You can cop yourself a free England shirt by watching the Lionesses at The Deansgate this month. As if we didn’t already love this place enough.
The Deansgate is one of several Greene King pubs around the country that are giving away a limited number of Lionesses shirts to celebrate the start of the tournament and the England women’s team getting underway.
The popular city-centre pub which has been thriving ever since it reopened in November has held similar promotions in the past, having given away a handful of England shirts during the men’s World Cup, but now they’re turning their attention to the women’s game.
Sarina Wiegman and the girls kick off their first match against Haiti on Saturday, 22 July, but it’s their game against Denmark the following Friday that you need to come along for to stand a chance of copping a free kit.
England play Denmark on Friday, 28 July and if you are among the first people to rock up to The Deansgate in time to order a breakfast, you could be one of the lucky few who receive a free Lionesses shirt. That’s it, you just have to treat yourself to a nice brekkie. Happy days.
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There are 300 free shirts to be given away across the 30 different locations (i.e. 10 in each pub), so you stand a fairly decent chance of grabbing one.
In case you were unaware, these things are worth £80, so you’d be getting your hands on quite an expensive bit of kit — quite literally.
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The Deansgate aren’t just giving away free England kits for no reason, of course; the promotion is part of a campaign to increase viewership around the women’s game — something Greene King has been championing for years now.
National research by the pub chain and brewery revealed that while 58% of Brits have started following a women’s sports team since the Lionesses’ incredible Euro 2022 victory last summer, but a third admitted they have never been to the pub to watch a women’s football game.
Moreover, two-thirds of those surveyed believe there is a lack of awareness and support for women’s sports teams compared to male teams but 73% said that watching England’s women’s team last year has helped increase exposure around it. We can’t imagine how massive it would be for women’s football if they won the Women’s World Cup too.
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It goes without saying that The Deansgate is a perfect place to catch this summer’s tournament but if the places is packed — as it so often is — and you can’t get a seat, there are still plenty of other places to watch the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Manchester.
The first game between host nation New Zealand and Norway at 8am on Thursday and the Lionesses kick off this weekend. It’s coming home.
Featured Image — Lionesses (via Twitter)/The Deansgate (via Instagram)
Sport
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
19th July 2023 
