Local non-league side Ashton Town FC have announced that they are set to become a male support group for mental health and suicide prevention charity, Andy’s Man Club, in the next few months.
The North West Counties team took to social media on Friday, 14 April, informing fans that they will soon become an Andy’s Man Club base later this year, hoping to provide a vital outlet and support network for men struggling in Ashton and surrounding areas.
Sharing an image of Burnley‘s Josh Brownhill donning the charity’s name on his shirt — the Lancashire club being one of several throughout the English football pyramid that have teamed up with them over recent years — Ashton Town said they hope to be “showing the same message” by next season.
As they note in the initial statement, “this is a process that needs carefully setting up” in order to become a “safe and caring place for all attending”, with the goal of holding their first meeting by this September.
Once everything is set up and ready to go, Ashton‘s hebs Group Stadium and wider facilities will become the 10th base established through the organisation in the Greater Manchester area, with the charity have spread throughout the UK since its inception in 2016.
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For anyone unaware of Andy’s Man Club until now, it essentially started out in Halifax when a group of nine blokes suffering with their mental health decided to meet up and discuss their issues in hopes of looking after each other.
Named after Andrew Roberts, who sadly took his own life aged just 23 in 2016, Andy’s family had no idea he was suffering to such an extent, so they started looking into male mental health and learned that suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 and have been working to help break the stigma ever since.
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Fast forward six years and the organisation now has mental health bases at almost 100 locations across three British counties, supporting more than 2000 men over 18 every week thanks to an army of over 500 facilitators and volunteers.
Andy’s Man Club is all about allowing men to speak openly about their mental health in a judgment-free, non-clinical environment from bases within their local community. Better still, the groups are completely volunteer-led, with the vast majority of facilitators having first come through the door as service users.
With a service used on a weekly basis by almost 2000 men, and an army of 500+ facilitators, the movement is always continuing to grow on a week-by-week basis.
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It doesn’t matter if you’re a Manc or not, we all need to look after each other. You can find your nearest Andy’s Man Club mental health base HERE.
Featured Image — Ashton Town FC/Burnley FC/Andy’s Man Club
Sport
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 -
14th April 2023 
