A man has been arrested after allegedly tweeting racist abuse to Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford.
The man, who is yet to be named by West Mercia Police, is from Powick, near Worcester, and was detained on suspicion of inciting racial hatred following reports of an inappropriate tweet posted after England’s defeat to Italy on Sunday night.
The 50-year-old has now been released from custody but remains under investigation.
Marcus Rashford posts statement following loss to Italy
Inspector Pete Nightingale, from Worcester police, stated: “We encourage people to make these reports and are pleased with the speed at which we have been able to deal with this incident.
“We continue to work with the local football community and have links with the local clubs to ensure that this behaviour is dealt with appropriately.”
ADVERTISEMENT
News of an arrest follows 24-hours of upheaval across England as football fans and communities alike stand up against the racist abuse Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka received following their penalty shootout misses in Sunday’s final.
The England squad come together after a devastating penalty shootout loss
A man was also suspended by property firm Savills after allegedly tweeting racist abuse at all three players in question – before quickly going viral for his vile actions.
The artwork has since been restored by graffiti artist Akse, however, the wall itself has remained an inspirational and supportive work in progress for Rashford and his fellow players.
Messages of support fill the abused mural of Marcus Rashford in Withington
Police are treating the vandalism of Rashford’s mural as racially aggravated and an investigation has been launched.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s incredible to see Manchester stand up and come together in yet another time of need, condemning those who threaten our community spirit – and with the arrest of a man in Worcester, let’s hope the authorities can send a message of their own.
If you’ve experienced, or know someone who has experienced, a hate incident or hate crime you can report it to the police.
You can contact the police directly, or you can use an online reporting facility such as True Vision. There are also local organisations who can help you report the incident or crime. Click here for more info.
News
New data estimates that 7.3m Oasis fans are set to miss out on 2027 tour tickets
Emily Sergeant
New data has revealed that as many as 7.3 million Oasis fans could be set to miss out on tickets to the band’s 2027 tour.
In case you need bringing up to speed a little, it was announced earlier this week that, following the unprecedented success of the reunion tour, Oasis Live ’25, last year, including five nostalgia-drenched gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park, Oasis would be hitting the road once again in 2027, and this time around, they’re going BIG.
We’re talking 11 nights at the Etihad Stadium and a return to the iconic grounds of Knebworth for four special shows there too, kind of ‘big’.
The iconic Manchester band will also be taking to a range of other world-famous stages across the globe, including five nights at Glasgow’s Celtic Park, and major cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and Las Vegas.
But despite the elevated number of dates the Gallaghers and co will be performing, some new data has unfortunately revealed that millions of fans may still not be lucky enough to snag a ticket.
The ticketing system for Oasis Live ’27 is not what it was for the last tour, nor will it be similar to many other tours of a similar scale in the past either, as this time, the band and their promotors are taking necessary measures to ensure ‘genuine fans’ get their hands on the tickets and that dynamic pricing doesn’t creep in.
Instead of going into detail on that now though, you can read our full guide on how to get tickets for the Manchester and Knebworth shows here.
Experts at online ticketing platform TicketSource have analysed the scale of demand for Oasis tickets by comparing the 10 million fans worldwide who queued for the initial release of 1.4 million tickets for their 2025 tour, with the newly announced 2027 tour dates and stadium capacities.
With an estimated 2.67 million tickets available across 38 dates and 11 locations between 21 May and 19 September 2027, Oasis could still face huge demand from fans hoping to see them live.
But research reveals the band would need to play 112 Wembley-sized shows to accommodate everyone who tried to get a ticket in 2025.
The 2027 tour would accommodate just 26.7% of those who tried to get tickets last time, meaning almost three-quarters (73%) of them could miss out, leaving a shortfall of more than 7.3 million fans.
Fingers crossed you’re among the lucky lot that secure tickets, though.
Featured Image – Joshua Halling (Press Image – Supplied)
News
Former GMP officer jailed after being found guilty of several online child sex offences
Emily Sergeant
A former police officer from Salford has been sentenced after being found guilty of a string of online child sex offences.
Following a trial back in July, 35-year-old Michael Aspinall was sentenced at Preston Crown Court earlier this week (Monday 14 September) after being found guilty of three counts of attempting sexual communication with a child.
It comes after Aspinall – who was employed by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) at the time of the offences – was arrested in October 2024 by detectives from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU), and was immediately suspended from duty following his arrest.
The investigation began after evidence was obtained that Aspinall had been communicating online with individuals that he believed to be children, but he was in fact communicating with a police officer.
Following this series of interactions, he was charged with various offences.
In addition to his eight-month sentence – which has been suspended for two years – Aspinall will also be placed on the sex offender’s register for 10 years, subject to a five-year serious crime prevention order, and have undertake 20 days of rehabilitation, GMP has confirmed.
He has additionally been added to the College of Policing’s barred list.
An application to request forfeiture of Aspinall’s police pension has also been made to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester.
“Aspinall’s offending was clearly unacceptable for any right-minded member of society and particularly inappropriate for a serving police officer,” commented Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Humphreys, from GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate.
“His actions put the whole police service under scrutiny, but thanks to the hard work and diligence of undercover officers, he was arrested, found guilty, and has now received his punishment.”
DCI Humphreys concluded: “[Aspinall’s] actions take away from the hard work of the men and women who work so hard for their communities every day, and it is only right that anyone committing these sort of offences are rooted out.”
The Manc -
13th July 2021 
