England’s World Cup journey might have come to a heartbreaking but familiar end earlier, but we still have plenty of memories to take away from this year’s tournament. That viral England fan being one.
You’d have to have been living under a rock to not have seen this particular fan at Qatar 2022, he might just have one of the most interesting faces we’ve ever seen.
We want to start off by assuring that we mean this with the best will in the world, but it’s clear that his unique look tickled football fans back home and around the world. He’s been described as everything from the “budget Steve McClaren” to “the most British-looking man ever”, just to name a few.
Some people have argued that his features are so unique that he doesn’t even look real. However, thanks to a few eagle-eyed web sleuths, we know he is more than just real: he’s absolutely everywhere and social media has been spotting him at various football games through the years.
Yes, ‘that World Cup guy’ — real name Andy Milne — is not only a serial traveller to international tournaments and has been for decades, but he also happens to be a Manchester United fan from Cheshire.
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As you pictured above, Milne was spotted celebrating in the crowd for United’s 2016/17 FA Cup win against Crystal Palace. We’d recognise that distinct and deeply-wrinkled expression from a mile off.
Better still, as detailed in this utterly wild thread, it turns out that the 59-year-old retired teacher has visited every World Cup since he was 19 and once England are inevitably knocked out, he simply goes and joins in with whichever team is still in it and looks like they’re having the most fun.
Despite revealing in a recent interview that he never really did social media, it would seem the frenzy online was simply too much to ignore and it looks like he has since gone on to set up his own Instagram account.
While he confessed that there were, sadly, some haters when he first started getting noticed, the majority of his interactions have been from people who are simply bowled over to have bumped into the viral England fan himself in person.
Speaking to FootballJOE, he said that “there are always going to be haters” but that it’s been a funny and interesting experience becoming a minor celeb. Better still, he’s also been doing his bit for charity. What a guy.
Since that first picture went viral, countless fans have been stopping him to ask for a picture, including the one and only Laura Woods. She looks even happier than he does, and that’s saying something when we’re talking about a grin of that magnitude.
Go on, Andy. Living his best life, one tournament at a time.
We can’t wait to see you doing the round again at Euro 2024!
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 -
20th December 2022 
