Manchester United is set to debut its first-ever ‘tifo’ banner ahead of their big game against Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday night.
The Red Devils are staring down their biggest moment of the season – arguably one of their biggest in some time – as they must beat Lyon in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final to advance in the competition, which is their only chance of silverware this year.
It’s been a tough start for new manager Ruben Amorim since he arrived at Old Trafford, with Jim Ratcliffe and the INEOS ownership group having been amidst turbulent times pretty much ever since they took up a minority stake in the club.
All that being said, and with Man United’s financial obstacles now well-publicised by the co-owner himself, winning the tournament and therefore securing a shot at Champions League football next season is crucial to how their ambitious rebuild and, notably, stadium redevelopment plans pan out.
A pleasure to have worked with @ManUtd on this. The whole display should be fantastic. Let's ensure all fans are in the stadium early to create an atmosphere.https://t.co/yBzo3kXWrx
With that in mind, the club are looking to be bolder than ever when it comes to creating an atmosphere for the crucial knockout fixture, announcing that a tifo banner will be unveiled inside the stadium for the first time in the club’s history.
For any of those still unclear on what a tifo is, they are large, colourful, choreographed displays typically organised by the supporters themselves, which spotlight things like club badges, legendary players, insignias, messages and more.
Popular in various other parts of the continent and beyond, especially in the likes of Italy (where the trend first started) and Germany, as well as southern and eastern Europe, this particular part of global football fan culture hasn’t really made it over to the Premier League just yet.
Not too far away from the kinds of big banners that are commonplace throughout most football, only even more massive and usually much intricate in shape, design and detail, the club has confirmed their inaugural attempt at a United tifo will be shown in front of the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand.
As for what it’s going to look like, the specifics are being kept under wraps for now, but the club are said to have worked with fan representatives closely on the project before being shared with captain Bruno Fernandes to get his seal of approval.
The flag shown during this year’s Munich Disaster memorial observation. (Credit: The Manc Group)
For now, the only details revealed are that “the ‘tifo’ will be raised from the ground to the roof, in front of the halfway line, creating a spectacular moment ahead of kick-off in M16.”
There have been plenty of big banner moments – both in protest and to mark important memorials – already this season, but this promises to be a whole different kettle of fish for the club.
During their most recent Europa League fixture, those up in the stands even got to witness Old Trafford putting on pyrotechnics for the first time, though it’s safe to say they didn’t quite nail the concept.
In fact, it looks like the club itself would be the first to admit it, as they also confirmed that the pre-match pageantry will include “red-and-white pyrotechnics will also appear adjacent to the banner, in a larger display than the one seen before the win over Real Sociedad in the previous round.”
Tifos are all well and good, but they need backing up with results, and it goes without saying that this match could define not just Man United‘s season but work wonders for Amorim’s future moving forward. This is the sort of standard they’re up against…
Ultras do not mess about when it comes to this kind of stuff.
Greater Manchester has been named only the THIRD funniest region in the UK
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester has been named one of the UK’s funniest regions.
You’re probably thinking that all sounds well and good, but then you find out that not only are we not the funniest region, we have only claimed third place in the top 10, meaning there are two other regions who are funnier that us Mancs… apparently.
It’s all according to a new nationwide study by digital marketing agency Dark Horse, which set out to identify the UK’s funniest regions by compiling a dataset of 541 comedians born in the UK after 1900, using publicly-available lists from IMDb and Wikipedia.
The analysis mapped comedians by birthplace and adjusted for regional population to reveal what the company called a ‘clear front-runner’ in the national battle of banter.
According to the analysis, Manchester has 12.6 comedians per million people.
Manchester has only been named the third funniest region in the UK / Credit: Manchester City Council | Nick Harrison (via Wikimedia Commons)
Manchester has a long-standing reputation for its distinctive style of honest, deadpan, and self-aware humour, and the city supports a strong comedy scene, with numerous clubs and regular national tours that continue to contribute significantly to the UK’s comedic landscape.
Not to mention the region has produced some serious comedy giants like Peter Kay, Steve Coogan, and Jason Manford over the years.
So why have we only claimed third place? Who the heck has is meant to be funnier than us? Well, apparently, it’s the scousers.
The UK’s top 10 funniest areas
Merseyside
London
Greater Manchester
West of England
East Yorkshire & Northern Lincolnshire
Gloucestershire & Wiltshire
Surrey, East & West Sussex
West Midlands
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire
North Yorkshire
Merseyside has been officially crowned the UK’s funniest place, according to the new nationwide study, as the area boasts an impressive 19.6 comedians per million people, which is the highest per capita concentration in the country, and in second place is London with 19.2 comedians per million people and leading the UK by producing 172 comedians across its 33 boroughs.
On the other end of the spectrum, it was North Yorkshire that rounded out the top 10 securing tenth place, and other regions like Cumbria and Cornwall didn’t even make the cut at all.
“Comedy is more than just entertainment – it’s culture, identity, and one of Britain’s best coping mechanisms,” commented Libby Mayfield, who is the Head of Marketing at Dark Horse.
“We wanted to celebrate the regions bringing laughter into everyday life, whether it’s in pubs, clubs, or living rooms.”
Featured Image – BBC
Trending
The UK has a new cheapest supermarket for the first time in nearly two years
Emily Sergeant
Aldi has officially been dethroned, as the UK has a new cheapest supermarket for the first time in nearly two years.
We know that two years doesn’t sound like that long of a timeframe, but when you consider the fact that consumer choice company Which? names the UK’s cheapest supermarket every month based on its latest data, you begin to realise that it’s a slightly more impressive feat than it initially sounds.
For the past 21 months, Aldi has reigned supreme in the Which? rankings – claiming the title of the UK’s cheapest on a consecutive basis.
As it does every month, Which? checked the prices of 76 popular branded and own-brand groceries at eight of the UK’s biggest supermarkets throughout July to see how they compared, with items including things like Hovis sliced bread, milk, and cheese.
For each supermarket, the company works out the average price of each item across the month, then adds those up to get each one’s average total price.
The average price for a shop of all the 76 items in July would’ve set Lidl shoppers back £128.40, compared to £129.25 at Aldi.
Lidl has been named the UK’s cheapest supermarket / Credit: Lidl GB
The next cheapest after Lidl and Aldi was Asda, which doesn’t offer loyalty prices in the same way its competitors, but even then, the price was 9% more than at Lidl for our shopping list.
Meanwhile, the latest data found that shopping at Tesco without a loyalty card was still cheaper than shopping at Morrisons with one.
Sainsbury’s was running Nectar price promotions on 15 items on our list, while Tesco had Clubcard prices on 16, Lidl had three items with a loyalty discount, and Morrisons had More Card scheme discounts on only two items in the basket.
Aldi has been dethroned for the first time since October 2023 / Credit: Aldi UK
On the other end of the spectrum, as you might expect, was Waitrose – with the price for the 76 items here setting shoppers back £170.91 in total, which is more than £42, or 33%, more than Lidl.
Waitrose also offers some loyalty prices to members, but there were none for items on the Which? shopping list this month.
When it comes to annual grocery price inflation, this figure was found to have jumped to 5.2% in the four weeks leading up to 13 July, according to market analysis from Worldpanel by Numerator, which is the highest level since January 2024.
Prices are rising faster for items such as chocolate, butters and spreads, and fresh meat, and they are falling fastest for dog food, sugar, confectionery, and laundry.
Danny Jones -
16th April 2025 
