Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany has won his first trophy in just his second job as a coach, leading Burnley to an emphatic Championship title win.
And to make things even sweeter, he did it with two games to spare, 13 points clear of Sheffield United in second place, and he got to do it away to historic rivals, Blackburn Rovers.
Burnley were crowned winners of the EFL Championship on Tuesday night after a narrow 1-0 win away at Blackburn’s Ewood Park, it never being easy to play against your rivals on their home turf — especially when there’s a league title on the line.
Nevertheless, not only has Kompany led the Clarets to promotion back into the Premier League from next season at the first time of asking, but he’s also won his first piece of silverware as a first-team manager, having only begun professional coaching full-time in 2020.
lt only took a single albeit wonderful goal from substitute Manuel Benson to seal the win, who only needed six minutes to score his third goal in the last three games and put Burnley’s name on this year’s Championship trophy — though it was only the inflatable version being passed around on the night.
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The 37-year-old didn’t manage to win a trophy during his time as a player-manager and then full-time coach at his boyhood club, Anderlecht, but it only took him one season to win his first major honour at Burnley in convincing fashion.
Speaking to media after the game, the Belgian said: “There’s two awards [in a Championship campaign], promotion and the title, and there’s two more trophies: your two derbies. We’ve won all four this season. I know what those games mean. We’ve made memories for life. No one can take that away from us. We won the league at Ewood Park.”
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Having done it by winning an East Lancashire derby, he went on to add that this season “will be talked about for generations” by Burnley fans.
Burnley manager Vincent Kompany says there is no better way to secure the Championship title than beating their biggest rivals Blackburn 💪pic.twitter.com/CfxH5VRcG2
Kompany had already been linked with the Spurs job even before promotion and the title itself were sealed, but given what he’s got going at Turf Moor and the kind of football they’ve been playing, it’s looking like he’ll want to see out the project back in the top flight.
The former City captain now adds an EFL Championship to his four Premier Leagues, two FA Cups and four League Cups; two Charity Shields and two Belgian league titles as a player. Decorated.
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You can see the highlights of Blackburn Rovers vs Burnley FC and the celebrations after the whistle 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 -
26th April 2023 
