Sport

Aitch leaks new Man United kit for 2023/24 season during Glastonbury performance

Better than most kit reveals, to be fair.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 26th June 2023

While most music fans might have been hoping for a surprise guest at Glastonbury this year — although pretty much everyone guessed Foo Fighters — we reckon there weren’t many expecting to see Aitch leak the new Manchester United kit for next season.

Playing the 4pm slot on Saturday at Worthy Farm, the popular Manc rapper and well-known United fan took a little pause in his set for a costume change, warning that “some of you aren’t gonna like this” and jokingly asking security to eject any City fans.

Pulling on the shirt and effectively confirming the leaks we’ve already seen as to what the new home kit looks like, Aitch looks to have jumped the gun a little bit.

Spoilers: the show was great and the kit is red.

The moment Aitch leaked the new 23/24 United kit in front of the Glastonbury crowd.

As you can see, the Moston-born musician looks to have got his new United kit early, debuting the new design on the Pyramid Stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people and even more watching home.

He even had the words ‘Big Shell 40’ printed on the back as a nod to one of the lyrics from his 2021 song, ‘Learning Curve’.

Regarding whether the kit was real, there seems to be no question as to its authenticity; in fact, the club didn’t even remotely try and pretend it was fake, simply replying to a Match of the Day tweet with one emoji that all but confirmed it was the genuine article.

To be fair, the cat’s out of the bag now, so there’s not much they can do.

The single emoji relates to the geometric Lancashire rose pattern that features on United’s 23/24 home kit.

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Who knows, this could’ve been an intentional marketing stunt on their part as Aitch has appeared in videos promoting new jerseys before, the most recent being United’s infamous ‘zebra’ kit in the 2020/21 season.

If so, it’s worked an absolute treat as it’s got plenty of people talking — case and point this article.

So, that’s it, you’ve seen it in person now but what do you make of, Reds? Is this the kind of kit you can see going on to be one to remember after a memorable season?

Elsewhere, images of the away and third kits for the upcoming season have also been seemingly leaked online and considering they include what now looks to be the confirmed home shirt, the chances are these are real as well:

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Featured Image — BBC

Sport

Darts returns to Manchester as Premier League dates are confirmed for 2026

Danny Jones Danny Jones

The schedule for the 2026 Premier League Darts tour has been officially announced, with the PDC’s annual championship returning to Manchester once again.

PDC Premier League fixtures continue to grow in popularity both in TV figures and live match attendance, with a whole new generation of fans getting into ‘the arrows’.

Just as it has for decades now, league darts is coming back to Manchester city centre and the legendary AO Arena once again, with our date landing right in the middle of the season.

Booking a big night right in the middle of a crucial period in the competition? It sounds like 0161 is set to welcome another blockbuster night up at the oche.

Confirmed on Thursday, 11 September, next year’s PDC Premier League Darts campaign will get underway in February, spanning the course of four months and eight countries.

Of the European cities on the circuit, the tournament will be heading to Belgium for the very first time, as the AFAS Dome in Antwerp replaces Exeter.

Elsewhere on the continent, there are two other mainland evenings in Germany and the Netherlands, along with multiple Northern dates here in the UK, such as Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.

As for Manchester, we’ve been selected for round nine of 17 (including the finals), with the AO Arena set to welcome multiple favoured competitors from the North West, including 18-year-old phenomenon Luke Little from down the road in Warrington, as well as Stockport’s very own Nathan Aspinall.

It was an unforgettable experience for Aspinall last time around in his local event, as he finally managed to win a PDC Premier League night on home turf for the first time in his career.

‘Darts needs more Nathan Aspinalls’ – Stockport star praised after emotional hometown win
We were arguably just as emotional as he was.

Those hoping to enjoy a night of darts in front of a Manchester crowd on April 26, 2026, still have to be patient for now, as general admission is still a little way off.

However, if you are interested, you can sign up for the AO’s newsletter to find out more information and get yourself on the waiting list early.

Better, if you go straight through the PDC, you can throw your hat in the ring for the presale window right now and be first in line to grab tickets when they go live.

You can do so HERE and, until then, get your signs and fancy dress at the ready because we’ll be heading back to the ‘boring, boring tables’ soon enough.

See the 2026 PDC Premier League Darts schedule in full down below:

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Sandro Halank (via Wikimedia Commons)/Press shot (supplied via AO Arena)

Sport

Manchester City said no to a pretty significant player swap with Liverpool last year

Danny Jones Danny Jones Man City said no to swapping Julian Alvarez with Luis Diaz from Liverpool

Manchester City reportedly rejected a transfer proposal involving swapping one of their youngest and most exciting stars with close rivals Liverpool in 2024

This could have proved to be an interesting one…

Man City aren’t exactly short on forwards at the moment and have brought in plenty of attacking options over the past year, and with Erling Haaland breaking all manner of records up front for them, they didn’t find it too hard to sell on another promising young striker in Julián Álvarez for a club record sale.

However, as per recent claims made by a Telegraph Sport journalist, there was a possibility of Álvarez swapping the blue of City for the red of Liverpool.

That’s according to football writer Chris Bascombe, anyway, who recently wrote that the two Premier League sides could have engaged in a player swap deal were the division’s then Treble-winners willing to negotiate with the only other team that has really contested the title with them in recent years.

As you can see, Bascombe states that Luis Díaz wanted a switch to the Etihad Stadium even before the current English champions shuffled their front three.

This has been backed up by The Times’ Paul Joyce as well, who says that the Colombian winger was ultimately “unsettled” by interest from City and others

Díaz (who recently signed for Bayern Munich) made it clear he wanted to play under Pep Guardiola, and it seems there was at least some willingness from the Merseyside outfit.

Provided they get an increasingly wantaway Julián Álvarez in return.

With Haaland having been brought in and making himself comfortably the go-to number nine for what could very well be the next decade, they clearly saw an opportunity to offer him an alternative, but Man City simply said, “We don’t sell to rivals.”

Ultimately, the now 25-year-old World Cup winner went to Europe, joining Atletico Madrid for a whopping £81.5m.

Regardless, it seems hard to imagine not only two top-flight English teams doing a deal like this but to picture what it would have been like to see Álvarez, who was still very highly thought of among a large section of supporters, being cheered on by the fans inside Anfield.

The Argentinian striker – though he has been utilised in a variety of positions at the top end of the pitch – has well and truly shone in La Liga, and now looks like he could be set to swap Madrid for Barcelona.

Álvarez has apparently made it clear to those closest to him that he wants Barca, and despite the summer window closing, the Catalan giants could pursue a deal to sign him next year when his contract expires, or indeed, even go after him this January.

Meanwhile, after bringing in plenty of new talent over the past few months, with Manchester City now effectively being given the green light to proceed with a major commercial sponsorship deal, you could very well see yet more big money being spent in seasons to come.

Manchester City issue statement as they reach agreement over ‘APT’ controversy
City having rejected a bold Liverpool transfer offer isn’t the only big story around the club of late.

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Featured Images — pantkiewicz (via Flickr)/Dudek1337 (via Wikimedia Commons)

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