Andy Murray has been restored to Great Britain’s Davis Cup team for the group stage Finals against Australia, France and Switzerland in Manchester next month.
The three-time Grand Slam champion and Wimbledon winner was left out of the squad for their 3-1 win against Colombia in February and has been in and out of the set-up due to injury over recent years.
Murray, 36, helped Britain on their way to their first Davis Cup win in 79 years back in 2015 — the same year he won four different ATP titles — and despite going out in the second round of Wimbledon in July, he is still a huge addition to the squad set to play right here in Manchester next month.
Kicking off on 12 September, Team GB will compete against the other three teams in Group B to qualify for a place in the finals which will be played in Malaga in November.
Andy Murray rounds off Great Britain’s 2023 Davis Cup squad
British no.1 Cam Norrie leads the squad alongside Wimbledon-winning double specialist, Neal Skupski, world no. 28 Dan Evans and Murray as Britain hopes to lift their 11th Davis Cup.
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Although they were eliminated in the group stages last year, Team Captain Leon Smith has insisted that having Murray back in the squad should give a real boost to their chances.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he said, “Having Andy in the team is great. He’s the senior statesman, the one who has been there and done it, but we’re also fortunate we’ve got Cam who is top 15 in the world, and who has been top 10 recently and reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year.”
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“Dan has had a tough year but he won the Washington title recently – an ATP 500 event – that is the first time he has won at that level”, he continued, “and our fourth player is Neal who has just picked up the Wimbledon doubles title and is number one in the world.” Not a bad little lineup at all.
As for playing here in Manchester, Smith told the LTA: “It’s been a long time since we played in the North West and I’m sure we are going to feel and hear a lot of energy from the fans.” You know we’ll do our bit to put in a good performance, don’t worry about that mate.
If you fancy our chances of success in the 2023 Davis Cup, you can catch all the games from 12-17 September at the AO Arena in Manchester and, better yet, adult tickets start from just a tenner.
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 -
15th August 2023 
