Roy Keane digs out captain Bruno Fernandes after Man City outclass United at Old Trafford
City dominated as they often do, but Keane didn't see the kind of reaction you'd want from United players in a big game — especially from one man in particular.
Manchester United legend Roy Keane had little positive to say about his former team’s performance against Manchester City in the derby on Sunday but chose to dig out club captain Bruno Fernandes, in particular, during his disappointed post-match analysis.
The ex-Man United midfielder has never been one to shy away from criticising the Red Devils even when he was still at the club, so after Pep Guardiola‘s side cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over the home side in the Manchester derby, Keane was brutally honest as usual, with Fernandes receiving the brunt of it.
Speaking on the panel alongside Jamie Carragher, Micah Richards and former teammate Gary Neville, Keane began by stating that the fact “one bad decision seems to follow another” is symptomatic of the overall problem at the club, which he admits is in stark contrast to the days under Sir Alex Ferguson.
The 52-year-old then went on to insist that they’re taking the backroom and structural “chaos… onto the pitch” and after Carragher insisted Erik ten Hag has got it wrong, stating that “Bruno Fernandes should not be a captain”, Keane went on to say that it “should be taken off him”.
"He's the opposite to what I would want in a captain!"
Acknowledging that ten Hag has already stripped one player of the captaincy after struggling to perform this season in Harry Maguire and that to do so again might be a big decision, the Irishman went on to argue that “Fernandes is not captain material”.
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Taking issue with the Portuguese player’s behaviour on the pitch as opposed to his ability — confessing “he’s a talented player, no doubt about it” — Keane says that Bruno’s “whinging, moaning [and] throwing his arms up in the air constantly” isn’t acceptable from a leadership figure, adding that his demeanour this weekend was just one example of something that has been noted “many times before”.
The former player and coach turned pundit summarised by saying that based on what he saw on Sunday, he would take the captain’s armband away from the 29-year-old moving forward, going so far as to say, “he’s the opposite to what I would want in a captain”.
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Fernandes only earned the captaincy back in July after the manager saw fit to remove the stress of the position from Maguire’s shoulders given his ongoing struggles with form and confidence, and it’s safe to say it wouldn’t look great for the Dutchman to change his mind once again so soon after. You can watch the Manchester derby debrief in full here.
Nevertheless, a former club captain himself, Keane said ten Hag can comfortably hold his hands up and say, “I got it wrong”, and that this step is a crucially feasible one for him to take, whereas questions surrounding ownership, the board and so on are simply aren’t within his power.
Keano’s criticism didn’t stop there either, as he described the entire showing as “a really poor day at the office for them – very, very poor”, remarking that “they are so far off it, it is hard to watch.”
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He signed off by saying that you simply “never know what you’re going to get with Man United” from week to week and that this isn’t something you can accept if you want to be a big club challenging for silverware.
To make matters worse, Man City‘s latest derby day victory made for a less-than-appealing record for their neighbours, as it also marked United’s 34th defeat at home since Sir Alex retired — the same amount of games he lost there in his entire 26 years at the club.
Manchester United Premier League losses at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson: 34
Manchester United Premier League losses at Old Trafford since he retired: 34
Featured Images — Sky Sports/Man United/Man City (via X)
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‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Danny Jones -
30th October 2023 
