Manchester United might have gotten their revenge over Aston Villa with their 4-2 win on Thursday night, but not without one player once again winding up a fair few fans online.
Bruno Fernandes has been one of the most important players for United since he arrived at the club back in January 2020, enjoying an utterly ridiculous debut season for stats and having played a key creative role ever since.
However, while he scored on the night and helped the Reds come back from a goal down on two occasions with his deflected finish, assist and all-round his chance creation, arguably his biggest moment in the game came when he decided to collapse into defender Ezri Konsa.
Even for Bruno, this is pretty ridiculous. Social media certainly seemed to agree, anyway.
One of his finest performances to date. Academy Award’s in the post.
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Even among many United fans, Bruno’s diving and fairly regular on-pitch antics have become a source of frustration, so you can only imagine how it’s received by fans of other teams.
Reacting to a lengthy post on the r/soccer subreddit, fans branded his latest dive as “classic Bruno” and “absolutely laughable, some even went so far as to label him a “little rat” and “the whiniest c*** in the league”. Tell us how you really feel.
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Despite his impressive performance in the second-half turnaround, the truth is that this kind of sh*thousery is just part and parcel of Fernandes’ game and, much to the annoyance of other teams and fans, often yields results.
Either way, thanks to goals from Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay and an equaliser from Anthony Martial on his comeback, United were back to winning ways after having been turned over by Villa 3-1 just days before.
There was also another appearance by Alejandro Garnacho, who managed to grab two assists and the man of the match award in just over half an hour on the pitch.
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The youngster is one of the hottest prospects at the club and fans have been crying out to see more of him. It’s clear to see why. Bruno himself has already explained that Garnacho’s “attitude” back in pre-season was one of the main reasons he’s been made to wait.
The Red Devils are now through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup and still have eight wins in their last 11 games, not to mention are sitting fifth in the Premier League with a game in hand on the two teams above them.
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 -
11th November 2022 
