Sport

Blackburn Rovers are being praised for ‘breaking down barriers’ with their matchday bus service, the Ewood Express

Absolutely brilliant.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 22nd March 2023

Blackburn Rovers’ wonderful new matchday initiative is receiving high praise for helping young people get to the game on their special bus service.

The affordable matchday transport dubbed the ‘Ewood Express‘ started back in February 2020 and as well as helping young fans travel to the stadium in time for kick-off, it is crucially helping those within the local BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) community attend games.

Blackburn‘s population is estimated to be at least 150,000 people and more than 35% of those living in the area are from a South Asian background. However, following a report by the club a few years back, it was revealed that attendances at Ewood Park were not fairly matching the town’s rich diversity.

As a result of these figures and recognising the importance of trying properly represent and mirror the town’s diverse demographic, Rovers wanted to make things better. All aboard the Ewood Express.

One of many ways the club has looked to develop inclusivity for BAME communities in the Blackburn and surrounding Darwen area is by setting up their now famous Ewood Express bus service.

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Picking up young fans and locals from nearby schools, mosques, grassroots football clubs, other children’s community groups and more, the special travel service makes it easy for fans to get to a game, with tickets to ride costing just £8 per child.

With bus and coach transport provided by the club, more than 3,500 children have been able to travel to Ewood Park and watch their team play — an outlet that many in the community never had access to before. Things you love to hear.

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In fact, the scheme has been so successful that Blackburn even manage to bring its first delegation of young away fans to the Watford game back in February and with such a significant Muslim community, Rovers also became the first EFL team to host Eid prayers on the pitch in 2022. Simply wonderful stuff.

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Blackburn have also been applauded for actively promoting the use of their multi-faith prayer room on matchday for several years now, with Commercial and Integration Manager Yasir Sufi one of several figures spotlighted for helping implement these important initiatives at the club and in the community.

It’s no wonder Blackburn won the EFL‘s first-ever Diversity Award last year and no doubt look to continue their incredible work for years to come.

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Keep up the good work, Rovers.

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Featured Image — English Football League/Blackburn Rovers

Sport

Former Man United man Bastian Schweinsteiger sheds light on brutal exile by José Mourinho

Danny Jones Danny Jones Bastian Schweinsteiger says José Mourinho banned his from Man United first team

Former footballer and ex-Manchester United man Bastian Schweinsteiger has opened up on his turbulent time at the club, revealing some fairly shocking details surrounding his exile from the first team at the hands of José Mourinho.

The Germany and Bayern Munich legend retired back in 2019, going down as arguably one of the most revered midfielders in Europe, but some of the latter chapters in his career were less idyllic than they should have been after moving to Old Trafford.

Schweinsteiger joined the Red Devils in 2015 as a seasoned pro by Louis van Gaal but ended up enjoying only a very limited amount of playing time before ultimately departing in 2017 under the Mourinho regime in less than affable circumstances, to say the least.

The 39-year-old has never really opened up on what went ‘wrong’ during his time at Man United until now, revealing to Gary Neville that was quite literally banned from going into the dressing room on practically his first day under the Portuguese coach.

Bastain Schweinsteiger reveals he was banned from training with the United first team by José Mourinho

A pretty strange way to welcome a Champions League and World Cup winner with eight Bundesliga titles and a cabinet full of other cups to his name, let’s put it that way.

While it’s still unclear as to why exactly José didn’t want him around the first-team squad, Schweinsteiger says that former football director and then-head of development John Murtough – who recently left the club after 11 years – told him he couldn’t train with the senior players simply “because the coach said so”.

Already considered a veteran of the sport at this point, he goes on to detail how, ever the consummate professional, he proceeded to train with the under-16s instead after being given no alternative, which kicked off months of largely unexplained exile and only making very sparse appearances for the team.

