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Elon Musk says he’s going to buy Manchester United, apparently

Could the world's richest man be buying one of the world's most famous football clubs?

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 17th August 2022

It might sound too bizarre to be true, or maybe it’s completely plausible in the current world of football mayhem, but Elon Musk says he’s going to buy Manchester United.

We’re not kidding – the world’s richest man wants to buy one of the world’s most famous football clubs.

In what is news that no one really saw coming, the South African-born business tycoon with a net worth of US$242 billion, who is the CEO and owner of a handful of major companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and very-nearly but not-quite, Twitter, wants to get his hands on the club that’s arguably in the most disarray in world football currently.

As many sports fans – and at this point, even people who don’t know too much about football – across the globe will know, the red half of Manchester is going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment, and that’s putting it lightly.

Read more: Manchester United announces Erik ten Hag will take over as manager

There is a great deal of anger across the board from fans, former players, and prominent TV pundits – including Gary Neville, who this week said the club is a “graveyard” and likened it to a school in “special measures” – being publicly expressed, with the majority of it being directed towards the club’s American owners, The Glazer family.

The Glazers took over the club in 2005, and it’s been a rocky relationship since then.

Could the world’s richest man be buying one of the world’s most famous football clubs? / Credit: Manchester United (via Instagram)

In the 17 years following the takeover, the club has seen immense success in the Premier League and the Champions League, but has very-prominently been in decline since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013, and there have been multiple protests against the Glazers’ ownership in recent years – including one in May 2021 which caused a match against Liverpool to be postponed, and several over the club’s involvement in the proposed European Super League.

With debt ever-increasing, the team at the bottom of the Premier League table, star player Cristiano Ronaldo potentially exiting before the transfer window closes, and not much news of new signings through the door, it’s been a painful start to the 2022/23 season for United and new manager Erik ten Hag.

Read more: BBC apologises on air after trainee puts ‘Manchester United are rubbish’ as live news update

And on top of that, the team lost 4-0 to Brentford away this past weekend.

So, what could possibly fix this situation? Who could be the saviour of the club that fans are so adamant needs saving? Step forward, Elon Musk.

In a stream of consciousness on Twitter that’s come to be pretty typical of the billionaire enigma, after bizarrely explaining that he “supports the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party”, Musk just thought he’d throw it out there that he’s “buying Manchester United” – and it understandably sent a lot of fans into pandemonium.

The tweet went on to amass well over 600,000 likes and retweets, with thousands of confused fans questioning whether or not it’s actually true and if he fancies committing to that promise.

It turns out, he didn’t really mean it.

When asked “are you serious?” by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV), Musk responded that it was part of a “long-running joke”.

He explained: “No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams,” before following up with: “Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid.”

Oh well, the hope of a fresh start was nice while it lasted.

Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons

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Nostalgic ready-to-drink Breezer makes UK return after a decade

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Nostalgic ready-to-drink Breezer makes UK return after a decade

An iconic ready-to-drink favourite has launched back into the UK – oh yes, Breezer is back. 

First launched in the 1990s, Breezers – then pitched as an ‘alcopop’ – were a staple on dancefloors and at barbecues right across the UK. 

And now Bacardi has decided to bring these delicious, fruity, easy-drinking bottles back to British shores. 

There are three new flavours to try as Breezers return to your fridges – Zesty Orange, Zingy Lime, and Crisp Watermelon.

And Breezer launched back into Manchester last night with a suitably memorable party, turning a spot in the Northern Quarter into a corner shop. 

The ‘local Cornerbop’ was stacked with your usual essentials, plus shelf after shelf of these colourful glass ready-to-drink bottles. 

Nostalgic ready-to-drink Breezer makes UK return after a decade
Inside the Breezer ‘Cornerbop’ corner shop in Manchester
Nostalgic ready-to-drink Breezer makes UK return after a decade
Breezer is back, in three new flavours

The Breezer relaunch party saw Tarsza and Rennie Peters spinning nostalgic anthems with a modern twist at a pop-up party in a corner shop.

Steve Young, business unit director for Bacardi in the UK & Ireland, said: “We know there is a lot of love for Breezer in the UK, and we are confident a new generation of consumers will fall in love with the new Breezer.

“RTDs are booming, however, the Flavoured Alcoholic Beverages category could do with a bit more excitement. By bringing back Breezer we’re definitely putting the fruity taste into FAB.”

The iconic ready-to-drink classic is back – and better than ever. 

Follow @breezer on Instagram for more.

18+, please drink responsibly.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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Explaining the ‘Poznań’ and why Oasis fans are doing it at their Live ’25 reunion tour gigs

Danny Jones Danny Jones

The sun is shining, Britpop is back on top and, more importantly, Oasis are BACK – plus, they’ve got thousands of people that aren’t even Manchester City fans doing the Poznań. Here’s why.

Before you jump down our throats, yes, we’re fully aware of what the popular Man City supporter celebration is (including the fact that it’s nicked); however, we have seen plenty of people confused over what it’s all about.

Including a few in our office who couldn’t give a monkey’s about football, which is fair enough.

So, if like lots of other non-footy-obsessed Oasis fans, you’ve also been wondering A) what the Poznań is and B) why people on the Live ’25 reunion tour have been doing it, here’s a brief explanation.

What is the Poznań celebration?

For starters, if you’ve been keeping off social media completely to avoid any spoilers whatsoever, first of all, well done, your willpower is much stronger than ours.

Secondly, if you’ve never seen it before at all, here’s what it looks like:

It came out of Poland, hailing from the place of the same name and popularised by Ekstraklasa (a.k.a. the Polish first division) football team, Lech Poznań, who have been doing it since the 1960s.

As you can see, the group – and in this case, stadium-wide celebration – sees supporters turning their backs on the pitch/the centre of the arena and linking by wrapping arms around each other’s shoulders and jumping up and down in one, massive, continuous wave.

It is quite a striking visual, no question about that.

Why are Oasis fans doing it?

Come on, you must have put two and two together by now.

Manchester City fans adopted this now iconic celebration more than a decade and a half ago, and have been doing it regularly during big games, big scorelines, and big trophy wins, of which there have been a lot since then.

In fact, aside from the Burnage boys being massive Blues, Liam Gallagher himself actually instructed the Cardiff crowds on nights one and two.

It’s actually said to originate from Turkey or Greece, where it is also fairly commonplace, being simply referred to as ‘la Grecque’.

They’ve even used some pretty biblical official photography from the opening weekend of the reunion tour as the cover art for a live recording re-released of ‘Slide Away’.

It might be the coolest album artwork we’ve seen in a while, to be honest.

The history of the Poznań and its connection to Man City

Be it at Wembley for a cup final or at the Etihad Stadium, where the majority of fans saw the supporter stunt for the first time, it’s become arguably even more synonymous with City than its creators.

It was 2010, and the blue half of Manchester was hosting Lech Poznań in the group stage of the Europa League, but despite a 3-1 victory on the grass itself, more eyes were fixed on the stands themselves.

An army of 6,000 loyal Lech Poznań fans travelled for the game and had the ground quite physically bouncing with a shade of slightly darker blue, so when Emmanuel Adebayor wrapped up a hat-trick, the home support decided to turn the jubilation on their opponents and do it themselves.

It was all in good spirit, of course, but it went down a pretty instant hit with City fans and has only grown more prevalent and regular ever since.

Perhaps one of the funniest sights in recent years is Noel Gallagher being too hungover to join in, which also led to one of the coldest-looking images of the songwriter ever, and one that was quickly dubbed a perfect album cover for the next High Flying Birds album or, who knows, maybe another Oasis record?…

Ok, this is still up there in the cover art competition too.

So, yeah: that’s pretty much the long and short of it, we just thought it would help if we quickly explained the Poznań to anyone wondering why Oasis fans have been doing it.

Basically, if it was that big over in Wales, don’t be surprised if you see a literal sea of people flood Heaton Park before turning their backs to the stage, which seems to be triggered once Liam introduces ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol.’ It’ll be interesting to see if Man United fans get involved.

And finally, just imagine how much more epic this is going to be back home in Manchester as we brace for quite possibly the biggest headline gig the region has ever seen…

Read more:

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Featured Images — TNT Sports (screenshot)/Oasis (via X)

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