Jack Grealish has surprised a young visually impaired fan by sending him a signed shirt and a personalised letter written in braille.
It’s fair to say that the Birmingham-born footballer has had quite the eventful week.
After playing an important part in winning the Champions League to help Manchester City complete the historic treble, the 27-year-old went on to properly let his hair down and celebrate in style at the team’s trophy parade, with his entertaining antics being shared all across social media, all before reporting for international duty with England only a few days later.
But even with his busy schedule, Grealish is known for always making time for his fans – as 10-year-old Ralph Mullineaux was lucky enough to find out last week.
The budding para footballer from Cornwall – who is severely visually impaired, and has recently starred in a TV advert for charity Guide Dogs – calls the Manchester City and England winger his “hero”, and admits that he even regularly wears his hair scraped back in a hairband like Grealish so that he can “be just like him”.
ADVERTISEMENT
As Ralph’s mum Georgina explained in a social media post, the youngster “really loves how Grealish understands disability”, especially as the footballer often “celebrates” and shares how much of an inspiration his younger sister, Hollie – who has cerebral palsy – is to him.
Jack Grealish with his younger sister Hollie, who has cerebral palsy / Credit: Jack Grealish (via Instagram)
Grealish is notably an ambassador for the Special Olympics, as well as being a long-time supporter of the Saving Lives and Children in Need charities.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a bid to let the footballer know how much of a role model he is to him and other young fans everywhere, Ralph decided to send a letter to Grealish written braille – and to his surprise, Grealish sent a personalised letter back, along with a signed Manchester City shirt.
The brilliant moment Ralph received the letter and shirt was caught on camera and shared to Instagram.
“Thank you so much to man of the moment who’s sent Ralph a signed shirt and a personalised letter,” Ralph’s mum Georgina wrote on Instagram.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Grealish is Ralph’s hero. Ralph wears his hair like Jack so he can be just like him… Ralph sent Jack a letter in Braille telling him how much of an amazing role model he is. As Ralph has a visual impairment, he really loves how Grealish understands disability and celebrates his sister who has cerebral palsy.
“Ralph was beyond thrilled to get a reply from his favourite footballer, and for it to be in braille, is just so special.
“It’s so nice to see how inclusive and kind Jack and Manchester City can be.”
It seems that the signed shirt and personalised letter from Grealish is just one of a handful of amazing things to have happened to Ralph already in 2023, as Georgina revealed that the 10-year-old has also been accepted onto the England Para Football VI Pathway programme, as well as becoming the star of a TV advert for Guide Dogs – which is a charity that has “helped him so much”.
After all his achievements so far this year, Ralph’s mum has admitted she is “so proud of him”.
Chanel has finally teased details of its Manchester fashion show – including when you can watch it
Daisy Jackson
In case you’d somehow not noticed, Chanel is heading to Manchester this week – and the fashion house has finally teased a few details.
The world’s most iconic designer brand has remained tight-lipped on the plans for its Metiers d’Art show, despite beginning construction on a massive structure in the heart of the Northern Quarter.
Chanel is set to bring high-fashion models and famous faces to Thomas Street, with reports suggesting all the five-star hotels in Manchester have been booked out.
Over the weekend, the brand finally publicly acknowledged the location for its fashion show for the first time.
They posted a teaser on their Instagram stories, including details of where people will be able to watch the show after the event.
Chanel shared a collage poster on Instagram that includes a Suffragette march, Hacienda stripes and ravers, and Kevin Cummins’ iconic photograph of Joy Division. So far, so Manc.
The poster reads: “Chanel 2023/24. Métiers D’Art show. Manchester MCR.”
Chanel then appeared to confirm that the show will be recorded and published live to the public the following day.
They added: “The film of the show will be revealed on Friday, December 8th at 9am Manchester time, 10am Paris time.”
Chanel’s post promoting its Metiers D’Art show in Manchester
Excitement is seriously starting to build now, with the huge overhead canopy along Thomas Street taking shape.
The road through the Northern Quarter will be closed for an entire month for the event and the construction around it, with the show itself taking place on Thursday 7 December.
It’s thought the show will have a ‘significant’ positive impact on the city’s night time economy too, with Sacha Lord writing: “Not only will Manchester be globally showcased this week, but the knock on effect on the night time economy will be significant.
“Most hotels booked out and many restaurants at max capacity already, creating many extra hours for staff.”
Previous settings for the Chanel Métiers D’Art fashion show have included a pontoon moored in Shanghai’s Huangpu river and a lavish banquet setting in a Parisian palace.
Chanel always chooses cities that are linked to its history, then themes the show around that, so Manchester’s cotton trade history is likely to feature heavily.
Pep Guardiola takes dig at Mikel Arteta after Man City players rage over refereeing mistake
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola aimed a surprise jibe at his former assistant coach turned Arsenal manager following Manchester City’s frustrating draw against Spurs, joking that he wouldn’t make a “Mikel Arteta comment” after a huge refereeing blunder over the weekend.
The Man City head coach was one of many left visibly incensed by referee Simon Hooper’s on-field decision this past Sunday after the Premier League official blew a very late whistle whilst Jack Grealish was through on goal to pull the game back for a foul despite having already waved play on.
With the foul being committed against Erling Haaland, who got up almost immediately and earned the home side the advantage, the Norwegian number nine was left utterly furious when he turned to hear Hooper’s whistle blow after he had gotten back up and the pass to Grealish had already been made.
With Mateo Kovačić, Rúben Dias and Haaland all surrounding the ref, the lattermost being pictured swearing and physically pulling his hair out as his manager looked equally fuming and confused on the touchline, the Catalan coach decided to dig at a famous Arteta clip in his post-match interview.
You can watch the clip of Arteta that Pep is referring to HERE.
The 52-year-old was referencing a well-known video of Arteta in which he labelled VAR awarding a penalty to Newcastle against the Gunners last season “embarrassing” and “a disgrace”, which has gone on to become a widely-used meme online.
Ushering the reporter to move to the “next question” and resisting the urge to express his own anger, he simply explained that he couldn’t understand how the ref came to his decision.
Speaking to BBC Sport Manchester, he went on to admit, “Sometimes I lose my mind about the referees” but added that they are simply “always making mistakes” and that he’s sure “everyone enjoyed the game”. The neutrals, for sure — less so amongst Blues.
One of those who clearly couldn’t let it go after the fact was City’s star striker, who took to social media and reposted a clip of the sequence of play in real-time along with a simple one-word caption: “Wtf”.
Although the footage itself has now been pulled down from the site, both this along with the reaction from Haaland and his teammates on the pitch could result in charges from the FA for failure to control the players.
Answering once again after being asked about the social media post from the media, Guardiola said it was perfectly understandable for him to be disappointed with the circumstances and might have been sent off if he continued to remonstrate after full-time, adding, “Even the referee, if he played for Man City today, he would be disappointed for sure”.
You can watch Pep’s post-match press conference in full down below:
Emily Sergeant -
19th June 2023 
