In more news that’s sure to ruin your week, Premier League players are reportedly set to receive £240,000 more a year in wages following the recent raft of tax cuts announced.
The announcement comes following fledgling chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget revealed on Friday, 23 September, which saw cuts on everything from corporation tax to bankers’ bonuses and more.
As part of the economic adjustment which was designed to address the growing cost of living crisis, it would appear that many of the wealthiest currently living in the UK will be the first to reap the benefits of the new policy — multi-millionaire footballers being one such group.
First broke by the Times, the newly adjusted figures project that Premier League players will be receiving just under a cool quarter of a million in additional funds on average, namely thanks to the government revisions on income tax and national insurance.
More specifically, the outlet explains that the highest tax bracket for those earning over £150,000 per annum is now moving from 45% down to 40%, with many of the UK’s players obviously already on astronomical contracts.
Sitting as one of the Prem’s highest earners, Ronaldo currently nets an annual salary of just over £26.5m a year. As Maguire goes on to comment: “I’m not party political but it seems to be inconsistent with the Government’s levelling-up agenda.” He already makes more than enough for 10 lifetimes.
Not only does he point out that this kind of money could be put to much greater use by spreading it out across, say, the likes of football clubs’ service staff – averaging around £1,300 extra for around 1,000 staff members – but it hardly makes you want to go and cheer them on at the weekend, does it?
For further context, Manchester City’s star midfielder Kevin de Bruyne is said to earn around £400k a week and new boy Erling Halaand arrived at the club on a £375k-a-week contract.
While we don’t have the exact numbers per player – nor do we want to know, really – they are among dozens of others on £150,000+ a week who will now be taking home even more than usual following these tax cuts.
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Circling back to the Times, they estimate that the average top-flight player earns in the region of £4m a year, paying around a grand total of around £1.4billion in tax; that figure will soon drop by a full £70m when the changes become law.
Not just life-changing amounts – enough to help genuinely fix socio-economic issues on a national scale.
Drama Call opening first-ever flagship shop in Manchester
Danny Jones
Streetwear superstars Drama Call are opening their new flagship store and first-ever permanent site in Manchester city centre this weekend.
Expect massive queues and lots turning up wearing the increasingly recognisable starry logo.
Already a much-loved brand not just here in 0161 but across the nation at large, the native independent business turned street-style favourites and UK fashion phenomenon are no strangers to HUGE pop-ups in their hometown.
However, they’ve never had a mainstay location anywhere in the country, let alone Greater Manchester – well, until now, that is…
Credit: Press shots (supplied)
Debuting in the Northern Quarter this Sunday, the venue located on Tib Street will effectively serve as Drama Call‘s new HQ.
The local label has done everything from popping up vans with Manc rapper Aitch to collaborating with Man United for multiple limited edition collections, so it only felt like a matter of time before they’d make a big brick-and-mortar splash in our fair city.
Most notably, they’re also taking over the same unit as the Sheep Shop, a former skate shop and legendary urban clothing tastemaker of the 90s; they were one of the first places in Britain to stock famous names like Stüssy, Supreme, Carhartt, The North Face and many more.
With that in mind, it feels only fitting that they carry on the trendsetting tradition from the same premises, and just spitting distance from the likes of Note, as well.
And that’s not all, either: before the full launch, they’ll also be holding an exclusive cash-only shirt swap event, where a limited number of certain collector’s items will be sold for as little as £10.
Other things to note are the additions of signed vinyls by homegrown artists such as the aforementioned Aitch and even The Smiths.
In fact, the store will also feature strictly Mancunian exclusives, too.
Everything from polo shirts and tees to branded mugs, matchboxes and other accessories will be available in-store only.
NQ is bound to be buzzing across launch weekend, with doors officially opening to the public on Sunday, and we wouldn’t be surprised if you see people camping outside the front well ahead of time.
What a moment the Manc shopping scene is having right now.
Featured Images — Publicity pictures (supplied via Pear)
News
Andy Burnham explains why Number 10 North is so important as it officially ‘opens for business’
Emily Sergeant
Andy Burnham has explained his key reasons for launching Number 10 North as it officially ‘opens for business’ this week.
You may remember that earlier last month, Andy Burnham revealed he had intentions to create a Number 10 North if he was to become Prime Minister, with the new base expected to be a ‘dominant driver of the UK’s economy’ once it was officially up and running… and now, fast forward to today, Number 10 North is officially ‘open for business’.
Operating from Heron House in Manchester city centre, as previously reported on, Number 10 North will be the Government’s new ‘situation room for growth’.
It also brings the ‘levers’ of local economic growth and devolution together under one roof for the first time ever.
Number 10 North has officially ‘opened for business’ / Credit: gov.uk (via Wikimedia Commons)
With the Prime Minister expected to work from Number 10 North each week, so that decisions about the country’s economic future will no longer exclusively be made in Westminster, and with other ministers also working from there on a regular basis, the Government says the move underlines its determination to ‘do things differently’.
Now that Number 10 North has officially opened, Andy Burnham and his fellow ministers have explained why this move is so important for not just Manchester, but the north as a whole.
“For 40 years, power and resources have been sucked into the centre, and too many communities have felt forgotten, without the attention and investment they deserve,” explained Andy Burnham.
“Number 10 North will change that by putting more power into every postcode across the entire country. It will be the situation room for making Britain better, the place we use to get power out of Westminster, into the hands of people at a local level, so that they can turn things around.
“The days of Whitehall resisting devolution are over, for good.”
First Secretary Louise Haigh added: “Today marks a fundamental re-balancing of where power sits in our country. Number 10 North has been set up to drive economic growth in every postcode and put power in the hands of every community.
Danny Jones -
29th September 2022 
