If you told us that we’d one day be writing about professional wrestler-turned-actor John Cena and Lancashire Cricket Club in the same sentence, we’d probably have given you a funny look.
However, as weird a combo as it may sound, that day has come.
You’d be forgiven for not knowing this but it turns out John Cena follows A LOT of people on social media and not exactly people you’d expect him to be following.
We’re talking everyone from random fans, comedian-actor Danny Wallace, various regional journalists home and abroad; even our lovely editor — though that makes much more sense, we admit (great content, boss, please don’t sack me).
Honestly, you only have to type in ‘John Cena followed me’ on Twitter to pull up literally thousands of results. This was one posted literally minutes before we started writing this:
As it turns out, Cena follows some over 533, 700 different people on Twitter alone and we seriously can’t find much of a thread that links any of them, but that doesn’t make any it less fun to dive into.
With that in mind, it recently came to light that the 45-year-old WWE legend and Suicide Squad star just so happens to follow Lancashire Cricket Club. Because why not?
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Playing just down the road at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Lancashire Cricket might sound like a far cry away from the Hollywood sound stages and giant entertainment arenas where he made his name, but the familiar face has actually played a bit of cricket in his time.
Better still, thanks to the social media guys over at the Manchester-based cricket club and their absolutely impeccable response to spotting a certain Cena in their likes, he’s been put in Lancs colours. Turns out you can see him after all:
Somebody give that social admin a pay rise, right now.
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Not so long ago, Cena did address the question as to why he follows so many people and the answer was actually quite a simple but wholesome one.
“It’s tough to follow the timelines because of how many people I follow. But I am trying to learn more about the world.”, he told ESPN‘s ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast, confessing that he even went down “a rabbit hole following EDM dance culture and non-fungible tokens and also Twitch streamers”.
He said that part of the reason is that he simply knows “nothing about any of these avenues of the world” and gets a kick out of people following him and vice versa, adding: “I am learning a little bit about each and every person as I go.” Well that’s just nice, isn’t it?
Guess we have a new favourite wrestler. Give us a follow while you’re at it, John.
Featured Image — Wikimedia Commons/Lancashire Cricket Club (via Twitter)
Sport
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 -
25th January 2023 