Neville‘s face is understandably aghast at the revelations, going on to admit he was left “stunned” by what he was hearing and labelling Schweinsteiger’s treatment not only “embarrassing” for the club and as a fan but verging on the “illegal”.

how many times did schweinsteiger play for man united?
He only made four appearances for United while ‘The Special One’ was in charge.
why did jose mourinho hate bastian schweinsteiger?
The controversy was never made public at the time.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons)/Дмитрий Голубович

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Citing the only real reason that was given for banishment was that Mourinho claimed he “didn’t see [him] happy here at United”, although he did qualify that this was around the time of his injury when he also spent time recovering in Germany.

José did eventually go on to apologise for his treatment in those early days, admitting that his decision fell into the category of “feeling sorry for what I did” and in turn granted him the move to his final club Chicago Fire where he spent the last days of his playing career.

Were he to have been given a different introduction to the club and eventually integrated into the first-team squad in a less confrontational way, his time at Manchester United could have been very different.

You can watch Bastian Schweinsteiger’s full interview on The Overlap, including what he made of other players that José found ‘problematic’ like Paul Pogba down below. Safe to say it’s quite an eye-opener.

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Featured Images — The Overlap (via YouTube)/Дмитрий Голубович

Sport

Rodri takes a swipe at Real Madrid tactics as Manchester City bow out of the Champions League on penalties

Danny Jones Danny Jones Rodri criticises Real Madrid tactics as Man City go out in UCL quarter finals

Manchester City star Rodri has taken aim at Real Madrid for their tactics in Wednesday night’s Champions League quarter-final as the Blues bowed out of the competition on penalties.

Rodri, who scored the winning goal in the UCL final to secure the treble for Man City last season, cut an understandably disappointed figure in the post-match interviews as his side ultimately conceded the first of their three trophies in a tense night at the Etihad Stadium.

Speaking to the media in the tunnel, the Spaniard was asked if he saw the game as simply being a case of two elite teams cancelling each other out and only being separated by small margins, to which he simply replied: “To be honest, today I saw only one team”.

The 27-year-old went on to note that Madrid’s gameplan was obviously to defend and “to [make us] suffer” but that they always knew how tough Carlo Ancelotti’s team would be to come up against in such a crucial tie like this.

Rodri criticises Madrid as he suggests only one team came to play.

Nevertheless, Rodri reiterated that he believes City “deserved to go through” based on their performance across the two games and given how much they tried to play during the home leg.

While Madrid were always going to try and frustrate their opposition and trying and stop Guardiola‘s squad from playing the more free-flowing, expansive game that so often suits them, they did have plenty of moments where the game looked more open and like a counter could come off at either end.

Ultimately, though, an early goal for the visitors from Rodrygo was enough to give Madrid breathing room for the majority of the game and even after Kevin De Bruyne’s explosive equaliser – which saw the stadium erupt as it looked like they might go on to win it – they still managed to eke out extra time.

As for Pep himself, he was predictably cautious of getting drawn into any big exclamations and made sure to hold back, simply reiterating Rodri’s sentiment that the performance was “outstanding” and that given stats like 32 shots attempted (a third of those on target), he could not question their commitment.

While Rodri had a sly dig at Madrid, Pep chose to focus only on his players instead.

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The admittedly ridiculous-sounding ‘Treble-Treble’ might now be off the table but with two trophies still left to defend and another potential record break on the cards if they manage to win a fourth Premier League in a row, there’s still more than enough glory to play for.

City’s next big fixture is the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea this Saturday as rivals Manchester United take on Coventry City in the other draw on Sunday.

Safe to say it’s looking very much like we could get back-to-back Manchester derby FA Cup finals.

As for the title race, the Blues have a slim two-point cushion at the top of the table but with Arsenal and Liverpool slipping up last weekend, it could prove to be the key slip-up they needed to now set the tone and finish the season strong as they often do. It’s going to be a blockbuster few weeks.

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

Featured Images — Sky Sports/Man City (via Instagram)

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