Tag: soccer

Sports tourism to Manchester. Where will Manchester City’s charges leave them?

by Saunter
a group of people holding flags

114 charges

Today the Premier League released a damning statement on Manchester City’s 115 charges. Finding the club all but guilty, bar one charge. All while the club has the chance to appeal, pundits and fans are talking through the chaos about the effect on the club and the Premier League, the world’s biggest football league.

I wondered how this would affect sports tourism to Manchester, both as a city and for Manchester City FC?

Notably, Prime Minister Andy Burnham today was reluctant to comment on City’s alleged cheating. Though he was quick to make known his anxiety over the owners of Manchester City, Sheikh Mansour and ADUG, CFG, selling the club. He added that he would be “really concerned” if the owners decided to sell.

This left a stale taste in the mouth of many fans, including myself.

Are we to accept that local leaders have gladly accepted the gleaming regeneration of the East End of Manchester and state-of-the-art Manchester City training grounds, accompanied by the same Abu Dhabi funds that have tarnished the reputation of the Premier League over the past decade?

Hearing not a top politician, THE top politician express more anxiety over the owners who have dragged the league through the mud and continue to be so entrenched in their view of gaslighting the entire footballing world is bittersweet. The judicial body found the club guilty.

Systematic financial deception feels like a sharp betrayal and should not be shed tears for in the name of political points.

Who does this affect the most?

The City of Manchester. The fans. The staff at the club. The pubs and food stalls that surround the city ground.

How do you market a football pilgrimage when the very foundation of the team’s dominance has been legally declared a fabrication?

I’d be really concerned to see where our league is heading. This could be complete carnage and no one wants to see that.

Arsenal v Atletico Madrid. A Night The Emirates Hasn’t Quite Ever Seen

by Saunter

Ivan Gazadis in 2013 said ”“We’re very confident with the new deals we’ve got coming through, although we can’t talk about that in any detail. That’s showing really positive progression. We should be able to compete at a level like a club such as Bayern Munich.

From the moment I became conscious that I was on this Earth, I was running around getting food on my Arsenal shirt.

I was barely awake when my father came running into the living room when we won the Premier League in 2003, though I remember it so clearly, like I was destined to experience something like that one day.

Before I could enjoy football and Arsenal football club, Henry, Pires, and Vieira all left the club, and we moved into the Emirates Stadium.

For decades, as I started to go to games holding my dad’s hand to eventually enjoying beers with him in the stadium. I watched Arsenal slowly lose its magic through years of Austerity to pay the stadium debts. The embarrassments from Bayern, watching the goals from Wayne Rooney from behind the goal, and the Europa League defeats. It felt like it was never going to end.

We never believed him. I didn’t anyway. Year after Year screaming out for new players, for players not to leave and go and win Tittles almost instantly with their new clubs.

It was hell.

Hell, but always unconditional love.

Step in Arteta.

Watching Arsenal slowly build these last few years. Even with upsets along the way of finishing second, it shows that even though none of us believed in Ivan at the time, he was right.

The atmosphere at the Emirates on the 5th of April 2026 was something I had never thought I’d ever see, even after supporting my club through thick and thin.

Everyone in unison. North London forever, the celebrations, raw electricity through the ground. it feels like we’ve already won it.

Resilience. Passion. Purpose. Progress.

We are on the edge of history. Arsenal,

Please, my heart cannot take it any longer.