Bruno Fernandes’ on-field antics have once again sparked debate amongst football fans and pundits alike, this time over what was undoubtedly a very ‘soft’ penalty against Wigan Athletic which helped Manchester United into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Man United won 2-0 against the local side at the DW Stadium on Monday night, thanks to a lovely curled finish into the bottom corner from Diogo Dalot and the controversial spot kick, but it’s fair to say they were wasteful on the night and should have grabbed more.
With multiple missed chances from Rasmus Højlund before the penalty, the longer the game stayed at 1-0, the more it looked like they were pushing their luck and that Wigan might go up the other end and equalise — which made the tide-turning penalty even more frustrating for the home fans.
Going under very visible contact, albeit rather light and minimal, Fernandes‘ penalty has left many arguing both sides: was it a clear penalty under the laws of the game or a pantomime dive from a crafty creative midfielder? We’ll let you decide:
Let’s just say he isn’t a stranger to a bit of theatrics.
As you can see, the consensus in the ITV studio after the game from former United man Roy Keane, Arsenal legend Ian Wright and even ex-Wigan coach Roberto Martinez was that although awarding a penalty was technically the correct decision, it was “clever”, to say the least.
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The fact that it was widely publicised that there was no VAR on the night arguably makes Bruno’s behaviour on the pitch even more shrewd, as he will no doubt have taken that into account before the game and in the moment he decided to go down, no matter how little contact he received.
You won’t find many football fans, Red or otherwise, vehemently defending it as an ‘obvious’ pen and we’re sure most reasonable supporters would have understood had it ultimately been overturned — but the fact is, under the current state of refereeing, you can only really depend on the very letter of the law.
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Nevertheless, it hasn’t stopped people from criticising the Portuguese player for diving (something he’s fairly used to these days) and claiming he dived.
🗣️ 'That should be enough'
Bruno Fernandes has scored a controversial penalty to take Manchester United 2-0 up at Wigan in the FA Cup 3rd round ⚽ pic.twitter.com/SIU8utdInP
Fellow pundit Danny Murphy said, “By giving those penalties, we are encouraging players to dive with any, any contact. There was not enough contact to send him over”, adding, “It is an exaggerated fall, it is an awful decision”.
Latcis and League One followers, in general, made their feelings known on social media, with one account posting: “Feel sorry for Wigan Athletic after Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes had to cheat to get a penalty against the League One side. On the other hand, what a shift the Tics players did last night. The whole team should be proud”.
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What did you make of it — a clever bit of play-acting from a pro doing whatever he needs to do to help his team win, or a dive that only further adds to the problematic culture of simulation?
You can the highlights from Wigan Athletic vs Man United down below:
A pair of Paralympians born just down the road and honed two discipline-leading national performance centres here in Manchester have officially been awarded MBEs.
The Northerners doing the country proud – sounds about right.
First off, if the name Poppy Maskill doesn’t ring a bell, the promising Paralympic was Team GB’s best-performing para-athlete at Paris 2024 this past summer, contributing a total of five medals towards the nation’s joint-third-highest tally.
After her heroics at the Games, the teenager who turns 20 this weekend (Saturday, 29 March) was the recipient of an early and very prestigious birthday present, becoming one of the youngest individuals to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in history.
She was named on the New Year’s Honours list back in December but finally collected her latest medal in person this week following a ceremony at Windsor Castle, being honoured by King Charles III personally.
Hailing from Middlewich just less than an hour away from our city centre, Maskill might be a Cheshire girl by birth, but this young sporting gem is being polished right here at the state-of-the-art Manchester Aquatics Centre (MAC).
The youngster became the first Paralympian to pick up gold back in August after not only winning the 100m butterfly but smashing the world record in the process, too.
Competing in the S14 class – a category for athletes with intellectual impairments – she finished the heat with in just 1:03, surpassing the previous best by more than half a minute. But her impressive performance didn’t stop there.
MAC regular Maskill went on to win two more golds in the S14 100m backstroke and 4 x100m S14 freestyle relay, as well as a pair of silver medals in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley S14. Just incredible.
Poppy Maskill wasn’t the only Greater Manchester-based para-athlete who was recognised this month, though, as Stockport‘s very own two-time Paralympic champion Sophie Unwin was also presented with the accolade for her services to sport.
Named a member of the Order along with her co-pilot Jenny Holl, Unwin’s Paris 2024 medal haul included a double of golds in the women’s B 3000m individual pursuit and the road race tandem B, not to mention a silver in the road time trial and a bronze in the 1000m time trial at Paris 2024.
Following in the footsteps of fellow MBE and Stopfordian cycling legend, Dame Sarah Storey, who won her 19th gold medal to become Britain’s greatest Paralympian of all time – having made the most of MAC and the National Cycling Centre over in East Manchester during her career – the borough did us proud.
30-year-old Unwin has kicked on just as strong in the new year as well, notching a narrow victory to set an unofficial (unfortunately) world record of 4:36.737 in the women’s tandem at the 2025 Lloyds National Track Championships here in Manchester.
Ex-footballer Joey Barton has officially been found guilty of assaulting his wife following his two-day trial in the capital this week.
Barton, who played for Manchester City, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers and a number of other clubs, was convicted at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 25 March, following an incident back in June 2021.
The former midfielder left his wife, 37-year-old Georgia Barton (McNeil), with a bleeding nose and a bruise on her forehead following a drunken row at their home in London.
Barton is said to have grabbed and pushed her to the floor before kicking her in the head. Married in 2019, the two have four children and are thought to still be together.
The 42-year-old was still employed in professional football as the manager of Bristol Rovers at the time, but he was ultimately sacked in October 2023.
His wife called 999 at the time, telling police that he had hit her, but later retracted her statement.
Born in Huyton, Merseyside, the chief magistrate Paul Goldspring recognised that the one-time England has a history of violence.
He was given a 12-week suspended prison sentence, meaning he won’t serve time unless he commits another offence and has been ordered to pay £2,138.
Since dropping out of mainstream football, in particular, Barton has come under heavy criticism for allegations of racism, sexism and controversial right-wing politics; he even started an ‘anti-woke’ podcast called Common Sense with Joey Barton.
Back in June of last year, he was ordered to pay £35,000 in damages to settle a libel claim with presenter Jeremy Vine after a series of inflammatory comments made online.
The Radio 2 presenter sued Mr Barton earlier this year, after the former footballer wrote a series of posts suggesting Mr Vine had a sexual interest in children.
He also accused of threatening fellow former pro, Eni Aluko, after a torrent of abuse regarding her punditry online – the ex-England international even went so far as to say she no longer felt safe staying in the country.
Danny Jones -
9th January 2024 
