Man United once again held their latest ‘Stadium Sleep Out’ this past weekend and managed to raise more than £30,000 to combat homelessness and help vulnerable young people across Greater Manchester.
Truly touching stuff at such a tough time of year.
Held at Old Trafford for the last couple of years, the club’s Sleep Out initiative sees hundreds of Reds, charitable volunteers and just well-meaning Mancs, in general, descend upon the Theatre of Dreams for a magical night under the stars and the floodlights of one of the most famous stadiums in world football.
Taking place last Friday, 15 November, the third-ever stadium sleepout saw more than 120 people – including Man United players and staff, both past and present – pull out their sleeping bags and spend the night up in the stands for this crucial cause.
Raising vital funds for Centrepoint, the UK-based charity that specialises in helping vulnerable young people who are either currently or at risk of sleeping rough, as well as the local homeless community at large, those taking part amassed another £30k through generous donations.
Having raised £40k in 2023 and matched the same target amount since for their debut event back in 2021, which was instead held inside the Munich Tunnel, that’s now £100,000 raised for the non-profit – a total figure which could prove to be life-saving for many across the 10 boroughs.
Centrepoint also shared real-life experiences of hardship faced by some young people with the group huddled up inside Man United‘s home ground, as well as inviting those taking part to offer their own messages of support to those struggling, especially during the colder months.
The Manchester United Foundation’s CEO, John Shiels, also gave a reading of a poem about the fabled Busby Babes (in whose honour the organisation was created in 2007) as a commitment to the young people across Greater Manchester.
“Once again, I am humbled by the amount of support the Sleep Out has received. It’s been great to see faces old and new supporting our work, and the work of Centrepoint, as we head into the harsh winter months”, said Shiels.
“There are many young people out there currently living in dire conditions and it is our duty as a community to come together and help them. I’m delighted to see that so many people feel the same and have collectively raised a fantastic amount of money that will make a huge difference to the lives of vulnerable young people in our area.”
As you can see, former players turned club ambassadors, David May and Danny Simpson, were both in attendance to sleep over during the night and chat with fans.
Simpson, an ex-United academy graduate who retired earlier this year, said of the evening: “It’s been a pleasure to be here this evening. I feel like homelessness is a problem that is getting worse, and you see it all over the city.
“I’m a local boy, so it means something to me to try and help my community in any way I can. I’ve seen first-hand the positive impact the Foundation has and it’s been great to hear about the work Centrepoint is doing – it’s been a really positive night.”
Other club partners and sponsors such as DXC Technology, DHL, WOW HYDRATE, Cadbury also helped out on the night, either by sending members in sleeping bags to represent their companies or by gifting snacks and supplies for the long night in the cold.
It goes without saying that it warms our hearts to see Mancs pulling together for such an important issue. Better yet, the fundraising page is still open so if you want to help, you can donate HERE. Here’s hoping United smash their previous fundraising feats at the next Stadium Sleepout in 2025.
Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Danny Jones -
19th November 2024 
