Ex-Arsenal and England players Ian Wright and Kelly Smith recently helped do up a set of girls’ changing facilities in Greater Manchester as part of a national community football initiative.
The former forwards and club legends teamed up with the Barclays to restore some female football facilities in Cheetham Hill on Tuesday, 7 February, chipping in with everything from plastering and painting to helping a group of young girls with some training.
The BCFF is committed to helping reduce inequalities across UK football, with grants made available annually to various groups that wish to start offering football programmes or expand their existing ones to new, under-represented audiences.
ADVERTISEMENT
Primarily focusing on women’s sport and young people from lower socio-economic and under-represented groups, as well as racially diverse communities, people with disabilities, and people from the LGBTQ+ community, the fund is set to support thousand across the UK.
It is thought around 5,500 different community groups will receive a total investment of £1 million a year, engaging more than 300,000 young people in inclusive football activities.
ADVERTISEMENT
As for VIY, members are being actively trained in skills such as painting, plastering and carpentry whilst working on this first section in a longer three-month improvement project at Cheetham Hill Sports Club.
Wright, 59, said: “I just want every girl to be able to play football if they want to. There are so many things that women’s and girls’ football needs. First, they need the pitch and the coaches. They also need facilities where they can feel safe, secure and valued, just like the boys do.
“That’s why the BCFF is important; it’s giving money to local projects in communities around the UK. There’s no point just focusing on the elite game; this is where the love and dreams start. This kind of investment into grassroots is where it’s going to make a real difference.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Following the success of the Lionesses and their historic Euro 2022 win, Wright was one of the first express the importance of capitalising on the momentum building in female sport.
Delivering a powerful speech last summer, he said: “If there’s no legacy after this, then what are we doing? Girls should be able to play”.
"If there is no legacy after this, then what are we doing? Because girls should be able to play." 🗣
As for Smith, who knows all too well the obstacles women and young girls, especially, can face when it comes to getting into the world of sport, she clearly recognised the importance of the fund’s work.
“All I’ve ever wanted to do was play football. Growing up, I was kicked off my local team because I was a girl and there was no girls’ team to join. It was soul-destroying.
“Giving girls a space they belong in football will make a difference. That’s why this build at Cheetham Hill is important. It’s exactly what I wanted and needed as a kid.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Thankfully, with the help of similar schemes like the sustainable community pitch unveiled by Phil Foden and Ella Toone, not to mention Andy Burnham’s push to back more girls to get into football, plenty of young girls will have the tools and safe place to get playing in Manchester.
Manchester City reveal trailer for upcoming Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary
Danny Jones
Man City have revealed the first trailer for their new Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary, charting the course of their record-breaking four consecutive Premier League titles.
The follow-up to the Together: Treble Winners series, City‘s highly-anticipated documentary dropped earlier this year following their historic 2023/23 season, the movie will follow the same concept and relive the Manchester club’s latest unprecedented feat from 20/21 onwards.
While the previous TV outing was picked up by Netflix, the latest instalment is set to arrive at the end of this month exclusively on CITY+.
You can see the trailer for Together: 4-In-A-Row down below:
The new Man City documentary will feature exclusive interviews with manager extraordinaire, Pep Guardiola, Ballon d’Or winner and Champions League-winning goalscorer Rodri, club captain Kyle Walker and many more.
There will also be footage including soon-to-depart Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, as well as the City Football Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano.
Swapping the series format for a feature-length film this time, this is arguably CITY+‘s biggest release to date, with the content subscription service typically offering full match replays, youth academy coverage, as well as smaller documentaries and podcasts.
The streaming service (accessible via the website, Man City app and smart TVs) was only started back in 2024 but now four years later, rather fittingly, it’s set to document the most important years in the club’s history.
We’ve seen multiple Man City docs in recent years – their 2018 All Or Nothing Amazon Prime Video mini-series being the first – but the launch of the Together franchise back in April has helped put City Studios, on the map.
The in-house entertainment arm, first set up in 2022, has even more ambitious plans for the coming years, with a huge deal to create multiple big-budget productions in collaboration with Sony.
Fans are getting even more behind-the-scenes content soon.
Gavin Johnson, Media Director at CFG, said of the trailer reveal: “We’re delighted to announce the release of our latest offering in the ‘Together’ collection.
“Produced once again by our award-winning in-house production and creative hub, City Studios, the documentary film offers our fans a true insight into the team and how they achieved the historic four-in-a-row success.”
Set to be released at 6pm UK time on 20 November, Together: 4-In-A-Row will only be able to watch via the CITY+ platform.
So, if you’re a Blue who wants to relive the last four years of non-stop silverware, you can enjoy a 30-day free trial, after which CITY+ is just £4.99 a month. An annual subscription can be purchased for £34.99 a year or for £30 with an Official Cityzens membership/season ticket.
Man United legend Eric Cantona stuns Manchester artists with surprise visit to GRIT Studios
Danny Jones
Artists working at a Manchester studio were left speechless by a recent surprise visit from none other than Man United legend Eric Cantona.
The former United forward’s love for the city has never waned no matter how many years have gone by and as a lover of all things art, be it music, painting, acting or what he did with a football, he never fails to engage with local culture whenever he’s here.
He may not be based here anymore but the Frenchman – who knows a thing or two about art given his past acting jobs, newfound music career and previous showcases – still pays plenty of visits to 0161, including a recent unannounced one.
Cantona was back in the city centre this week to pay GRIT Studios resident Michael Browne, the artist who he collaborated with to create his National Football Museum exhibition last year, but the one thing Browne didn’t do was let the other people working in their city centre location he was coming.
Credit: GRIT Studios Manchester (supplied)
To be fair, anyone would double-take if they saw Eric Cantona walk into a room, so this was quite a memorable occasion for the unsuspecting artists.
After working on 2023’s From Moss Side to Marseille with Browne, the 58-year-old has been reimmersing himself in the world of Manchester art and there aren’t many places that epitomise that more than GRIT, who are based in Stockport with a second studio at Great Northern Warehouse.
Landing in Manchester from Paris, Cantona arrived in the late morning and ended up staying for over an hour, taking time to meet a number of artists and tour the space with co-founder John Macaulay.
Clearly impressed with their work and genuinely enthused by the sense of community within the local grassroots art scene, it was a special visit for everyone involved.
John, a die-hard Man United fan who has seen the Red Devils play in 25 countries before going on to set up GRIT Studios and much-loved Art Battle MCR with his wife Sophie, said: “It’s full circle for me having watched Eric play all over the world, it’s true honour that he’s flown in to see our talented artists.”
Artists spent time chatting with Eric and talking through their creative processes; those present included mosaic artist, Francis Thorrington, plein air (outdoor) artist, Sketch MCR – a.k.a. Ben Rock – painters Jodie Silverman, Helen Davies and Sophie Macaulay, as well as woodworker Gus Riddell.
Also a fellow United fan, Francis said he simply “couldn’t stop smiling the whole time” after Cantona described his work as wonderful.
Eric looked at home when he picked up and started strumming Chris Pollin’s hand-made guitars, which are handcrafted from driftwood and take hundreds of hours of work.
The enigmatic sports personality turned pop philosopher and cultural figure clearly enjoyed the visit. His final message was that it was refreshing to see a place where “art was for everyone” not just the elite.
As for Browne, he is sworn to secrecy on his next project but let’s just say you can expect some big announcements in the coming weeks. As for GRIT, you can visit one of their open days this Saturday, 16 November and make sure to check out their Stockport studio if you’re in the area.
Danny Jones -
8th February 2023 
