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.
Manchester United, GMP, and the Council is clamping down on ‘illegal’ matchday parking at Old Trafford
Emily Sergeant
Manchester United has joined forces with police and the local Council to take action on a number of offences outside Old Trafford on match days.
This includes “illegal” parking, street trading, and so much more.
The football club teamed up with its partners, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Trafford Council, for another day of action to clampdown on a wide range of offences taking place outside its home stadium ahead of the team’s hotly-anticipated Premier League match against fierce local rivals, Liverpool, on Sunday 7 April.
Police and officers from the Council’s Regulatory Services Team tackled a number of issues on the day of action.
These included what was described as ‘rogue trading’ and ‘illegal street trading’, taxis illegally plying for hire or causing obstructions, and illegal parking, as well as the monitoring of food hygiene at food stands outside the stadium.
⛔ Old Trafford crackdown: illegal traders shown a red card
Working with @GMPstretford and @ManUtd, we took action last weekend ahead of United’s game versus Liverpool to stop:
❌ rogue street traders ❌ illegal taxis ❌ illegal parking
As part of this particular day of action – which followed a similar event outside Old Trafford on 24 February, ahead of United’s game against Fulham – Council officers and GMP staff spoke to more than 100 licensed taxis and hackney carriage drivers about illegal parking and illegally plying for hire, and 19 Fixed Penalty Notices were handed out to vehicles parked illegally on a clearway outside the ground.
Licensing and trading standards officers, along with Manchester United’s brand protection team, also spoke with all of the licensed pitches and street traders/peddlers outside the stadium, and a total of 73 products were removed for breaking rules under the Trade Marks Act.
Further legal action is set to be taken against some traders who were committing offences and were obstructive towards Council officers who were trying to carry out their tasks, according to Trafford Council.
Manchester United, GMP, and Council to clampdown on ‘illegal’ matchday parking at Old Trafford / Credit: GMP Stretford
“Our partnership work with Trafford Council is vital in being able to tackle illegal street trading and parking issues,” a spokesperson for GMP said in a statement following the day of action.
“We will continue to work with our partners to ensure a safe matchday experience, both inside and out of the stadium, for all those attending the ground.”
Jim Liggett, who is the Director of Operations at Manchester United, also explained that the club was “pleased” to have been able to join forces with Trafford Council and GMP on their day of action to clampdown on “illegal behaviour” outside Old Trafford.
He added: “We remain committed to supporting the local authorities as we seek to collectively reduce any impact matches at Old Trafford may have on the community around the stadium.”
Featured Image – Trafford Council
Sport
Stockport County secure promotion back to League One after 16 years
Danny Jones
They’ve done it: Stockport County have been promoted back into League One with a 2-0 win over Morecambe FC, seeing them return to the English third division after 16 years.
Having been sat at the top of the table for the bulk of the season, the Hatters came into Saturday’s home game knowing that they only needed a point to climb out of League Two having only managed to end an 11-year exile from the EFL back in 2021/22.
Only a couple of years on and now the Greater Manchester side has managed to secure promotion with a fairly comfortable victory and time to spare, with all the potential to lift the trophy and come up as champions – which manager Dave Challinor has insisted is the only way squad want to do it.
Yeah, let’s be honest, they were never taking heed of that ‘no pitch invasions’ warning…
It was a familiar face opening the scoring as County’s top scorer made it 20 goals for the season to send Edgeley Park into early raptures.
Stockport locals had already been dreaming long before these last few weeks as demonstrably one of the best teams for most of the year but it felt it touching distance at this point.
Then jumped up Fraser Horsfall – perhaps not the likeliest of scorers but certainly more than capable of climbing at the back post to power home a header, which is exactly what he did to tie a ribbon on the definitive result.
With title rivals and celebrity-backed Wrexham AFC also securing promotion with a 6-0 battering of Forest Green Rovers, it’s going to be a great shoot-out for the top spot and an electric end to the season as we wait to see who will win the league with just a few fixtures left to go.
All that being said, whether you’re a Stockport County fan or not, what a job Dave Challinor has done in the short time he’s been at the club.
From languishing in the National League for over a decade to being back where a ground like theirs deserves to be, they’re sure to be a great addition to League One next season.
Well done to the Hatters and all the best to the County fans who we’re sure are going to make the most of the weekend celebrations.
Danny Jones -
11th November 2022 
