Sport

You can join the board of an actual football club in Cheshire if you’re really good at Football Manager

They currently operate in the 14th tier of English football — but can you take them all the way to the top?

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 23rd January 2024

If you’ve ever dreamed of being in the football industry, a local non-league team is giving fans of Football Manager that very chance in the hope of turning their in-game results into real-world success, offering up a share and board position at the club in a truly one-of-a-kind challenge.

In a pretty remarkable and fun little story from just, non-league side AFC Crewe from just down the road in east Cheshire has announced they will be awarding not only an official share in the club but a position on their board to the first person who wins the Premier League with them.

So many new obsessive saves are about to be started over the next few days.

The long-standing footy sim is probably one of the most popular games in the UK and a huge sports title all around Europe, with millions of players trying to take teams at the very bottom of the football pyramid all the way to the top purely for fun — now they have even more of an incentive.

Yes, you can bag yourself a genuine board position and become a shareholder in the club by simply playing Football Manager.

The community-owned club plays in Division 1 of the men’s Staffordshire County Senior League and the Cheshire Women’s and Youth Football League, having been taken over by the Nufan supporter-driven ownership initiative back in June 2022.

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Gradually consolidating their position in the league as a completely fan-owned club, people can buy into AFC Crewe for just £3.99 a month, allowing them to take part in the running of the club by making key decisions in day-to-day operations.

Building on this model, they’ve opened up their ownership model even further with this FM 24 (Football Manager 24) competition and anyone who has heard the story of Will Still, the FM player whose love of the videogame led him to become the youngest top-flight manager in Europe (yes, seriously), will know just how influential this kind of knowledge can prove to be.

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As explained in the terms of the challenge, all players and would-be owners need to do is win the Premier League with them and “the first to do it will become an official shareholder and join the club’s board who run the club online. Current board members are also encouraging players to keep them posted.

Such a great idea — and so many partners are about to be annoyed by their other half’s new addiction.

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To take part, all you need to do is simply download the ‘E20 – England Level 13’ division from the lower league Lower Leagues Database HERE or via Steam.

We can’t explain how much we love this idea — especially because we know how many people are going to take it so seriously that they inevitably fall out with their partners after ignoring them for hours on end.

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Best of luck to all of you and we’ll see you out on the touchline.

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

Featured Image — SEGA/Crewe AFC (via X)

Sport

Manchester City reveal trailer for upcoming Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary

Danny Jones Danny Jones Manchester City four in a row documentary

Man City have revealed the first trailer for their new Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary, charting the course of their record-breaking four consecutive Premier League titles.

The follow-up to the Together: Treble Winners series, City‘s highly-anticipated documentary dropped earlier this year following their historic 2023/23 season, the movie will follow the same concept and relive the Manchester club’s latest unprecedented feat from 20/21 onwards.

While the previous TV outing was picked up by Netflix, the latest instalment is set to arrive at the end of this month exclusively on CITY+.

You can see the trailer for Together: 4-In-A-Row down below:

The new Man City documentary will feature exclusive interviews with manager extraordinaire, Pep Guardiola, Ballon d’Or winner and Champions League-winning goalscorer Rodri, club captain Kyle Walker and many more.

There will also be footage including soon-to-depart Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, as well as the City Football Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano.

Swapping the series format for a feature-length film this time, this is arguably CITY+‘s biggest release to date, with the content subscription service typically offering full match replays, youth academy coverage, as well as smaller documentaries and podcasts.

The streaming service (accessible via the website, Man City app and smart TVs) was only started back in 2024 but now four years later, rather fittingly, it’s set to document the most important years in the club’s history.

We’ve seen multiple Man City docs in recent years – their 2018 All Or Nothing Amazon Prime Video mini-series being the first – but the launch of the Together franchise back in April has helped put City Studios, on the map.

The in-house entertainment arm, first set up in 2022, has even more ambitious plans for the coming years, with a huge deal to create multiple big-budget productions in collaboration with Sony.

