The demand for the Lionesses kit has gone through the roof as Google searches for shirts have skyrocketed by a massive 3,981% ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup finalthis weekend.
The England women’s team reached the World Cup final for the first time in history this past Wednesday following a tense semi-final victory against host nation Australia and, as a result, the clamour for this year’s kit online shot up by nearly 4,000%.
As per research carried out by popular online retailer, Boohoo, Google searches for ‘Lionesses’ kit have absolutely exploded as fans are preparing to pull on their colours for WHEN, not if, we win on Sunday.
Sarina Wiegman‘s side will be playing in the blue away shirt they were in the semis as they take on Spain in red. Can’t lie, the nerves have started already.
According to their findings, not only did searches for the Lionesses kit shoot up massively but so too did ‘Lioness shirt’, which have increased by a whopping 3,617%.
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Meanwhile, more general searches for ‘England shirt’ have also risen by 2,220% as the both the men’s and the women’s current set of kits have gone down a treat over the past year or so — even if they are a bit pricey.
Nevertheless, using data from their Google Trends analysis, the most in-demand Lioness shirts are Man City‘s Lauren Hemp, followed by captain Leah Williamson and Man United‘s Mary Earps following Nike’s female goalkeeper kit controversy.
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Sadly, while plenty of people will donning some kind of England shirt on Sunday, fans still won’t be able to wear an Earps kit after the United Women’s star called out Nike for not refusing to put the women’s putting the female keeper shirts on sale for the World Cup.
Thankfully, plenty of fans have been going out of their way to show support for England’s no.1 by purchasing outfield shirts and putting her name and number on anyway — just goes to show the love for this team and how much the nation has rallied behind them.
As for direct shirt sales themselves, it is estimated that they shot up by more than 700% online following their semi-final victory and we suspect countless more fans have been copping kits in person.
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The Lionesses kick off against Spain in the final at 11pm on Sunday and you know Manchester will be packed with fans cheering them on every step of the way.
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 -
18th August 2023 
