Sport

Manchester City sign Beth Mead as European champion Lioness completes major transfer move to WSL title rivals

A big coup, for sure.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 12th June 2026

In a major move for recently crowned champions Manchester City, two-time Euros winner Beth Mead has completed a switch from title Women’s Super League (WSL) rivals Arsenal.

This one is sure to cause quite the stir, especially given the players that have been transferred between them in the past.

Announcing the signing on Friday, 12 June, Man City Women confirmed the done deal in a social media post that also revealed she will don the number seven shirt.

With City having finally won the first title in over a decade earlier this year – only their second in the modern era – the England Women’s star and WSL heavyweight didn’t mince her words on arrival, telling the club and its fans: “I’m here to win.”

The 31-year-old from Whitby spent the best part of nine years at Arsenal, during which time she has also gone on to become one of the most prolific Lionesses under Sarina Wiegman.

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Boasting not only 81 national team caps to her name, but also having scored 40 times in his career thus far (her assists included, guaranteeing at least a goal contribution every other game, on average), she’s been one of the most dangerous female forwards in Europe for some time now.

Speaking in a club statement, she said: “City have always played beautiful football, but I think this season they’ve been very cutthroat in front of goal, [found] different ways of scoring, different ways of creating goalscoring opportunities.

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“I think that’s been the difference: they’ve found ways to score and win games when it’s been cagey, or whether it’s felt easy and you become complacent. I think that’s been the difference this season for City winning.”

Having already linked up with fellow England star Alex Greenwood upon making her first appearance at Man City’s brand new women’s football facility, she went on to add: “I’ve played with a lot of the players in the team, I’ve watched a lot of players in the team over the years and in the season gone [by], and I think that’s what created a lot of excitement.

Manchester City reveal new state-of-the-art women’s football facility
They’ve aimed to set a new industry standard for the women’s game.

Penning a first MCWFC contract this week, she has signed a deal until the summer of 2029; both she and City supporters will no doubt be hoping she can add at least one more piece of silverware by the end of the 2026/27 campaign.

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With head coach Andrée Jeglertz now looking to mount a title defence over at the Etihad Campus, and the Women’s World Cup in Brazil getting underway this time next year, Mead will obviously be looking to hit the ground running ahead of her first season in sky blue.

There is undoubtedly an element of curiosity to see who will have the better overall performance this upcoming term between her and national teammate Chloe Kelly, with the latter ex-City player having left the club for the red side of north London instead.

Speaking of cities split into two halves, football-wise, elsewhere in transfer news, Manchester United have also been linked to a new attacker of their own – it remains to be seen how strong the interest is going both ways…

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Featured Images — Manchester City Women FC

Sport

2026 World Cup fans in North America are being mocked already – and this could be just the beginning

Danny Jones Danny Jones American World Cup fans being mocked for eating at corner flag in stadium 2026

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has only just kicked off over in North America, and while the opening match between Mexico and South Africa had lots of drama, the spotlight was already on supporters even prior to the tournament starting, with certain fans being mocked over their presence – or lack thereof, in some cases.

Plenty of people were fully expecting a fair bit of being poked at the USA as one of the joint host nations and the country holding the most fixtures out of the three after Mexico and Canada, in which football remains the biggest sport throughout both.

While the days of claiming that Americans will “never embrace soccer” – a joke even made by The Simpsons back in 2007 – do look to have been a bit hyperbolic and tongue-in-cheek, it goes without saying that the perceived Americanisation of European/association football (which, ironically, we dubbed soccer first) is a growing concern among followers of ‘the beautiful game’ all over the globe.

Especially in situations when you see the likes of so-called fans literally perched pitchside whilst sat eating their dinner in raised posh seats located right next to the corner flag.

For context, in case anyone missed it, this now-viral clip on social media took place before the World Cup proper actually kicked off, as the puzzling sight was captured in England’s final friendly against Costa Rica at the Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

Thankfully, the Three Lions looked to head into their opening fixture of the 2026 World Cup in good shape following the 3-0 win, but we won’t pretend to ignore the fact that lots of the discussion surrounded the scenes up in the stands.

Now, obviously, VIP and hospitality, not to mention the fact that most US sporting arenas are designed quite differently from most football stadiums, often favouring taller structures, with large open bowls that regularly exceed the capacity of, say, Wembley.

However, when you’re trying to create an atmosphere where those who could afford to buy a ticket have made the effort to travel over to the admittedly controversial tournament to immerse themselves in the sheer passion of following a national team around the world and dreaming of bringing home, arguably, the single biggest prize, it doesn’t make for great visuals seeing ‘fans’ having a casual sit-down meal.

