers, managers and in a simple but ever-surreal style.
Regularly fusing two individuals’ likenesses together in an almost uncanny valley-esque manner, some are more exaggerated and silly than others, but one thing’s for sure: you’ll struggle to look at these people the same way ever again.
‘Guardihaaland’‘ten Hagrid’This one doesn’t have a title, it’s just terrifying.
We’re not joking when we say he’s got literally dozens of these creepy combinations across his social media channels: 71 and counting, as far as we’re aware.
ADVERTISEMENT
In fact, we know it’s at least 71 because you can literally buy Pete’s sketchbook which is filled with copies of his humorous drawings, not to mention individual prints if you want to gift someone perhaps the most unique and inexplicable kinds of artwork on the market.
These faces might be something, but we’d love to see the kind you get when your friend or loved one opens up one of these bad boys.
ADVERTISEMENT
Here are some of his most random examples of late:
‘Carnacho’‘Paul Frogba‘‘Kevin de Bacon’
And just in case you were wondering, he doesn’t just focus solely on Man United and City figures either — though he certainly seems to have a knack for capturing their essence whilst also making them absolutely ridiculous.
Pete sketches players, managers and more from across all the football leagues, each just as hilarious ad confounding as the last.
ADVERTISEMENT
When we asked him for a bit of background about himself and what his inspiration was, he simply said: “I just thought maybe somebody else would also find them funny.”
You were absolutely right, Pete.
‘Harry Quagmire’‘Barteta’‘Moe Salah’He does a lot of amusing animation-based ones but that Salah one is straight-up nightmare fuel
To be honest, we think we like him staying somewhat of an enigma. On the one hand, it adds to his reputation (move over Banksy) and on the other, we’re not sure we want to dive too far into the mind that conjures up these absolutely wonderful but often unsettling sketches.
We’ll warn you that once you start going down the Pete Sibley rabbit hole, you won’t be coming back any time soon: we literally looked back through every single caricature we could find and still couldn’t pick a favourite.
As if this artistic series wasn’t weird enough, Pete isn’t the only person painting and drawing utterly cursed cartoons at the minute either…
BBC is back looking for more Mancs to test their music knowledge and win £10,000
Emily Sergeant
Consider yourself a music fan? Spend your days with tunes on in the background? Would you be able to identify a song within the first couple of seconds?
Well, this might be your chance to win £10,000 then.
Once again, the BBC is back casting for the next series of its smash-hit competition show The Hit List, where contestants get their music knowledge put to the ultimate test, and the broadcaster is now looking for people from across Greater Manchester to apply and be in with the chance of winning a massive pot of cash.
The Hit List, presented by popstar couple Marvin and Rochelle Humes, sees three pairs of music-lovers go up against each other.
Across three rounds, the contestants attempt to identify huge hits from across the years, and the three teams must prove their ability to recognise songs from across all genres of music, both artist and song title, if they want to take home the win.
A casting call for the next series of The Hit List on the BBC website reads: “Could your love of music win you a £10,000 cash prize? We are looking for lively pairs of contestants to take part.”
Any one can apply to take part in the show, but producers and casting directors say they would particularly love to hear from couples, grandparent and grandchild, siblings, best mates, and parent and offspring.
“Anything goes, as long as you love your music and know your hits,” the casting call concludes.
Anyone who applies to the show must be a legal UK resident, and be available for potential filming dates in early March 2026 up in Glasgow.
A short train ride away to Cheshire, and being a big Man United fan basically counts, if you ask us.
Yes, Warrington’s very own Luke Littler has been named on the shortlist for the 2025 Sports Personality of the Year, quite literally 12 months from his previous nomination.
Littler, who is still only 18, did go on to win the 2024 Young SPOTY last December – a very decent consolation prize following his blockbuster debut year or so – but he has been tipped as a bookies’ favourite this time around.
He’s also been voted for that award again this year, so you’d hope he’d be walking away with at least one of the trophies, though it’d be far from his only one of late.
Since then, the young sporting prodigy has gone on to win all but two of the 10 PDC majors, including two Premier League Darts titles.
In fact, if you want to look at how his arrival onto the senior professional darts circuit breaks down, you can take a gander at the frankly staggering stats behind his breakthrough down below.
As you can see, other nominees include former Manchester City Women’s star Chloe Kelly and Lioness, Hannah Hampton; rugby union and national team member, Ellie Kildunne, F1 favourite Lando Norris, as well as Irish golfer, Rory McIlroy (not for the first time).
We’ll confess we’re very much biased and backing local lad Littler – sue us.
The other Young SPOTY nominees for 2025 include another rising England star in Michelle Agyemang and Northern Superchargers cricket talent, Davina Perrin.
Being hosted over at MediaCityUK in Salford once again, voting will take place during the show on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer on Thursday, 18 December.
Danny Jones -
15th February 2023 
