Pep Guardiola aimed a surprise jibe at his former assistant coach turned Arsenal manager following Manchester City’s frustrating draw against Spurs, joking that he wouldn’t make a “Mikel Arteta comment” after a huge refereeing blunder over the weekend.
The Man City head coach was one of many left visibly incensed by referee Simon Hooper’s on-field decision this past Sunday after the Premier League official blew a very late whistle whilst Jack Grealish was through on goal to pull the game back for a foul despite having already waved play on.
With the foul being committed against Erling Haaland, who got up almost immediately and earned the home side the advantage, the Norwegian number nine was left utterly furious when he turned to hear Hooper’s whistle blow after he had gotten back up and the pass to Grealish had already been made.
With Mateo Kovačić, Rúben Dias and Haaland all surrounding the ref, the lattermost being pictured swearing and physically pulling his hair out as his manager looked equally fuming and confused on the touchline, the Catalan coach decided to dig at a famous Arteta clip in his post-match interview.
You can watch the clip of Arteta that Pep is referring to HERE.
The 52-year-old was referencing a well-known video of Arteta in which he labelled VAR awarding a penalty to Newcastle against the Gunners last season “embarrassing” and “a disgrace”, which has gone on to become a widely-used meme online.
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Ushering the reporter to move to the “next question” and resisting the urge to express his own anger, he simply explained that he couldn’t understand how the ref came to his decision.
Speaking to BBC Sport Manchester, he went on to admit, “Sometimes I lose my mind about the referees” but added that they are simply “always making mistakes” and that he’s sure “everyone enjoyed the game”. The neutrals, for sure — less so amongst Blues.
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One of those who clearly couldn’t let it go after the fact was City’s star striker, who took to social media and reposted a clip of the sequence of play in real-time along with a simple one-word caption: “Wtf”.
Although the footage itself has now been pulled down from the site, both this along with the reaction from Haaland and his teammates on the pitch could result in charges from the FA for failure to control the players.
Answering once again after being asked about the social media post from the media, Guardiola said it was perfectly understandable for him to be disappointed with the circumstances and might have been sent off if he continued to remonstrate after full-time, adding, “Even the referee, if he played for Man City today, he would be disappointed for sure”.
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You can watch Pep’s post-match press conference in full 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 -
4th December 2023 
