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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
You work all week to afford a City ticket, only to get tongue-lashing from Pep Guardiola for being ‘silent’.
Despite last night’s win against Spurs, the Manchester City manager said his club is lacking ‘passion, desire to win from minute one’. And he had a go at the fans too. “It’s the same for our spectators, our fans. They are so silent for 45 minutes,” he told Sky Sports.
That’s not the berating you need when you’ve paid north of £70 for a ticket is it?
Although it’s not clear if Pep was, in a roundabout way, actually alluding to the eye-watering ticket prices. He said he wanted ‘fans that are here - not my away fans’.
Plenty of people are priced out of attending City games, especially as the cost of living crisis bites.
In fact, the average Manchester worker has to graft for almost six hours to afford the club's most expensive match day tickets - the most of any Premier League club supporters.
Data journalist David Dubas Fisher analysed the numbers for the Mancunian Way and found tickets for City’s top Premier League matches are priced between £68 and £85 for adults - some of the most expensive in the country.
However, the average hourly wage in Manchester stands at £14.42, according to the latest government figures. That means the average person has to work between 4.7 and 5.9 hours in order to afford a ticket. And that’s not taking tax into account.
No other club asks its local population to work as long in order to buy the top priced match tickets.
After City, Southampton’s fans have to work the longest in order to buy their club’s top priced tickets. The most expensive matchday tickets at St Mary’s cost £89 each. With a local average age of £15.59 per hour, it means Saints fans have to work 5.7 hours in order to buy their club’s most expensive matchday tickets.
David did try and crunch the numbers for Manchester United but found the ticket prices were not readily available.
The most affordable Premier League tickets are at Nottingham Forest where the top priced tickets are £40 each, working out at just 2.9 hours work based on the local average wages.
A new inquest for Yousef
Yousef Makki’s family have won the right to a fresh inquest into the teenager’s fatal stabbing in 2019.
As crime reporter John Scheerhout writes, the original conclusion has been quashed and a fresh inquest will now be held in front of another coroner.
Yousef's friend Joshua Molnar was cleared of murder and manslaughter in 2019, saying he acted in self-defence, and in 2021 a coroner ruled she could not reach a verdict of unlawful killing as the precise circumstances of the death 'could not be ascertained' - giving a narrative conclusion.
Today the family were told High Court judges have quashed the judgement and their campaign for a fresh inquest has succeeded.
In the judgement, the judges said the original coroner's narration of the evidence was 'insufficiently distilled' and there was 'no explanation' of how her findings were relevant to her conclusion on the stabbing.
A talented Manchester Grammar School pupil from Burnage, 17-year-old Yousef was stabbed by his rich friend, Joshua Molnar, also 17, on leafy Gorse Bank Road in affluent Hale Barns on March 2, 2019.
Molnar, now 21, was handed a 16-month detention and training order after admitting possessing the knife which inflicted the fatal injury and lying to police at the scene. He says he acted in self-defence, alleging Yousef pushed him and pulled a knife on him. A jury acquitted Molnar of murder and manslaughter following a trial.
His co-defendant at the 2019 trial, another MGS student, Adam Chowdhary, now 20, from Hale Barns, who described Yousef as his 'best friend', was acquitted of perverting the course of justice. He was given a four-month detention order after admitting possession of a flick knife, one of two he claimed he and Yousef had jointly ordered online during a break from lessons at MGS.
Yousef's mother Debbie, 55, died in May, 2020, during lockdown. She had never recovered from Yousef's death and died 'of a broken heart', according to her family.
Debbie and the rest of the Makki family fought for an inquest, which took place over seven days in 2021 at South Manchester Coroner’s Court in Stockport. The Makki family have always maintained that Yousef was a ‘peacemaker’ and said they were 'disgusted' with the conclusion.
Yousef's sister, Jade Akoum, today said the family ‘hope and pray’ a new inquest will establish clearly the facts about how Yousef died.
"If it was bad news today it would have been the end of the road but we're so happy to have been given another opportunity,” she said. "I feel my faith in the system has been restored after these 11 weeks."
You can read the full details of today's High Court ruling here.
A young woman who saved lives
Beth Matthews’ story is truly tragic. The blogger died after ingesting a poisonous substance while a patient on a secure mental health ward.
Beth was the third young woman in two months to die at The Priory’s Cheadle Royal Hospital. Lauren Bridges and Deseree Fitzpatrick died in the same facility just weeks apart.
An inquest into the circumstances surrounding Beth’s death this week concluded her death was the result of suicide, contributed to by hospital neglect.
