Harry Maguire’s mum has come out in passionate defence of her son following the ongoing torrent of abuse her son has received of late and, indeed, over the past couple of seasons, sharing an emotional statement on social media.
Proud mum Zoe Maguire took to Instagram following the latest raft of online abuse, chants by fans inside Hampden Park and treatment by sections of the media following his performance against Scotland earlier this week.
England might have won the game 3-1 in the end and never looked in much danger of letting the victory slip through their fingers but, in the one real moment they did, it came at the expense of the Manchester United centre-back who sadly scored an own goal within twenty minutes of coming on to the pitch.
Maguire was subbed on after half-time and was immediately subjected to sarcastic, anticipant chants of ‘ooooh’ from the home fans every time he received the ball, as well as ironic cheers after every pass — treatment that clearly resulted in the nervous reaction intended. Now, having been once again mocked in the days since, his mother finally decided she’d had enough.
Harry Maguire’s mum issues emotional statement to her son’s upsetting reception (Credit: Zoe Maguire via Instagram)
Sharing a lengthy post on Instagram, the mum of four wrote: “As a mum seeing the level of negative and abusive comments in which my son is receiving from some fans, pundits and the media is disgraceful and totally unacceptable to any walk of life never mind someone who works his socks off for club and country.
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“I was there in the stand as usual, it’s not acceptable what’s been created, over nothing. I understand that in the football world there are ups and downs, positives and negatives but what Harry receives has gone far beyond “football”. For me seeing him go through what he’s going through is not ok.
“I would hate to have to see any other parents or players go through this in the future, especially the young boys and girls breaking through the ranks today. Harry has a massive heart, and it’s a good job he’s mentally strong and can handle it as others may not be able to. I wish this sort of abuse on nobody!”
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She isn’t the only one who came to defence and urged fans to stand down either, as manager Gareth Southgate gave an equally passionate response defending his off-relied-upon centre-half.
The England manager's had enough and says he's absolutely "livid" about it all.https://t.co/ftw0eGjZ57
It’s no secret that the out-of-favour defender has had a rough go of it over the past couple of seasons and after his holiday drama over in Greece, numerous high-profile mistakes made at club level and now a fair few shakey showings for his country, he simply hasn’t looked the same layer for a while now.
Having been stripped of the Man United captaincy earlier this year and dropped from the starting lineup (at least up until the club suffered multiple injuries along their backline), it hasn’t been a great start to the 2023/24 season either.
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That being said, the growing feeling is that the 30-year-old’s treatment even by his own fans — with England supporters joking “he scored because you’re sh*t” following his own goal on Tuesday — is becoming ridiculous and over the top. Maguire himself shrugged it off after the game, saying the disproportionate focus just “takes the pressure off” his teammates.
Even before his most recent gaffes and links with finally leaving Old Trafford after a torrid past couple of years, United fullback Luke Shaw said this last year that he believes Maguire has suffered “more abuse than he’s ever seen in football”. Do you agree?
Featured Image — Zoe Maguire/Harry Maguire (via Instagram)
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Manchester’s National Football Museum to screen England’s Euro 2025 matches for free this summer
Emily Sergeant
England’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 matches are to be shown on big screens for free in Manchester this summer.
As England women’s national football team look to retain their title and continue to build on their ever-growing success as one of the best national football teams in the world, Manchester‘s National Football Museum is set to host a series of family-friendly watch parties after hours for the UEFA Women’s Euros this summer.
Visitors of all ages are welcome to support and celebrate England as they kick-off their campaign against France in the group stages on 5 July, followed by matches against the Netherlands on 9 July, and Wales on 13 July.
As Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses head to Switzerland with the hopes of being crowned European champions, you can head to the National Football Museum for some safe and inclusive fun.
Not only will the matches be shown in all their glory for free on a big screen, but you can also expect an on-site bar, and even the option to pre-order pizza ahead of time to feast on while you’re watching the action.
Watch parties will be taking place at the National Football Museum on the following dates:
France v England – 5 July at 8pm
England v Netherlands – 9 July at 5pm
England v Wales – 13 July at 8pm
To mark the beginning of the tournament, the museum will also be hosting a vibrant weekend of events on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July, so get ready to strike a pose in Lionesses’ kits, create your own dazzling banner, and drum-up support with your very own chant.
Manchester’s National Football Museum is screening England’s Euro 2025 matches for free this summer / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“This promises to be an exciting summer for football,” said Tim Desmond, who is the CEO of the National Football Museum.
“We want to bring the powerful sense of community that tournament football delivers to our museum, helping both new and returning visitors understand why football matters, and witness the impact our pioneering Lionesses can have in inspiring generations of budding young footballers.
“That’s why we are so delighted to be able to offer watch parties for this year’s tournament, providing a safe, inclusive, and exciting place for all fans to cheer on England.”
Featured Image – Molly Darlington / The FA (via England on Facebook)
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Manchester City confirm fourth signing of the summer as spending spree continues
Danny Jones
Manchester City have officially revealed their fourth signing of the summer window after confirming the transfer of top target Tijjani Reijnders.
The highly sought-after Serie A midfielder joins the club from AC Milan on a five-year contract for an initial fee of approximately £46.5 million, after having been tracked by a number of clubs across Europe over the past season or so.
Reijnders, 26, registered 15 goals and five assists from central midfielder last season (more than any other player in the league) with Italian football journalist Mina Rzouki stating that he models his game on Kevin De Bruyne, making him the perfect replacement for the Belgian – on paper, at least.
Finally unveiled on Wednesday, 11 June, he is arguably the statement signing of what looks to be a continued spending spree which began back in January.
With Man City splashing roughly £200m to kick off the 2025 calendar year as they brought the likes of Omar Marmoush and a trio of defensively geared players in Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and CDM Nico Gonzalez, it seems like they started as they mean to go on.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak assured fans that the club would be picking up “several players” in a recent interview after he argued they hadn’t been aggressive enough last summer, and given that the current main window hasn’t even been open for a fortnight yet, we’d say he’s sticking to that promise.
This year actually marks a rare instance of the transfer window being broken up into two parts due to the FIFA Club World Cup (which City are among the favourites to win) and will then re-open on 16 June.
Nevertheless, the Blues look to have got plenty of their business done already, not only with the arrival of Reijnders but the acquisition of left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri earlier this week, plus another attack-minded midfielder, Rayan Cherki.
The second player of Algerian descent and the second signing of the summer window was quickly announced by the Man City social media team just before the Dutchman.
Along with the signing of a new shotstopper, Marcus Betinelli from Chelsea – set to replace former reserve goalkeeper Scott Carson, who left the club after six seasons on Monday – that makes it four new incoming already.
Once again, not only do these latest additions to Pep Guardiola’s squad take their transfer total to over £300m on new talent in 2025, but there is still plenty of time for City to sign even more players with the summer window not closing until 7pm BST on 1 September.
Although the club have now acquired all of the players they have been most publicly linked with so far, it’s unclear whether their spending will continue or if the focus now turns to the Club World Cup getting underway this month and preparing the current squad for next season.
What do you make of Man City‘s latest recruits? Don’t forget, there have been some new arrivals in the backroom as well.
Danny Jones -
14th September 2023 
