Sport

Sir Bobby Charlton’s Soccer School, which helped discover David Beckham, is sadly shutting down

End of an era.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 4th January 2023

England and Man United legend Sir Bobby Charlton’s long-standing soccer school is unfortunately shutting down after more than 40 years.

The Bobby Charlton Soccer & Sports Academy is responsible for discovering the likes of young football stars like David Beckham, Marcos Alonso, Steven Ireland, Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson and more.

Now though, the feeder footballing and sports organisation based in Parrs Wood, East Didsbury has entered liquidation as of 23 December 2022.

The news of its insolvency was confirmed by The Gazette with Paul Weber, a partner at financial advisory firm Leigh Adams, overseeing the process. It marks the end of an important and historic sporting institution.

The soccer school is thought to have been in at least £40,000 of debt when liquidation was announced, £30,000 of which was owed to Lloyds Bank who provided a business loan to the company to help them survive during and after the pandemic.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sir Bobby is said to have to ended his involvement with the company some time ago but the business has still carried his name for nearly 45 years.

Holding various summer and residential sports camps abroad, Bobby Charlton’s Soccer Schools reached all across the globe, setting up their first initiatives in Dubai as recently as 2017.

ADVERTISEMENT
Bobby Charlton Soccer & Sports Academy
Credit: @Bobbies (via Twitter)

Read more:

The United legend and 1966 World Cup winner set up the organisation way back in 1978 and went on to help launch the careers of countless players throughout the British football pyramid and further afield.

The Academy, accountants at Leigh Adams and associated figures at the Manchester United Foundation are yet to issue a statement.

Nevertheless, Sir Bobby’s legacy and the impact of his academies live on.

ADVERTISEMENT

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Image — David Beckham (via IG)/Wikimedia Commons

Sport

Football fans are debating whether Manchester City made a mistake selling Cole Palmer

Danny Jones Danny Jones Should Manchester City have sold Cole Palmer?

Football clubs are always going to have to roll the dice on players as we all know promising players who went on to become stars: Kevin de Bruyne, Gerard Pique, Mo Salah and so on just to name a few from the Premier League – but is that what Manchester City have done with Cole Palmer?

The 21-year-old from Wythenshawe was sold to Chelsea back in September 2023, having only managed to make a few scattered but impressive appearances for Man City, scoring crucial goals in the Community Shield and the UEFA Super Cup, but was still ultimately deemed surplus to requirements.

Shown the exit through nothing other than the sheer quality of Pep Guardiola‘s starting XI, not to mention plenty of strength in depth and quality off the bench already, the West London club paid what looked to be a handsome £42.5 million for the still relatively unproven youngster at the time.

However, with another hattrick to his name – a perfect one scored all inside half an hour, no less – and a fourth for good measure thanks to a penalty against Everton, he’s quickly become by far and away Chelsea‘s star man.

Not a bad selection.

In the same breath, many are now naturally wondering why he was sold in the first place. It’s no secret that City are spoilt for choice when it comes to talent amongst their ranks and certainly didn’t need the money from his sale; it was simply a case that Palmer wanted more minutes that Pep couldn’t promise.

Shouldering the responsibility for the decision at the time, Guardiola said he completely understood the Manchester-born and bred star’s drive and ambition, admitting that “[With] young players, we always want them to stay but this is normal.

“After one season it is nice, and the second season, but the third season it is, ‘Oh guys, I want to play, I don’t want to sit on the bench’. It’s normal. We understand as a club. We got an offer from an incredible top club like Chelsea and I’m really happy for him. In all clubs these types of things happen.”

However, we dare say that if you were to tell the Catalan coach that same hungry prospect would end up being joint top-scorer with his Erling Haaland the following season and being, we think it’s fair to say he might at least hesitate before green-lighting his departure – and there are plenty more stats to boot.

Now, it’s impossible to know whether or not having the knowledge he has now would have made Pep second-guess his decision and take a chance on integrating Cole Palmer into City’s first team more regularly but put it this way, 25 goals and 13 assists in all competitions is hard to ignore.

