A desperate dog owner from Manchester is appealing to the public to help fund research into the cause of her beloved pup’s unexplained seizures.
Morgan Dale and her blue Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Hugo have an incredible bond.
Not only is he her cherished pet, but she also credits him for saving her life by pulling her back from the brink following a suicide attempt. Now, Morgan is trying to return the favour and get her poorly pup the help he needs after he suffered some “terrifying” seizures – something vets are aiming to get to the bottom of.
Two-year-old Hugo’s seizures started a few weeks ago, and then more recently, he had two in the space of four hours.
He is currently being treated for possible epilepsy, but Morgan has been told that it could potentially be a brain tumour and this is something she won’t know until an investigative MRI has been carried out alongside an Ultrasound scan on his heart and other internal organs.
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But this costs money – and it’s a lot more than is currently covered by Morgan’s insurance.
“I genuinely think without Hugo, I would not be here [and] I say this all the time [but] this dog saved my life,” Morgan told Team Dogs.
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Hugo has suffered some “terrifying” seizures over the past few weeks / Credit: Morgan Dale
Fearing that she may have to give her pup up for adoption if she is unable to find the funds for the scans, Morgan has set up a GoFundMe page with the target of raising £2,000 and is asking anybody who can spare a few pounds to consider donating towards Hugo’s treatment.
“He’s just not the same dog,” Morgan added.
“He’s just really sad, he seems depressed [and] he just constantly wants to just chill.
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“Obviously after the seizures as well, he was absolutely terrified. He doesn’t know who I am, he wouldn’t let me near him. He was running away from me, hiding. He was just absolutely terrified and it was traumatic, traumatic for me and him.”
Having contacted various charities, Morgan now faces losing precious Hugo for good as if she cannot raise enough money to fund his MRI, she will have no choice but to sign him over to a charity that is able to pay for treatment.
Morgan Dale and her blue Staffy named Hugo share an incredible bond / Credit: Morgan Dale
Morgan continued: “Basically, once I sign that paperwork, I’ll never see him ever again [so] I just hope to god that I can get it so that he can stay with me, because I don’t want to stress him out.
“I just love him so much… and I just couldn’t imagine being without him.”
If you would like to contribute to Hugo’s treatment costs and help reach the £2,000 target, you can donate via Morgan’s GoFundMe page here.
Featured Image – Morgan Dale
UK News
An old clip of Tyson Fury talking about Oleksandr Usyk has come back to haunt him – twice
Danny Jones
This weekend saw Oleksandr Usyk emerge victorious over Tyson Fury for a second time in less than a year as the Ukrainian won the highly-anticipated rematch on points, and now an old clip of the Manc fighter dismissing his opponent has resurfaced online. Again.
Oh, the irony…
After losing following a split decision for what was his first career defeat back in May, Fury lost following a unanimous decision this time around and while some have questioned the scorecards (as tends to happen with these things), there can be no question over Usyk’s dominance now.
However, rewind to a few years ago before the 37-year-old had even won his first fight against Anthony Joshua and Fury’s naive not to mention controversial comments regarding the possibility of ‘giving’ him a fight look pretty silly now:
Tyson Fury a few years ago refusing to fight Usyk
“I want the big fights and that ain’t one of them. He’s a foreigner in a westernised world. The heavyweight champion should be from Britain or America and nowhere else.”
As you can see in the interview from 2020, the now 36-year-old Wythenshawe-born boxer was pretty dismissive about the prospect of fighting Usyk, who ultimately went on to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000 following the first win over Fury.
Despite already having an Olympic gold, multiple cruiserweight titles and an undefeated record to his name, Usyk had only fought and won two heavyweight bouts at this point, which is perhaps why ‘The Gypsy King’ felt comfortable downplaying his potential back then.
However, although Usyk had a comfortable division debut against Chazz Witherspoon in 2019, he also went on to best Fury’s familiar foe Derek Chisora – a man he’s beaten on three different times but maintains he admires both in terms of personality and ability – so there were signs of what was to come.
Moreover, not only was Tyson clearly foolish enough to underestimate him back then but the divisive and inflammatory nature of his remarks in this clip has been labelled ‘offensive’ and ‘xenophobic’ by many online, both at the time and after reappearing on social media once again.
Regardless, it seems that Usyk was just as unphased by his posturing then as he is now, coming out in the post-fight press conference to shrug off his trash-talking to reiterate his “respect” for someone who ultimately believes is “a good man”.
Nevertheless, Fury has now lost two him twice and still maintains he didn’t get the right decision on both occasions, dubbing this latest defeat “an early Christmas gift” for his opponent.
In the previous clash, the Greater Manchester athlete even claimed that fans and judges unfairly favoured him because of the war in Ukraine – a response which also received plenty of backlash.
You can hear how he believes he was ‘robbed’ along with his full reaction following the fight down below:
Featured Images — iFL TV/Sky Sports (screenshots via YouTube)
UK News
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has increased his stake in Manchester United
Danny Jones
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has increased his investment in Manchester United Football Club, taking his current stake from 27.7% to 28.94%.
The Failsworth-born billionaire officially became a minority shareholder in Man United earlier this year, bringing in the Sports arm of his INEOS petrochemical company and plenty of new personnel with him following an initial £1.25 billion acquisition which saw him buy over a quarter of the club.
While his tenure at Old Trafford has been a somewhat turbulent affair so far – having pleased most fans by taking at least some control away from the family but making a number of less-than-popular decisions of late – he is, at the very least, putting lots of money where his mouth is.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has injected a further $100m into Manchester United and now owns 28.94% of the club. This completes a planned $300m investment pledged at the time of purchase. $200m was paid back then out of Ratcliffe’s personal funds.
As per multiple outlets, the 72-year-old has pumped a further of approximately £79.3m into Man United to increase his overall stake just before the end of the year.
This latest figure payment was actually promised as part of his initial partial takeover which was completed back in February, with a filing listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirming the final payment this week, with Ratcliffe receiving additional shares in return.
It also detailed that the ownership of the shares has transferred from Ratcliffe personally to the INEOS Group as a whole, who also have stakes in French football club OGC Nice, the INEOS Grenaiders cycling team (formerly Team Sky), as well as Formula 1, sailing, rugby and more.
Although supporters will be pleased to hear that Ratcliffe is committed to investing in the club, Keegan’s article details that the money itself won’t be strictly put towards any potential signings in the upcoming transfer window.
Similarly, Press Associates (PA) understand that the funds will be put towards infrastructure rather than player recruitment, as it is also expected that some squad members could be offloaded this January.
Could Man United’s homegrown number 10 really be on his way out after nearly two decades in red?
News of Ratcliffe increasing his United stake won’t do much for many of his early detractors, however, as the Greater Manchester local has been accused of ‘forgetting his roots’ and ‘betraying the working class’ with some recent internal steps.
Most recently, Sir Jim and his newly rebuilt executive board received immense backlash for increasing ticket prices for remaining games this season to a whopping £66 across the board, with no concessions made for young, old or disabled fans.
With sporting director Dan Ashworth having been dismissed after just five months – a man who spent just as much time on gardening leave at his former club as he did in his actual role at United – it’s fair to say Ratcliffe and co. could have been more economical.
Emily Sergeant -
24th June 2021 
