Sport
Gary Neville explains brilliant reason his hotel lost £3m during the pandemic
Spoiler alert: because he’s an absolute legend
Gary Neville has fired back after the Mirror’s football column published an article detailing how his hotel had lost £3 million over the course of the pandemic.
The outlet shared the piece on Twitter with the caption: “Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville’s Hotel Football loses £3m in two years and owes £10m in loans”.
Quote tweeting them just a few hours later, the Manchester United legend turned pundit quickly responded with a revised headline for them. Can’t lie, we prefer his…
He’s absolutely had their pants down, here.
As he explains in less than 280 characters, the reason why the business took such a financial hit – beyond the unavoidable obstacles of the pandemic itself – is that they paid staff ‘100% of their wages’ and also hosted ‘120 medical professionals and nurses’.
In case the news passed you by at the time, back in March 2020 the hotel announced that they would provide Covid-secure housing for NHS staff sheltering from vulnerable family members at absolutely no cost for at least nine months.
They lived up to the promise and more, liaising with Deliveroo to deliver hundreds of free hot meals for several weeks.
Sharing the following video when furlough was rolled out across the UK, Neville announced that the business owners would be putting up hundreds of frontline workers in Old Trafford’s Hotel Football and the Stock Exchange hotel, located in Manchester’s City Centre.
Neville and Giggs bought the Stock Exchange under the banner of their GG Hospitality Group in 2013 and opened Hotel Football two years later, along with the help of brother Phil and fellow Class of ‘92 members, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.
In the financial documents first viewed by the Daily Star, the company are said to have £1,148,879 in 2021 and even more in 2020: £2,042,812.
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They are even said to have pulled money National Museum of Football, as well as taking out loans totalling £10.2m from the firm’s parent company to keep everything ticking over.
Nevertheless and even with rising inflation during and post-Covid, Neville insisted: “The directors have continued their policy of investing in the hotel to improve operational performance and to promote the Hotel Football brand”.
All that while providing a vital lifeline for key workers. Hero.
Featured image: Sky
Sport
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.
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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)
Sport
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.
“We advise attendees to retain their tickets which will remain valid for the rescheduled fixture.
“Those with single-game tickets for this game and seeking a refund are advised to contact their point of purchase.
“The rescheduled game will take place on Wednesday 14th October 2026.
“Manchester Storm and AO Arena would like to thank attendees for their understanding.”
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Featured image: Supplied
Danny Jones -
6th September 2022 
