News

Ex-Man City man Stephen Ireland is being roasted for an ‘incredibly deluded’ interview about players he ‘got the better of’

One person simple commented, 'Is this a comedy sketch?'

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 2nd May 2023

Retired footballer and former Manchester City man Stephen Ireland is currently being roasted for what people online are calling an “incredibly deluded” interview as he reflected on his career and the players he believed he got the better of.

Stephen Ireland spent five years at Man City and was still part of the first squads that played under Sheikh Mansour following the 2008 takeover, but ultimately left the club in 2010 before they won their first Premier League title and began to hit the heights we know them for today.

The one-time Irish international was a good servant for the club and by no means a bad player at all, winning City’s Player of the Year award in 2008/09 after registering 13 goals, the same number of assists and even earning a PFA Young Player of the Year nomination at the age of 22.

However, now 36 and mentoring young footballing talents in his home country, it seems the ex-pro may have overestimated his abilities in many football fans’ eyes, as he made quite a few bold claims in a recent interview about the best players he played against.

@rhelitecoaching Former Man City man Stephen Ireland told RH the best players he played with and against 👍🏻 #mancity #manchestercity #stephenireland #edenhazard #robinho #shaunwrightphillips #vincentkompany #stephengerard #franklampard #paulscholes #ireland #rhelitecoaching #fyp #foryoupage #futbol #football #soccer #footballtiktok #premierleague #footballvideo #stokecity #astonvilla #newcastleunited #superman ♬ original sound – RH Elite Coaching

As you can see, the same man who was once exiled from playing for the Republic of Ireland for over a decade claimed that despite playing against “a lot of huge names”, he believed that they “never really got the better of [him]”.

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Explaining himself further, he admitted that while he’d come across some “incredible players” in his 245 English top-flight appearances, there wasn’t a single time he faced an opponent and “thought ‘Wow, these are incredible’.”

When the interviewer obviously asks for names, Ireland barely blinks before answering, “Steven Gerrard, for example; Frank Lampard — every time I played against them I’ve got the better of them… even Paul Scholes… I’ve never had a game where I thought ‘God, I’m out of my depth’, that was never the case.”

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So, you know, just some of the greatest-ever midfielders to grace the game. No biggie.

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Naturally, the interview has received quite the reaction, with people commenting, “Who knew the answer to the Scholes/Lampard/Gerrard debate would have been Stephen Ireland”, “what planet is he living on?” and “the world remembers Stephen Ireland very different to how [he] remembers himself then”.

As well as being called “deluded” by several, one person also noted how Ireland “was also subbed after an hour in Chelsea’s 6-0 drubbing of Man City at the Bridge in 2007, in which Frank Lampard got 2 assists.”

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On the other hand, the former midfielder also previously claimed he was “the best player on the pitch by a country mile” in a game against Lionel Messi, so we don’t know who to believe.

Ireland went on to praise his former teammates Shaun Wright-Phillips, Robinho and Vincent Kompany as some of the best he ever shared the pitch but judging by his comments, there’s only one player who ever lived up to Stephen Ireland’s extremely high standards… Stephen Ireland.

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Featured Image — RH Elite Coaching (via TikTok)/Manchester City

News

Yorkshire Tea is Manchester’s ‘favourite’ brand of teabags, according to new data

Danny Jones Danny Jones Yorkshire Tea is Manchester's favourite teabag

The Great British debate of which teabag is best is one that will rage on for millennia, that’s just the way it is, but according to new data, it sounds like we might at least have an answer to which brand makes for Manchester’s favourite brew.

It won’t be a surprise to many of you and we can certainly confirm it on our end but the one and only Yorkshire Tea looks to have taken the cuppa crown when it comes not only to Manchester’s preferred teabag but seemingly the best-loved in Britain as a whole.

This is according to numbers pulled by local firm, TonerGiant. The Atherton-based ink and toner suppliers decided a poll around the office wasn’t enough and instead chose to turn their knowledge of the market and consumer trends into a bit of online research.

At the end of the day, tea is has got to be the most important of all the office supplies, surely?

mancunians favourite brand of teabags
According to the stats, Yokrshire Tea is Manchester’s favourite brand of tea bags. (Credit: Yorkshire Tea)

Using data from trusted online source Statista, which nailed down the top 25 teabag brands in the UK, each make was then ranked in relation to its average monthly searches via Google Keyword Planner to reveal that Yorkshire Tea was clearly the top dog.

With roughly 390 searches per month in Manchester alone, compared to PG Tips as the next best (260), it seems us Mancs have to concede at least one thing to our fellow Northern county: Yorkshire makes a bloody good brew.

The Roses rivalry raged for centuries but if there’s one thing that brings us together, it’s a good cuppa.

