Mary Earps and Sarina Wiegman were handed best goalkeeper and best women’s coach during Monday night’s Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 following their incredible Euro 2022 campaign.
The Lionesses coach and Manchester United keeper picked up their respective awards after having played a huge role in bringing home England’s first major international trophy since 1966.
Stepping up to receive her accolade first, Earps looked pretty taken aback by the win, even joking that she would have worn a different dress had she thought she was in with a shot.
Nevertheless, it was her deeply personal and emotive speech that touched both those in the crowd and watching at home, thanking her family for having “picked [her] up off the kitchen floor” during difficult times and dedicating the award to “anyone who’s ever been in a dark place”.
A wonderful player AND a wonderful human being – Mary Earps ❤️
The 29-year-old — who nearly retired from football all together after being dropped from the national squad back and left as third-choice keeper for the 2019 World Cup — made sure to heap praise on her fellow England teammates and, of course, Wiegman herself, who helped bring her back into the fold.
After also giving a nod to the staff at United, Earps admitted she’d “run out of words to say thanks” to Wiegman for giving her a chance to fight for her place and for “believing in [her] the way [she has]”.
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As for Sarina herself, the Dutch coach was just quick to shift the recognition onto her team, fellow staff members and the FA, insisting that “this award is for all of us”.
Describing herself as a person who simply loved the sport from the moment she could walk, the 53-year-old said, “it’s just incredible to be here right now and celebrate women’s football in the world”.
Having seen the game grow and develop over the years, Weigman went on to say: “we have heroes now: they’re all in the room. Little girls have their idols, they have inspiration… so many people across the world have so worked hard to get the game where it is right now and I want to thank them for that”.
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Elsewhere on the night, Lionel Messi was unsurprisingly named as the men’s player of the year after having finally completed his trophy cabinet with a World Cup, and Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas won the award for best women’s players of the year.
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 -
28th February 2023 
