Manchester United were on the end of another disappointing defeat at the hands of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle on Wednesday night and yet another record they’d rather not have broken as their poor start to the season continues.
As well as the Carabao Cup holders being knocked out of the competition by the team they met in the final last year, the defeat to the Geordie boys just days after losing the Manchester derby by the same scoreline meant that this was the first time Man United have lost by three goals or more since 1962.
To put things into perspective, while the club is back on the up since their takeover, it was the Magpies’ biggest win at Old Trafford in over 100 years (7-4 back in 1930) and also saw the Red Devils mark their eighth loss in their opening 15 games of the season for the first time since 1962/68. Yikes.
They are some truly shocking stats and, sadly for Reds, the unwanted accolades don’t stop there — not even close. Here are some more of the bad records Man United have broken under Erik ten Hag.
The EFL Cup defeat didn’t just see United notch a fifth home loss from their opening 10 fixtures for the first time since 1930-31 but even before that, the damning 3-0 defeat to Man City on Sunday also saw them register a 26th league loss at Old Trafford in nearly a decade since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
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For context, that’s more home defeats than Sir Alex suffered during his entire 26-year career at the Theatre of Dreams. The historic stains just keep coming, both domestically and continentally.
When Galatasaray beat ten Hag’s side 3-2 at Old Trafford just last month, it was the first time the Turkish team had ever won a game on English soil in their entire 117 years as a club; it was also the first away goal they’d scored in the Champions League full stop since 2015.
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United had already equalled their worst start to a league season since 1989 before this European fixture, which also saw them suffer consecutive defeats in their opening two UCL games for the first time ever (yes, another one), and things don’t look to improving any time soon. Honestly, we could go on for quite a while but, luckily, one fan already beat us to it.
Club legend Gary Neville summed things up yet again last night by saying he saw the “Theatre of Dreams turn into the Theatre of Nothing”, describing every supporter inside the ground as “bored and flat”, before adding, “We’ve seen it before, we know how it ends and we’ve had enough.”
The question is, the way it’s going at the minute, how long will the 53-year-old be given if it continues like this and the football doesn’t improve?
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While most fans still believe the club’s ownership is the root of the problem and things won’t change until the Glazers are gone, many are also wondering if this group of players have already downed tools as has been suggested with managers in the past.
As for the Dutch coach himself, speaking in the post-match presser after the latest defeat, he assured that the team knows the performances are “not good enough”, let alone the results themselves, insisting that he “has to take responsibility” for their failures so far this season and turn things around.
Featured Images — Manchester United/Newcastle United (via Instagram)
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Bolton fans split opinion with pitch invasion but they were the difference in the play-off semi-final
Danny Jones
The Toughsheet was hit with a huge pitch invasion by Bolton fans after the Wanderers narrowly secured their place in the League One play-off final this week, but the behaviour from those in the stadium has split opinion, to say the least.
Last Friday’s 3-1 win in the away leg gave the Trotters just enough cushion to survive the 3-2 defeat to Barnsley on Tuesday night, scraping through 5-4 on aggregate.
A tense affair was putting it mildly, especially after the home side began to let their two-nil lead from the first half slip and seeing the Tykes get just a goal away from tying things up with over a quarter of an hour still to go.
Bolton boss Ian Evatt put it best by simply saying, “We got the job done”, but as he’s stressed all season long as automatic promotion began to look less and less likely, he didn’t want his players to be premature or complacent come these final weeks. Safe to say the fans didn’t get that memo.
Although many have been defending the supporters for celebrating a massive victory which could see them back in the Championship after five years, not to mention it being the last home game of the season, plenty of others have been labelling the pitch invasion “nothing short of embarrassing”.
There have been countless comments to that effect, with people writing, “Bolton fans are weird. Pitch invasion and they aren’t even promoted yet” and “Pitch invasions for anything nowadays”. One user went so far as to argue, “Even the players must feel embarrassed”.
On the other hand, the defence that many of those are giving is that the Wanderers were close to liquidation just a few short years ago and unable to even pay their players, resorting to roping in academy players and dropping all the way to League Two in the 2020/21 season.
Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that it was a big night for Boltonians and it’s hard to pretend that being part of it would be anything other than up there with your most memorable sporting moments.
As for Evatt, he told BBC Radio Manchester that the crowd was “the best it’s been since I’ve been here”, insisting that “the atmosphere was absolutely incredible” from start to finish.
When you talk of the ‘twelfth man’ in football, it’s these games that come to mind and it’s no exaggeration to say that it was the fans in the stands that helped their team ride out the storm for what must have felt like an eternity.
What do you think, is a pitch invasion before you’ve actually won anything a bit premature or do these lot deserve to soak it all in after how far they’ve come over the past year or so?
Pubs can extend their opening hours if England make it to the Euro 2024 semi-finals
Emily Sergeant
Pubs are to be permitted to extend their opening hours if England make it through to the semi-finals of EURO 2024 this summer.
With the Premier League, and the English and Scottish football leagues, all drawing to a close over the next couple of weeks, our nations are already looking ahead to what is gearing up to be a massive summer of sport – with both the UEFA EURO 2024, and the 2024 Olympics coming up before August is out.
And now, it’s been revealed by Home Secretary James Cleverly that if either England or Scotland’s mens national football teams make it to the semi-final of European football’s flagship tournament, then pubs will be allowed to stay open for longer.
But, there’s a bit of a catch… because isn’t there always?
The Government has said that venues will be allowed to stay open for an extra two hours on match days if either or both teams reach the last four or the final of the competition, but this only applies to pubs that already have a license to open until 11pm anyway.
The move to extend opening hours comes after a consultation at the end of last year, and is hoped to provide a boost to the hospitality industry – which has notably been hit hard during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
The Home Secretaries in England and Wales, under Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003, can make an order relaxing licensing hours to mark occasions of “exceptional national significance”, but the Scottish and Northern Irish Governments have to set their own rules.
“We have listened to the public through our consultation,” explained Home Secretary James Cleverley, “and we will be extending pub licensing hours should England or Scotland reach the semi-finals or final of Euro 2024.”
The EURO 2024 semi-finals are to be held on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 July / Credit: UEFA
Mr Cleverley said the move will “allow friends, families and communities to come together for longer to watch their nation hopefully bring it home”.
This legislation is set to be laid in Parliament today (Wednesday 8 May) to ensure there is enough time for it to be debated and passed before the tournament begins on Friday 14 June, the Government has confirmed.