Lionel Messi might have earned his eighth Ballon d’Or trophy on Monday night, but both Erling Haaland and Manchester City were still big winners at this year’s awards ceremony, with the Blues winning Men’s Club of the Year and the Norwegian notched another personal accolade as well.
Not only were Man City handed the Men’s Club of the Year for the second season in a row at the 2023 Ballon d’Ors, but despite just missing out on the award for the best footballer in the world over the past year to World Cup winner Messi (well, obviously), their star striker didn’t go home empty-handed.
After his groundbreaking debut season in the Premier League, during which he broke seemingly every record under the sun, Haaland won the 2023 Gerd Muller Trophy — recognising the best goalscorer for club and country across a season — for his incredible 52 goals in all competitions.
Here’s the moment he added yet another piece of silverware to a trophy cabinet that it’s safe to say is already rapidly running out of room:
The 23-year-old has already won more trophies than most will ever manage in their entire career.
As for the Men’s Club of the Year award, it came as little surprise given their historic treble-winning season which saw them also break several records in the process.
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Joined on stage by goalkeeper Ederson, Champions League final goalscorer Rodri, defender Ruben Dias, midfielder maestro Bernardo Silva and emerging marksman Julian Alvarez — all of whom were included in this year’s list of nominees — City’s CEO Ferran Soriano accepted the award on behalf of the team.
Even in the categories in which they didn’t win, City’s excellence last season was recognised in the shortlisting, with both Haaland and Ederson just missing out on the Ballon d’Or and Yashin Trophies behind Messi and teammate Emiliano Martinez, respectively, and five players making into the top 10.
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This ceremony also comes just months after Pep Guardiola‘s ever-impressive side cleaned up at last season’s PFA Awards, with Haaland unsurprisingly winning Player’s Player of the Year and the City squad also dominating the 2022/23 Team of the Year.
With a Manchester derby win also still fresh under their belt, it’s obviously still a very good time to be a Blue and while this season might not have started flawlessly, you still wouldn’t bet against them lifting a sixth Premier League trophy under the Catalan coach.
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City face Bournemouth at home on Saturday, 4 November before their next Champions League game against Young Boys next Tuesday.
Featured Image — Manchester City/Ballon d’Or (via Twitter)
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 -
31st October 2023 