City Football Group strike landmark deal with Sony for series of TV shows
Fans are getting even more behind-the-scenes content soon.

Gavin Johnson, Media Director at CFG, said of the trailer reveal: “We’re delighted to announce the release of our latest offering in the ‘Together’ collection.

“Produced once again by our award-winning in-house production and creative hub, City Studios, the documentary film offers our fans a true insight into the team and how they achieved the historic four-in-a-row success.”

Set to be released at 6pm UK time on 20 November, Together: 4-In-A-Row will only be able to watch via the CITY+ platform.

So, if you’re a Blue who wants to relive the last four years of non-stop silverware, you can enjoy a 30-day free trial, after which CITY+ is just £4.99 a month. An annual subscription can be purchased for £34.99 a year or for £30 with an Official Cityzens membership/season ticket.

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Featured Images — Manchester City

Sport

Man United legend Eric Cantona stuns Manchester artists with surprise visit to GRIT Studios

Danny Jones Danny Jones Eric Cantona surprises Manchester artists at GRIT Studios

Artists working at a Manchester studio were left speechless by a recent surprise visit from none other than Man United legend Eric Cantona.

The former United forward’s love for the city has never waned no matter how many years have gone by and as a lover of all things art, be it music, painting, acting or what he did with a football, he never fails to engage with local culture whenever he’s here.

He may not be based here anymore but the Frenchman – who knows a thing or two about art given his past acting jobs, newfound music career and previous showcases – still pays plenty of visits to 0161, including a recent unannounced one.

Cantona was back in the city centre this week to pay GRIT Studios resident Michael Browne, the artist who he collaborated with to create his National Football Museum exhibition last year, but the one thing Browne didn’t do was let the other people working in their city centre location he was coming.

GRIT Studios Manchester Stockport
Cantona pays Manchester art studio a surprise visit
Credit: GRIT Studios Manchester (supplied)

To be fair, anyone would double-take if they saw Eric Cantona walk into a room, so this was quite a memorable occasion for the unsuspecting artists.

After working on 2023’s From Moss Side to Marseille with Browne, the 58-year-old has been reimmersing himself in the world of Manchester art and there aren’t many places that epitomise that more than GRIT, who are based in Stockport with a second studio at Great Northern Warehouse.

Landing in Manchester from Paris, Cantona arrived in the late morning and ended up staying for over an hour, taking time to meet a number of artists and tour the space with co-founder John Macaulay.

Clearly impressed with their work and genuinely enthused by the sense of community within the local grassroots art scene, it was a special visit for everyone involved.

John, a die-hard Man United fan who has seen the Red Devils play in 25 countries before going on to set up GRIT Studios and much-loved Art Battle MCR with his wife Sophie, said: “It’s full circle for me having watched Eric play all over the world, it’s true honour that he’s flown in to see our talented artists.”

eric cantona back in manchester
eric cantona at manchester art studio
Credit: Supplied

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Artists spent time chatting with Eric and talking through their creative processes; those present included mosaic artist, Francis Thorrington, plein air (outdoor) artist, Sketch MCR – a.k.a. Ben Rock – painters Jodie Silverman, Helen Davies and Sophie Macaulay, as well as woodworker Gus Riddell.

Also a fellow United fan, Francis said he simply “couldn’t stop smiling the whole time” after Cantona described his work as wonderful.

Eric looked at home when he picked up and started strumming Chris Pollin’s hand-made guitars, which are handcrafted from driftwood and take hundreds of hours of work.

The enigmatic sports personality turned pop philosopher and cultural figure clearly enjoyed the visit. His final message was that it was refreshing to see a place where “art was for everyone” not just the elite.

As for Browne, he is sworn to secrecy on his next project but let’s just say you can expect some big announcements in the coming weeks. As for GRIT, you can visit one of their open days this Saturday, 16 November and make sure to check out their Stockport studio if you’re in the area.

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

Featured Images — GRIT Studios (supplied)

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