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.
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.
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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.
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To be fair, the cat’s out of the bag now, so there’s not much they can do.
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.
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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:
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 -
26th June 2023 
