Tributes are pouring in online for well-known Manchester United supporter, Abdullah Ghaleiw, who has sadly passed away at the age of just 26.
Aside from being a familiar face among the Old Trafford crowd, Ghaleiw was an online content creator, commentator and hugely popular contributor on the Man United YouTube fan channel, Full Time Devils (FTD), which rebranded back in 2020.
More commonly referred to as just Abdul, both among those on the channel and by the millions who watched him over the years, he was a regular on their post-match fancams, as well as other shows and livestreams on matchdays and beyond.
With other Reds, long-time viewers and supporters from all over the country learning of the news, social media has been awash with people paying their respects to the die-hard footy fan, as well as a much-loved friend and colleague.
Really shaken up after seeing this man. Back when I was at the United Star team, Abdullah was one of the first people to give us advise on how to approach this genre. So humble and kind.
Born in Libya but raised and schooled here in Manchester, he was a matchgoing United fan for many seasons. Having gone from fancam favourite to several years working in various roles on the channel, he was most recently a producer for JD Sports. His cause of death has not been shared publicly.
Stretford Paddock (formerly FTD and now a fan-owned football club too), who Abdullah worked alongside for many years and was a regular face on the channel under their old moniker, told The Manc: “Abdullah was one of the most passionate, knowledgeable and likeable lads you could wish to meet.
“He was an extremely popular presenter on the channel thanks to his ability to not only explain tactics in an entertaining and understandable way, but also because of his great sense of humour and infectious laugh.
“We’ve shared so many moments with him but his reaction in Paris from our win over PSG remains one of our favourites. We’ll always miss Abdullah and the channel will be a much sadder place without him.”
Speaking in an emotional livestream on Monday after attending his funeral, the company’s founder Stephen Howson went on to tell viewers: “I don’t know what to say – we’ve lost a mate […] The good news is we have so much content [of him] to go back and watch […] He will be missed.”
BBC Radio Manchester presenter, Gaz Drinkwater – who spent a formative period of his career working and talking football with Abdul during his tenure at Full Time Devils – is one of several notable names in and around football journalism to have paid tribute to a peer admired by many.
Anyone else could’ve sold a ticket to an FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley for a profit, but Abdullah looked out for me in every aspect, gave it to me for FV, & even helped me work with one of my favorite footballers.
Fellow United content creator and Stretford Paddock presenter Adam McKola shared a parting message on his Instagram, writing: “We’ve lost a real one, a great friend and a true bro. Been reading through all the posts and tweets about how much you’ve done for people, the impact you had on their lives and careers, how much we loved you, you will be so, so missed bro.
“We didn’t have you around us because you were good at your job, and believe me you were one of the best, we had you around because you were such a clean hearted, genuine brother. I’ll miss you man. Can still hear your laugh ringing in my head – hope I don’t forget it.
“My love goes out to your family, friends and close ones. Rest in perfect peace, Abdullah – I love you, bro.” His is just one of many others detailing how Ghaleiw touched their lives, from passing on spare tickets to mentoring others looking to get into his line of work.
To this day, his face can be found all over the channel and, just as countless fans wrote in the live chat during Howson’s remembrance livestream, many of FTD/Stretford Paddock‘s most iconic moments had ‘Abdul’ at the heart of them.
Our thoughts go out to all those in the Stretford Paddock family, as well as his friends, family and Reds everywhere. Rest in peace.
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 -
4th December 2024 
