Harry Styles has personally reached out to one Wimbledon star after her successful run in the tennis tournament forced her to miss his gig.
Millions of fans in countless countries have had the chance to see the Cheshire-born singer live on stage as part of his major Love On Tour global tour over the last year or so – but unfortunately for tennis player Elina Svitolina, she wasn’t going to be one of them.
If you haven’t been keeping up to date with Wimbledon this year, the 28-year-old Ukrainian wildcard has been one of the unexpected stand-outs so far.
Just this past Sunday, Svitolina made it through to the quarter finals after beating 33-year-old Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in what was an undeniable three-set thriller on Court One, cementing her place as the talk of the tournament – but ahead of that fourth round match, the Ukrainian revealed that her successful run had come at a bit of a cost.
And that cost was missing out on seeing her favourite pop star Harry Styles live in concert.
Svitolina took to social media to reveal that she had bought tickets to go and watch Styles in Vienna as his Love On Tour run arrived in the Austrian capital last Saturday, but due to playing one of the most important matches of her career so far the next day, she was unable to go.
“Hey guys!! I was supposed to go to see my fav @harrystyles concert in Vienna tomorrow,” Svitolina wrote on Instagram.
ADVERTISEMENT
“But Wimbledon changed my plans. Someone want to go? I have two tickets.”
Harry Styles on stage on the Love On Tour tour / Credit: Harry Styles (Credit:
After Svitolina’s impressive victory grabbed headlines, thousands of fans headed to social media to congratulate the former world number three on her success – but it appears it wasn’t just tennis fans that reached out.
Harry Styles also personally got in touch with Svitolina to offer her the chance to reschedule her previous gig plans before his tour is over.
Commenting underneath a post about Svitolina missing his Vienna gig on the official Wimbledon Instagram account, Styles wrote: “Congratulations! We have four shows to go, you’re welcome at any of them.
“Good luck with the rest of the tournament. H.”
The remaining dates in Styles’ Love On Tour this month are Barcelona tomorrow (12 July) Madrid on Friday (14 July), Lisbon on 18 July, and Reggio Emilia in Italy on 22 July.
So if Svitolina gets all the way to Saturday’s women’s singles final, then Barcelona and Madrid are of course out of the question, but there’s a chance she could still catch Styles in Portugal or Italy if she takes the singer up on his generous offer.
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.
Emily Sergeant -
11th July 2023 