To many, images like these kind of gave the impression that the game itself was secondary and a bit of background entertainment, rather than, you know, the other way round – you’ve only paid THOUSANDS to be there, let alone spitting distance from the turf itself…

We’re not trying to sound like gatekeepers on how someone should enjoy the sport they like watching, but it does feel less like you’re actively supporting the players out there in moments like these, and the English, in particular, have already made their feelings known on some behaviour and what they deem as ‘proper’ footy fandom:

That being said, crowd interactions like this have proved just as divisive, too, with some accusing the Brits abroad of supporter snobbery, almost, and refusing to get in the light-hearted spirit as others have.

Conversely, we’ve also seen footage of the Scots in kilts and the full grab at 6:30am to play the bagpipes and get in the mood for the action, so you can’t exactly question their commitment.

Once again, by the way, most of these instances took place before the first matches had even been played, or at the very least before their country had kicked a ball yet.

Besides the obvious political backdrop to the entire month ahead, jibes at the overall vibe of the tournament also haven’t been helped by the fact that some companies have instead paid fans to come and watch the football not inside the grounds but from a premium viewing zone inside a glass box on a big telly right in the heart of Times Square. People are now even watching them watching it.

And that’s not all; far from it.

Several stadiums are already having to come to terms with the very likely prospect of not only failing to sell out but also settling for being some way off packed out enough to mirror the kind of energy to match the best World Cups in history.

The Mexican home crowd at the Estadio Azteca – the largest in all of Latin America, boasting a max cap of more than 83,000 – was always going to be a sell-out, but with games being played at all manner of times in an effort to try and beat the heat and manage conditions across various challenging climates, empty seats are bound to be spotted.

Thousands of Koreans and Czechs were there to be seen for this year’s second official clash, but it was evident that there were noticeable gaps around the venue, and don’t be surprised if you see more before the final. It’s certainly going to be an edition with just as many narratives off the pitch as on it, if not maybe even more, if this is a sign of things to come.

What are your early impressions of the 2026 World Cup so far?

The ITV hype video for the 2026 World Cup has just done that – let’s make some memories
Thankfully, this has still done us our excitement the world of good.

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Featured Images — Screenshots via ITV

Sport

The ITV hype video for the 2026 World Cup has just done that – let’s make some memories

Danny Jones Danny Jones ITV Sport World Cup 2026 titles sequence

We’ll admit, much like with Qatar ’22, there have been a few things about this upcoming World Cup that have made it harder to get in the mood than usual, but we must confess: ITV’s new opening titles for the 2026 edition have got us well and truly HYPED.

It’s funny what a quick little montage and some feel-good music can do.

Let’s face it, there are a lot of things about modern football we don’t like, and there are always going to be criticisms of FIFA and how they handle major tournaments, especially when it comes to the biggest international fixtures of them all.

Sadly, a lot of this is out of our control, but what we can do is our bit as supporters and get behind the boys; with trailers like this, it’s hard not to get yourself up for it…

How well you remember the customary title sequences for each tournament is usually a good barometer.

We have a feeling that this one is going to stick out in the memories of not just the kids enjoying maybe some of their first real major tournaments, but plenty of us adults, too.

Not least of all because they chose Rascal Flatts’ ‘Life Is a Highway’ as their World Cup theme for 2026 (though Shakira has released another official song with Burna Boy) – and yes, it is the one from the Disney movie, Cars.

The reaction online has been largely positive too, with popular football social media account, The 44, writing: “Oh my god! ITV have smashed it. Better or just as good as 2014”.

Another went on to say, “[It’s] mental how this one minute and nineteen second video has just made me incredibly excited for the World Cup. ITV know how to do an intro, don’t they?”

Furthermore, a third added: “Great intro. And FIFA might’ve messed everything up with 48 teams instead of 32 and blown it on ticket prices, but once the World Cup kicks off, there’s nothing like it.

With fewer fans being able to travel or even begin to remotely afford flying out for just one game, let alone the whole month, it’s great to see Manchester setting up big screens like these.

One of the biggest and best new beer gardens in Manchester drops just in time for the World Cup
Find out all you need to know.

All that being said, there has, of course, still been lots of backlash over how hosting the World Cup in North America has been handled in general thus far.

Be it the plight of scammers, exorbitant ticket prices, punters and even referees being denied entry to the country due to President Trump’s travel sanctions, or the general political state over in the US, it’s far from a perfect year for ‘the beautiful game’ and its biggest competition.

However, it’s worth reminding that nations like Mexico have as strong an obsession with football as anyone on the planet, and Canada is clearly relishing the opportunity to host matches in Toronto and Vancouver, where footy is still their largest sport overall.

We expect there will still be plenty of protests and demonstrations, not to mention fairly public messages and statements up around the stadiums in the cities involved, no doubt, but one thing we can make sure of is that England will back the Three Lions both up in the stands and back here at home.

Those clips seen in the ITV video serve as yet another undeniable reminder that there is simply nothing like cheering on your country on the big stage, so make sure you lock down where to watch the World Cup in Manchester soon, and don’t miss a second of the action. It’s coming home.

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Featured Images — ITV (screenshots)/Vincenzo Togni (via Wikimedia Commons)

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