That’s 11 in his last six games for Chelsea too.

Read more:

That’s all inside what is for all intents and purposes his full debut season as a first-team starter (which isn’t even over yet), let’s not forget, and while they’ve had similar situations play out with the likes of Jadon Sancho in the past, it must be a little frustrating to see him playing this well in the same only league only in a darker shade of blue.

On the other hand, it’s still early days Palmer could also follow that same narrative even further and see that huge momentum trickle out depending on how his sophomore season goes. He’s also a boyhood Man United fan and not that we’re saying we can see him make that move down the line, but we all know how that switch sadly ended up for Sancho.

For many fans, City or otherwise, the logic seems to be that letting him go was the right decision for everyone, as it’s allowed him to get that crucial playing time and shine like he has this season, which may not have happened while waiting to grab his opportunity off the bench at the Etihad.

Moreover, it’s not like the treble-winners aren’t still looking like they could defend all three of their trophies this year – although it would be interesting to see what impact Palmer has when he comes up against his former club in the FA Cup semi-final this weekend.

What do you think, were City right to sell Cole Palmer or should they have held on to him and given him the minutes he was clearly more than ready for?

England player stats this season are starting to make us think we could actually win Euro 2024
Whether City made a mistake letting him go or not, England fans can be just content that Cole Palmer is part of the Euro 2024 squad.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Cole Palmer/Man City/England (via Instagram)

Sport

Manchester United, GMP, and the Council is clamping down on ‘illegal’ matchday parking at Old Trafford

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Manchester United has joined forces with police and the local Council to take action on a number of offences outside Old Trafford on match days.

This includes “illegal” parking, street trading, and so much more.

The football club teamed up with its partners, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Trafford Council, for another day of action to clampdown on a wide range of offences taking place outside its home stadium ahead of the team’s hotly-anticipated Premier League match against fierce local rivals, Liverpool, on Sunday 7 April.

Police and officers from the Council’s Regulatory Services Team tackled a number of issues on the day of action.

These included what was described as ‘rogue trading’ and ‘illegal street trading’, taxis illegally plying for hire or causing obstructions, and illegal parking, as well as the monitoring of food hygiene at food stands outside the stadium.

As part of this particular day of action – which followed a similar event outside Old Trafford on 24 February, ahead of United’s game against Fulham – Council officers and GMP staff spoke to more than 100 licensed taxis and hackney carriage drivers about illegal parking and illegally plying for hire, and 19 Fixed Penalty Notices were handed out to vehicles parked illegally on a clearway outside the ground.

Licensing and trading standards officers, along with Manchester United’s brand protection team, also spoke with all of the licensed pitches and street traders/peddlers outside the stadium, and a total of 73 products were removed for breaking rules under the Trade Marks Act.

Further legal action is set to be taken against some traders who were committing offences and were obstructive towards Council officers who were trying to carry out their tasks, according to Trafford Council.

Manchester United, GMP, and Council to clampdown on ‘illegal’ matchday parking at Old Trafford / Credit: GMP Stretford

“Our partnership work with Trafford Council is vital in being able to tackle illegal street trading and parking issues,” a spokesperson for GMP said in a statement following the day of action.

“We will continue to work with our partners to ensure a safe matchday experience, both inside and out of the stadium, for all those attending the ground.”

Jim Liggett, who is the Director of Operations at Manchester United, also explained that the club was “pleased” to have been able to join forces with Trafford Council and GMP on their day of action to clampdown on “illegal behaviour” outside Old Trafford.

Read more:

He added: “We remain committed to supporting the local authorities as we seek to collectively reduce any impact matches at Old Trafford may have on the community around the stadium.”

Featured Image – Trafford Council

More Sport

Stockport County promoted back to League One after 16 years

Sport

Stockport County secure promotion back to League One after 16 years

When was the Manchester Marathon too short?

Feature

Remember when the Manchester Marathon used to be too short?

Footballer Joe Thompson diagnosed with cancer for the third time

News

Former Rochdale and Man United academy product Joe Thompson diagnosed with cancer for the third time

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches