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Asda launches fanzone in Manchester for any over 65s set to watch the Euros alone

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Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 13th June 2024

Asda has launched a dedicated fanzone for over 65s in Manchester so they don’t have to watch the Euros alone this summer.

After some new research has sadly revealed that close to two million people over the age of 65 will be watching European football‘s biggest tournament on their own once UEFA Euro 2024 officially kicks off this Friday, Asda has now announced the launch of its dedicated ‘Nanzones’.

‘Nanzones’ are the first-ever football fanzones designed especially for elderly people to gather, socialise, and enjoy all the sporting action together.

Asda has launched a fanzone in Manchester for any over 65s set to watch the Euros alone / Credit: Supplied

Given that traditional football fanzones are often overwhelmingly-populated by more boisterous crowds, the supermarket‘s new dedicated ‘Nanzones’ have been created in a bid to “combat loneliness and isolation” and will specially-cater to the older generation to make sure they don’t have to watch England bring it home (… we say optimistically, of course) alone.

The first ‘Nanzones’ will open at a select few locations across the UK next week, when England face Denmark on Thursday 20 June – with one of those locations being at Asda Eastlands here in Manchester.

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Each ‘Nanzone’ is completely free for local elderly people to enter, and the areas will be decked-out with football decorations and refreshments.  

Where to watch the Euros in Manchester

People of all ages are also welcome and “heartily encouraged” to head to one of the participating ‘Nanzones’ and watch the game alongside elderly fans in a safe and friendly environment.

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David Hills, who is the Chief Customer Officer at Asda, admitted ahead of the ‘Nanzones’ launching for the summer next week that sport has a way of “bringing people together like nothing else,” before adding: “That’s why we want to use the power of football fandom to help strengthen community spirit this summer.

“The Nanzones sit at the heart of that ambition.

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“Our colleagues and customers really care about supporting the elderly in their communities, and we hope that by encouraging the nation to join our pledge to bring people together, we can help combat loneliness and social isolation.”

Featured Image – Supplied

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Calls for Southgate to start Kobbie Mainoo and Cole Palmer grow following England’s lacklustre second game

Danny Jones Danny Jones Calls for Southgate to start Kobbie Mainoo and Cole Palmer for England grow at Euro 2024

The calls for Gareth Southgate to start Manchester-born duo Kobbie Mainoo and Cole Palmer in the next Euros game are growing after England’s lacklustre second game against Denmark.

The Three Lions have four points on the board, which should be enough for them to advance into the knockout stages of the competition, but it’s fair to say that the 1-0 and 1-1 scorelines have summed up a somewhat underwhelming start to their Euro 2024 campaign.

Most of the frustration surrounding England‘s opening fixtures has been the lack of attacking intent from the team as well control in the middle of the park, with Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold being played there due to his passing range.

As a result, lots of fans are already questioning why the Southgate is yet to start Stockport-born Kobbie Mainoo – Man United’s breakthrough midfielder from this season – as the national team boss looks to find the right balance in midfield, with many already declaring the Trent ‘experiment’ a failure.

As you can see, lots of pundits and supporters alike believe Mainoo could be the solution to why England don’t look as commanding in the midfielder, especially given numerous standout appearances in his debut campaign – not least his man-of-the-match performance in United’s FA Cup win over Man City.

The consensus seems to be that Southgate is cautious of throwing the tournament debutant into the mix, despite the Stopfordian having clearly shown his maturity even at the young age of 19.

The same goes for Cole Palmer, as there seems to be just as many fans crying out for the inclusion of the attacking midfielder from Wythenshawe, who picked up the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season award and who boasted the goal contributions (33) of any player in the division for 2023/24.

Commentator Arlo White simply posted, “Get Mainoo and Palmer on!!”, while former City and England striker Daniel Sturridge added: “I’m genuinely shocked we haven’t seen Cole Palmer grace the field yet.”

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With so many echoing the same sentiment, you have to start wondering when not if, with plenty of others also backing Conor Gallagher to come into midfield as Southgate chose to sub him on against the Danes.

That being said, we have seen this fractious relationship between the fans, the manager and his often cautious squad selections plenty of times before, with the 53-year-old refusing to use Jack Grealish early enough at the last Euros.

Only time will tell if Southgate will listen to the calls to bring Mainoo and Palmer into the side but one thing’s for sure, England need an injection of new energy or something if they are to spring into life and turn into the best version of themselves we’ve seen previously.

You don’t get too long to fine-tune your squad on the big stage and they need to get a rhythm going if they want to go far as we know they can.

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Featured Images — Kobbie Mainoo (via IG)/soccer.ru (via Wiki Commons)/Cole Palmer (via IG)

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Shocked shoppers spot new ‘twist’ on classic British biscuit on supermarket shelves

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

McVitie’s has quietly just launched a brand-new “twist” on one of the most classic British biscuits of all time.

And shoppers have been pretty surprised by the news.

Given that new product launches tend to be something that shops, companies, and food manufacturers shout about from the rooftops whenever they get the chance to, you can probably understand why Tesco customers have been left so shocked after spotting what is a seemingly brand-new biscuit on shop shelves.

In the absence of what appears to be any prior reference or teasing of the product at all, McVitie’s has just dropped a new cocoa-flavoured variation on the humble Rich Tea biscuit, and they can only be found in Tesco.

People have been taking to social media to share their sightings of the new choccy biccie at their local stores this week – including popular UK food-spotting accounts like @newfoodsuk and @newfoodfindsuk.

Shocked shoppers have spotted a new ‘twist’ on a classic British biscuit on supermarket shelves / Credit: The Manc Group

At this point, it’s quite tricky to give you much more information on the new chocolate treat, other than the fact it… exists.

That’s because a quick Google search for the biscuit’s apparent name, ‘McVitie’s Rich Tea: The Cocoa One’, provides next to nothing on what the product is all about, and it doesn’t seem to be listed on Tesco’s website yet either, which probably means you can only get your hands on them if you actually shop in store.

Also, when we nipped to the little Tesco Express next to The Manc office earlier today to see if we could find them, we sadly came away empty-handed* (read to the end of the article to see what we did find instead though), so we imagine they’re just hiding inside the bigger stores or Tesco Extra stores for the time being.

@newfoodfindsuk

@McVitie’s CHOCOLATE RICH TEA?! Exclusive to @Tesco 😱🍫💰☕️ #newfoodfindsuk #chocolaterichtea

♬ Dont Stop Yobbo – Serious grooves

Just from the pictures and videos shared by shoppers online though, what we do know is that the new product must be distinguished from the already-existing popular milk chocolate-coated Rich Teas – which have been a mainstay on UK shop shelves for several years now – as there’s no actual chocolate layer on these ones.

Instead, the biscuit itself is cocoa-flavoured, so it’s basically everything you know and love about the Rich Tea, only chocolate-ier (if that’s a word).

“A cocoa twist on the classic” is how McVitie’s have described it on the branding.

We can also see that, as mentioned, the new biscuits are exclusive to Tesco at the moment, where a pack will set you back £1.25 each with a Clubcard or £1.80 without.

We bet they’ll be rolled out in other supermarkets and shops sometime in the near future though, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled.

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* While we may not have got our hands on a packet of the new McVitie’s Rich Tea: The Cocoa One, we were pretty chuffed to walk away with a bar of the new and now-viral Cadbury Top Deck instead – which grabbed headlines earlier this week as it’s been resurrected from the 90s, and is now on sale at Tesco for the Clubcard price of £1.25.

** Correction – we ended up finding the biscuits in the slightly-bigger Tesco store on Market Street in Manchester city centre instead… what a day.

Featured Image – The Manc Group

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