Man United made it eight games unbeaten with their win over West Ham on Sunday and while there was plenty of action in the game, one moment, in particular, was all anyone could talk about.
Cristiano Ronaldo blanking Gary Neville.
Yes, while Marcus Rashford scored his landmark 100th goal in the 1-0 win, it was this moment with the Sky Sports pundits that went viral as Ronaldo greeted everyone but his former teammate.
As you can see, while Neville brushed off the awkward moment – joking that he was “off the Christmas card list” and ignoring Ronaldo fan number one Piers Morgan’s attempts to rile him up – if we’ve learned anything about CR7 over the past season or so, he has form for taking things to heart.
Sky colleague and Monday Night Football co-host Jamie Carragher wasted no time in quipping “welcome to blanked by Ronaldo club”, having suffered similar treatment earlier this season.
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It also led to a healthy selection of memes:
When you owe someone money and tell them you haven't got it, but then you see them in the pub 😂https://t.co/gic2MBfPPc
While most will have seen the numerous memes, some might still be scratching their head as to why Ronaldo blanked Neville in the first place.
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For those who didn’t catch Neville’s thoughts on Ronaldo refusing to warm up and storming down the tunnel after being snubbed to start against Spurs earlier in the month, the former United fullback said the team is “better without him” and suggested that they should consider selling him in January.
Speaking on Sky after the 1-1 draw with Chelsea, Neville said: “there aren’t many Manchester United fans who would now have Ronaldo in their starting eleven… they score more goals without him and they win more points without him.”
While the stats do back up his point, the 37-year-old was clearly angered by them, especially given some of the important goals he has scored — including the hattrick he scored the last time they played Spurs, hence his obvious frustration at being benched.
Despite playing with him as a United teammate for six seasons during his first stint and playing a big role in helping him mature as a professional, Neville now believes Ronaldo has left Erik ten Hag with “no other option”, noting that is the second time Ronaldo has left Old Trafford” before full-time.
The 47-year-old concluded that this sort of behaviour is “unacceptable”, no matter the profile of the player, and urged the manager to either end the beef or at least sort “a truce to get to the World Cup“.
While the Dutch coach seems to have calmed things down in the dressing room, it might take more than a nice Christmas present from Gary to mend fences with his old mate Ronny.
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 -
31st October 2022 