Reporter Chris Slater was at South Manchester Coroner’s Court to hear the evidence and has written about how the young woman saved lives through her blog - which has been widely credited with helping people struggling with depressive illnesses.
No selfies with his maj
The King and Queen Consort have been in Bolton today - and it’s the first time a reigning monarch has been in the borough since Elizabeth II’s visit in 1988.
The royal couple more than made up for the extended absence when they met with dignitaries to celebrate Bolton Town Hall's 150th anniversary.
King Charles also met workers at the Kellogg’s factory, in Stretford, before heading over to Northern Moor to meet children at Norbrook Community Centre and England football manager Gareth Southgate, who was there as a Prince’s Trust Ambassador.
The King seemed in good spirits throughout the day. But fans who had gathered with their cameras hoping to catch a glimpse of the monarch were given a very specific warning - no selfies with the King.
'A moderately interesting-looking sandwich'
If you watch Happy Valley, you’ll have been gripped during the most recently aired scene between Sarah Lancashire and Siobhan Finneran.
And it’s proved so popular that fans of hit BBC drama have been flocking from across the UK to the Bolton cafe where it was filmed, as Dianne Bourne writes.
Staff at The Amico Cafe, on Corporation Street in Bolton, say ‘business has soared’ since the episode was shown.
ITV Lorraine even filmed there on Friday morning, with presenter Jake Quickenden heading down to see what all the fuss is about.
Cafe manager John Cavanagh said: "We've got a lady who comes down from London, she's come down, she's stayed the week, she's been down three times just to sit at this very table. She will stand and wait until this table is free, just to sit here."
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Weather etc
Saturday: Clear. 4C.
Road closures: M56 Eastbound exit slip road to the A34 closed due to roadworks at A34 Kingsway until 7am on February 5.
One lane closed due to carriageway repairs on M56 in both directions between J7 A556 Chester Road ( Bowdon ) and J5 (Manchester Airport) until February 18.
Trains: Salford Central will be closed until summer 2023 for vital platform and canopy works.
Trivia question: The Amico cafe is in Bolton, but in which northern city was it supposed to when featured in Happy Valley?
Manchester headlines
Reward: A £50,000 reward is being offered in the hunt for the killer of a teenager Kennie Carter, who was stabbed to death in Stretford. Kennie, 16, died in hospital after being knifed in the chest on Saturday, January 22, 2022. Twelve teenagers, aged 13 to 18, have so far been arrested in connection with Kennie's murder, but none have been charged. As the 12 month anniversary of Kennie's death approaches Greater Manchester Police are now offering a huge reward of up to £50,000 for information that leads to the conviction of those responsible for his murder. More here.
Nationalised: TransPennine Express today faced renewed calls for the train operating company to be nationalised after an MP blasted 'one of the worst days yet for passengers'. By 9am on Thursday, TPE reported 93 full cancellations although Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, claimed at one point that the total figure of cancellations and disrupted trains stood at a huge 120. She said the Government 'cannot pretend' the management is 'blameless in this farce', and urged the Prime Minister to strip the company of its contract and bring it under the Operator of Last Resort. More here.
New Year: Manchester's Chinatown will come alive this weekend as the city begins to celebrate Chinese New Year. The colourful celebration marks the beginning of the new year on the traditional lunar calendar. A packed programme of events will take place on Sunday, January 22, as the city marks the Year of the Rabbit. The celebrations will include the return of Manchester's legendary Dragon Parade for the first time in full in three years - including a traditional lion and ribbon dancers - plus lots of family friendly activities and events. You can find all the details of the celebrations here.
Worth a read
Ben Arnold has been to Hong Kong Choi - a restaurant with one of the most unusual menus in Salford.
It features everything from French lobster bisque to Hong Kong style bolognese, and people travel from all over to try it.
Ben’s been speaking to the Choi family, who run the place, and found out how they have grown the business through word of mouth.
And finally...
“In Manchester we bring you the unique Mr Tony McCabe - a man who claims he can jump on hen’s eggs and human noses without breaking them,” declared a young Sue Lawley, while presenting an episode of Nationwide in 1974.
The clip of the resulting feat was posted by Rae Earl and has been doing the rounds on Twitter this week. I urge you to take a look.
Tony - clad in socks, shoes and shorts - uses an unusual method in order to triumph.
“That’s it is it?” he’s asked shortly afterwards.
“Oh yes that’s definitely been jumped on,” he replies with confidence.
You can take your Love Islands and your Happy Valleys - I’m perfectly content to watch Tony and his eggs forever more thanks.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: Sheffield.
