Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Man United’s Marcus Rashford have taken home the 2022/23 men’s Player of the Year awards at the most recent PFA Awards on Tuesday night, as Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning side once again dominated the Team of the Year.
This year’s Professional Footballers’ Association Awards saw the ceremony return to Manchester for the first time since 2020 and on a significant milestone, as it marked the 50th year since the event started.
Instead of being held in London as it is traditionally, the 22/23 season’s PFA Awards took place at the Lowry Theatre over in Media City, as dozens of football stars rocked up to Salford Quays to celebrate last year’s impressive campaigns.
When it came to the Players’ Player of the Year, there was only ever going to be one person’s name on the trophy and he can add it all the other accolades he won during his record-breaking season: Erling Haaland. 36 league goals and eight assists alone in 35 games — all in his first year. Insane.
Haaland and City cleaned up at this year’s PFA Awards do.
When it came to the PFA’s Team of the Year, the Norwegian was accompanied by four other Man City teammates, as Ruben Dias, John Stones, Kevin de Bruyne and Rodri were all included in the 22/23 TOTY selection, making up nearly half of the entire 11. I mean, they did win the treble.
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It was a similar success for the WSL Team of the Year as well, with Lionesses defender Alex Greenwood included for the third time in a row, midfielder Yui Hasegawa making her first appearance on the list and Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw joining them after her impressive season of 20 goals and seven assists.
Manchester United managed three of their own in the 22/23 WSL TOTY too, with England hero Mary Earps never in doubt along with her rock-solid defensive partnership, Ona Batlle and Maya Le Tissier.
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Speaking of the red half of Manchester, Old Trafford saw one more award come its way as Marcus Rashford managed to earn the PFA Fans’ Player of the Year Award following his best-ever statistical season.
As you can see, it turned out to be a great night for the Mancs and the fact they simply had to go down the road to receive their recognition was a nice bonus.
Elsewhere, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka won the Young Player of the Year Award, with Lauren James winning the equivalent in the WSL awards, while fellow Lioness and Aston Villa star Rachel Daly won the Women’s Player of the Year.
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You can see the full list of winners and nominees HERE.
We dare say you’ll see a fair few of the same names on the list again this time next year.
Featured Image — PFA/Khadija Bunny Shaw/Marcus Rashford (via Instagram)
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 -
30th August 2023 
