Teenage darting sensation Luke Littler’s career just keeps getting more and more interesting before it’s barely even started as the youngster is now starring in cereal adverts. As you do.
Still just 17, the Warrington-born darts player has become every’s favourite new sporting personality, setting the 2024 World Darts Championships alight on his debut and adding a first senior trophy at the Bahrain Masters to his two PDC Youth titles as he made the step-up to the big time.
Most young talents have to develop some cachet and wait a few years before they start scoring brand deals but since virtually everyone in the country and sports fans around the world have fallen in love with Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler, those rules don’t seem to apply here.
For his first foray not only into ads but also a bit of acting, the local lad has been chosen by the Sidemen YouTube group to be the face of their new breakfast cereal brand simply called, ‘BEST’. See what they did there?
17 year old Luke Littler features in an advert for the Sidemen’s newest business venture, Best Breakfasts.
Flawless and understated acting by the way — 10/10, no notes whatsoever.
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Yes, following in the footsteps of everyone from David Beckham, Jessica Ennis-Hill Gary Lineker and perhaps most similarly in this case, Michael Jordan, Littler has joined the list of countless sports stars who have lent their face to a big brand name.
The only difference is he’s done it before the ink on his GCSE papers has barely even dried yet.
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As for BEST cereal itself, it’s the latest business venture from the group of YouTubers, social media stars and influencers who recently opened up their first chicken shop in Manchester over in the Arndale late last year.
The breakfast cereal officially launched on Wednesday, 6 March and has already been spotted in Tesco stores, which have partnered as the brand’s lead retailer for now.
Now, while we can’t yet vouch for how it tastes and whether it’s any good, we’ve got a lot of love for them bigging up the hottest prospect in darts in such a laid-back, amusing and clever little ad.
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Given the clamour we’ve previously seen from people hunting down Sidemen co-founder KSI’s other food and drink brand, Prime, we’re reluctantly bracing for a similar frenzy from fans and all we’ll say is eating makes us as good at darts as he is, we’ll give it a go.
Pass me a bowl and let me smash a nine-darter against van Gerwen at the Ally Pally, no problem.
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 -
6th March 2024 
