Cristiano Ronaldo is receiving heavy criticism after he posted a photo with controversial speaker and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson over the weekend.
Sharing an image to his Instagram on Saturday, 10 December, the Manchester United legend was seen posing with his arm around Peterson along with the caption: “Nice to see you my friend!”
While the details surrounding the meeting remain unclear, the Portuguese captain hinted that this won’t be their last.
Peterson, 60, replied by stating: “I’ve rarely met anyone who more clearly deserved what they earned. Good to meet you”. The Canadian has long been outspoken on modern work culture, purporting to have put in at least 14 hours a day since 1985 – i.e. more than 100 hours each week for nearly 40 years.
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The author, psychologist and public speaker has become one of the most divisive figures online in recent years due to his opinions on women, masculinity and gender politics as a whole.
Safe to say, many Manchester United and Ronaldo fans didn’t take well to seeing the two together.
Plenty of those commenting below the Instagram post itself settled for a series of throwing up emojis; some simply wrote ‘disappointed’, however, several expressed their support for both.
One again, many came to the number seven’s defence, with one person responding: “In what world is Cristiano entitled. He grew up in a shack in a severely poor island of Portugal. And is one of the hardest workers on the planet. You are severely uneducated with a comment like that.”
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Nevertheless, many went even further by citing a quote from Peterson’s thought’s on feminists and drawing a correlation between Ronaldo’s own controversies.
Cristiano Ronaldo with Jordan Peterson, the guy who said feminists have “an unconscious wish for brutal male domination” pic.twitter.com/TUKpLx4maV
The sports star ‘firmly denies’ the allegations made by Kathryn Mayorga, an American woman who told Der Spiegel that Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel suite back in 2009.
Regardless, Ronaldo is reported to have paid Ms Mayorga an out-of-court settlement of $375,000 according to leaked documents viewed back in 2019.
With that in mind, for many football fans, his legacy was called into question some time ago.
Featured Image – Cristiano Ronaldo (via Instagram)
Sport
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 -
13th September 2022 