In terms of other tea brands that came in high on the leaderboard, Pukka Tea (170), Twinings (140)and Teapigs (90) made up the rest of the top five most-searched tea brands in Greater Manchester. It’s also interesting to see how those figures looked when extrapolated nationwide. Here’s the full ranking:

RankTeaAverage UK monthly searches
1Yorkshire Tea27,100
2PG Tips18,100
3Pukka Tea14,800
4Twinings12,100
5Teapigs8,100
6Whittards Tea6,600
7Tetley4,400
8Clipper Tea4,400
9Lipton Tea3,600
10Barrys Tea3,600
11Thompsons Tea1,300
12Typhoo1,300
13Taylors Tea1,300
14M&S Tea1,300
15Tesco Tea1,000
16Tick Tock Tea880
17Sainsbury’s Tea720
18Lyons Tea720
19Asda Tea590
20Aldi Tea590
21Waitrose Tea590
22Lidl Tea480
23Morrisons Tea320
24Bewleys Tea90
25Cafedirect Tea40
Few of these on here we’ve never heard of. Taste test, anyone?

While Yorkshire Tea was found to be Manchester’s and the nation’s favourite, Belfast was the only UK city where Yorkshire Tea didn’t take the top spot. Instead, it was Irish-owned Barry’s Tea that came out as their favourite – we definitely need to hold a ‘brew-off’ between the two. The Hoot, you up for it?

As for supermarket’s own-brand offerings, out of the eight options on the list, Marks and Spencers teabags were found to be the most popular, closely followed by Tesco and then Sainsbury’s.

Commenting on the findings, TonerGiant’s Stuart Deavall said: “With so many office workers opting for tea to get through the day, it’s no surprise that the UK has a day dedicated to the drink.

“In light of National Tea Day on Sunday, 21 April, our new data shows that Yorkshire Tea is the nation’s favourite, with over 27,000 Brits searching every month… We can expect many Brits to be celebrating in style this Sunday, no doubt with a mug of Yorkshire tea in hand”. Speaking of, anyone fancy a brew?…

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Featured Images — Yorkshire Tea/Rumman Amin (via Unsplash)

News

Manchester palaeontologist unearths bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A Manchester-based palaeontologist has unearthed the bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile.

This new identification is a crucial part of a fascinating eight-year long discovery journey.

It all started when a seasoned fossil collector named Paul de la Salle found a giant jawbone on Lilstock Beach, near Bridgewater in Somerset, back in May 2016, and then father and daughter, Justin and Ruby Reynolds from Devon, found the first pieces of a second jawbone and another giant bone while searching for fossils on the beach at Blue Anchor, also in Somerset, in May 2020.

And now, a palaeontologist at the University of Manchester (UoM) Dr Dean Lomax, has identified the fossilised remains of the second gigantic jawbone that measures more than two metres long.

Experts have identified these bones as belonging to the jaws of a new species of enormous ichthyosaur – which is a type of prehistoric marine reptile – and astonishing estimations suggest the oceanic titan would have been more than 25-metres long.

Dr Lomax has been working together with Justin and Ruby Reynolds, along with Paul de la Salle and several family members, since the father-daughter duo first contacted them about their groundbreaking discovery in 2020.

A Manchester palaeontologist has unearthed bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile / Credit: UoM

“I was amazed by Justin and Ruby’s find,” Dr Lomax commented.

“In 2018, my team and Paul de la Salle studied and described Paul’s giant jawbone, and we had hoped that one day another would come to light.”

He explained that Justin and Ruby’s new specimen was “more complete and better preserved” than the first find, and that he “became very excited” at the chance to learn more following their discovery.

As mentioned, the Manchester-based research team, led by Dr Lomax, revealed that the jaw bones belong to a new species of giant ichthyosaur that would’ve been about the size of a blue whale, and they have called the new genus and species Ichthyotitan severnensis – which means ‘giant fish lizard of the Severn’.

The bones – which represent the very last of their kind – are around 202 million years old, and date back to the end of the Triassic Period in a time known as the Rhaetian.

During this time, the gigantic ichthyosaurs swam the seas while the dinosaurs walked on land.

The University of Manchester, where Dr Dean Lomax works as a palaeontologist / Credit: UoM

Ichthyotitan is not the world’s first giant ichthyosaur, but the discoveries by Paul, and Justin and Ruby, are said to be “unique among those known to science”, as they appear roughly 13 million years after their latest geologic relatives – including Shonisaurus sikanniensis from British Columbia in Canada, and Himalayasaurus tibetensis from Tibet in China.

Speaking on the confirmation of the bones’ identification this week, Dr Lomax said: “This research has been ongoing for almost eight years.

“It is quite remarkable to think that gigantic, blue whale-sized ichthyosaurs were swimming in the oceans around what was the UK during the Triassic Period.

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“These jawbones provide tantalising evidence that perhaps one day a complete skull or skeleton of one of these giants might be found.”

Featured Image – UoM

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