Young Manchester United fan Anderson Pollard was recently given the all-clear following a battle with cancer and as his footballing role model was often on his mind throughout his treatment, the club organised for him to meet his hero: Alejandro Garnacho.
Seven-year-old Anderson from Redditch, Worcestershire was sadly diagnosed with a rare type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in May last year after initially being diagnosed with nothing more than constipation.
However, after going back to the GP shortly after, he was immediately rushed to the hospital for a CT scan and was found to have multiple tumours in his stomach, meaning he had to go through months of aggressive treatment including chemotherapy, bone marrow aspirations and several surgeries.
Throughout his treatment, doctors used an emergency question to check his cognitive responsiveness and Anderson’s was a tap-in: ‘Who has played with Ronaldo & Messi?’ His answer each time, without fail, was ‘Garnacho‘. When Man United learned of this, they simply had to get the two of them together.
Garnacho meets his biggest fan, Anderson, after being given the all-clear.
How lovely is this?
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His intense treatment is a lot for anyone to go through, let alone a little kid, but Anderson fought hard and was thankfully declared cancer-free on 18 September 2023. The United Foundation does plenty with local hospitals and children’s charities but they couldn’t help but reach out to the Pollard family.
As his dad Sam says throughout the video, there was pretty much only one thing on the little lad’s mind throughout his time in Birmingham Children’s Hospital and that was his idol, so when United got in touch to arrange for a visit to the Carrington Training Complex, he was over the moon.
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Little did he know it was more than just a tour around the ground and that he would be surprised by none other than Garnacho himself. Signing his shirt and gifting him a ball, the Argentine winger called Anderson “a warrior” before presenting him win Manchester United’s Bravery Award for 2024.
Garnacho didn’t just come to meet the wide-eyed young fan, he also surprised him with a Bravery Award for beating cancer. (Credit: supplied)
And the heartwarming scenes didn’t stop there either, as even before his surprise visit to Carrington, Anderson and his family were gifted tickets to go and see the Reds in person.
It isn’t the first time we’ve seen Garnacho taking time out to meet superfans either, as he also surprised another youngster with a touching gesture after the Everton game last year.
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 -
1st February 2024 
