A group of Newport County fans went viral during this weekend’s FA Cup tie against Manchester United after their comedic sign mocking Marcus Rashford and his night out controversy was caught by the cameras.
Man United managed to progress to the next round of the FA Cup following a 4-2 win away at Newport, despite making hard work of it, but one of the standout moments of the night turned out to be the small group of home supporters who got very creative with their sign-making skills on Sunday night.
Just a day after the news broke that Rashford had been dropped from the squad following a cheeky and unsanctioned night out in Belfast — one which he lied about and claimed illness — the South Wales supporters did their best to make light of the situation.
As caught on the BBC’s live feed and by various other broadcasters, the Newport fans jokingly asked, “Rashford can we have your week’s wages?” ahead of his inevitable fine. The Metro has reported that he is set to be fined around £650,000, i.e. two week’s worth of wages.
Newport fans with a great sign vs Manchester United, "Rashford can we have your weeks wages". pic.twitter.com/9pSFw7dFPa
Rashford will likely be fined for his absence and the Newport fans saw their chance for an easy gag — and who doesn’t love a funny sign?
Fair play, you’ve got to laugh at that — hopefully, Rashford’s had a sense of humour about it too.
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You can also always rely on Newport fans to have a laugh; we still watch the video of that ‘I’ve conquered all the chippies’ chant at least once every couple of months and it never gets old.
As for Rashford himself, the United and England star has yet to address the situation but was obviously left out of the matchday squad after footage and images on the night out in Northern Ireland began circulating online.
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Meanwhile, when quizzed multiple times by reports on what action the club had taken, Erik ten Hag insisted that it is “an internal matter”, simply repeating, “I’ll deal with it”.
"It's an internal matter, I will deal with it!" 💬
Erik ten Hag responds to questions around Marcus Rashford's absence from Manchester United's FA Cup win 👇pic.twitter.com/fHoGHHWNii
It remains to be seen how big a deal this will turn out to be and what ramifications it will have on the relationship between the player and the United boss, but let’s just say Rashy isn’t the first person to try and pull a sickie.
However, there were some more wholesome scenes after the game as ten Hag also surprised Newport manager Graham Coughlan, a huge Red himself, with a bottle of wine.
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The Dublin-born coach did joke that he’s more of a Budweiser man but he still graciously accepted.
You can watch the highlights of Newport County vs Manchester United down below:
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 -
29th January 2024 
