With less than a week to go before the FIFA 2022 World Cup officially kicks-off, the England squad’s team photo has been released.
As the England team prepares to travel out to Qatar today, and with world football’s biggest tournament set to begin this Sunday, the official squad photo – which is taken and released before every international football tournament – has been shared with fans on social media.
Once again, the photo of the 26 players and manager Gareth Southgate showed them all decked-out in clothing from the team’s official tailor, M&S.
Or, as one fan chose to more-accurately describe it on Twitter, in their “supermarket garms”.
Unlike in previous years though, this year’s team photo has definitely gone with a more candid approach.
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The official England team photo for EURO 2022 shared last year showed the team dressed head-to-toe in formal suits and ties and resembled more of a school year group photo, whereas this year, you could say it looks more like a group of mates taking a photo before a night out – with most of the players smiling or laughing, and some even looking like they could be mid sentence.
A smiling Southgate can be seen sat in the middle of the group of players, with cheerful captain Harry Kane and veteran midfielder Jordan Henderson on either side.
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A series of equally-candid behind the scenes images from the photoshoot have also been shared.
Behind the scenes of the England squad’s World Cup 2022 official team photo shoot / Credit: England (via Twitter)
Fans have been reacting on social media to the shared photos, and seems like not everyone is impressed with the choice of tailor – yet again.
“Italy dripped out in Armani blazers, meanwhile England dressed in supermarket garms, how do we expect to be taken seriously?” one fan said on Twitter.
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Another even went as far as to saying their outfits “requires a formal apology”.
What are they wearing? This requires a formal apology
Plenty of other fans also pointed out that Leicester City midfielder James Maddison has awkwardly perched himself on the end of the group, and looks like the famous photo of Ashley Cole when he was pictured alongside his new Roma teammates.
Along with the official team pictures, the squad numbers for the tournament have also been revealed – with Southgate having given the numbers one to 12 to the same players who wore them at EURO 2020,
Both Manchester United and Manchester City named as teams with the least amount of local fans
Emily Sergeant
Both Manchester United and Manchester City have been identified as being teams with the least amount of local fans, according to a new survey.
We all know that supporting a local team can be seen as a mark of credibility among a certain kind of football fan, while on the flip side of that, not following a local team is often associated with being a ‘glory hunter’. But which Premier League clubs have the highest – and lowest – proportion of supporters living close to home?
Well, YouGov decided to use its profiles data to analyse the fanbases of all 20 Premier League clubs for the 2026-27 season to get the answer to this once and for all.
And it’s fair to say that it’s not looking the best for the Manchester teams.
The study found that, overall, Brighton & Hove Albion is the Premier League’s most local team – with 56% of fans based in the South East.
Sunderland (50%) and Nottingham Forest (49%) supporters are the next-most likely to live in the same region as their teams, followed by Aston Villa, Brentford, Ipswich, Leeds, Fulham, Hull, and Crystal Palace fans rounding out the top 10.
At the other end of the table, Manchester United has the second-lowest proportion of local supporters, with only a quarter based in the North West (23%), with one in six (17%) actually living in London instead.
And then as for Manchester City – who are widely considered to be the most successful team of the modern era – it has ranked fourth-bottom for local fans, as a quarter of the club’s supporters are based in the North West, with a fifth based in London (19%).
But although both United and City have found themselves towards the bottom end of the ranking, they are not the worst offenders.
That title, unfortunately, does belong to another North West team though – Liverpool.
Liverpool is the club with the lowest proportion of ‘local’ supporters, as just a fifth are based in the North West (21%) with the next highest concentration of fans can being found in London.
Featured Image – Johnny Gios (via Unsplash)
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Manchester Storm game postponed just one week after AO Arena return due to ‘technical issue with the ice’
Daisy Jackson
Manchester Storm’s second game back at the AO Arena had to be postponed over the weekend due to a ‘technical issue with the ice’.
The ice hockey team made a record-breaking return to the venue earlier this month, attracting some 11,000 fans to watch their match against Sheffield Steelers.
But just one week later, as Manchester Storm prepared to face off against The Nottingham Panthers, the game had to be postponed.
Fans were already inside the legendary venue when a ‘technical issue with the ice’ became apparent and the game was called off.
Manchester Storm and the AO Arena said they ‘sincerely apologise’ to supporters and ticket holders for the disruption.
The game has now been rescheduled to Wednesday 14 October, with tickets valid for the new fixture.
The full statement read: “Unfortunately today’s Manchester Storm game vs The Nottingham Panthers has been suspended due to a technical issue with the ice.
“We sincerely apologise to supporters and ticket holders for the disruption and would like to thank everyone in attendance for their patience.
Emily Sergeant -
15th November 2022 
