18
May

Mancini takes out full-page ad to thank City fans

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While Manchester City manager Roberto Manicini did not even make it to the end of the season, he took the high road and put out this classy ad in the Manchester Evening News.

Mancini is pictured with the 2011 FA Cup, 2012 Community Shield, and 2012 Premier League trophy, thanking the fans for three unforgettable years.

He was not a popular man among players and club officials, but fans have still held him in a high regard and he should receive plenty of support for a new position sooner than later.

Image via @Danmcfcjones

8
May

Trecker’s Travels, Day Five: Bank on it

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Photo: Getty Images

By Jamie Trecker

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

Bank holiday. It’s the hottest day of the year to date in England. Shops are closed. Englishmen, and their dogs, are recumbent across the nation. There is absolutely nothing going on, and that’s exactly how this nation likes it.

I took a walk from Salford round Manchester’s city borders and back. Greater Manchester’s about 500 square miles, but the old city, bordered by two rivers – the Irwell on the west and on the east by the Medlock  — remains compact. Even an out-of-shape writer can go from Deansgate to the Rochdale Canal, then back from Great Ancoats through the Northern Quarter in a couple of hours.

Just across the river, tucked into a small neighborhood just across the river, is Castlefield, the old Roman heart of the city. A small reconstruction of the fort – which was originally made out of timber – stands on the site, dwarfed by the neighboring bridges. Some folks walked around to see it, but Castlefield is better known today for its vibrant weekend market and burgeoning bar scene. That Market starts on the edge of what once was called Mancunium in two weeks time.

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5
May

Trecker’s Travels, Day Four: Sounds of Music

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Photo: Jamie Trecker / FOX Soccer

By Jamie Trecker

SALFORD, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

On Saturday it was drummers, today it was drum kits. At about 10 a.m. on Sunday, the Angel Centre, a multi-use facility next door to the old Royal Salford Hospital, opened its doors to a scruffy lot unloading vans.

No, it was not Chelsea pulling up to play at Old Trafford (we’ll get to that later). Manchester is hosting a massive music festival, Sounds from the Other City, that will take place across 11 venues and feature some 130 acts. Most of the venues are small, but the bands aren’t. The headliners include trance music pioneer Simon Postford, Glasgow noise-rockers Divorce, and Oregon’s well-regarded Parenthetical Girls.

Did I mention the venues are small? Bands will be playing in the same pub where Marx and Engels discussed the means of production over an open fire. On Sunday, the Salford Arms was clearing a path for all the equipment while I made my way to Old Trafford. The manager’s expression was equal parts exhaustion and panic.

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4
May

Trecker’s Travels, Day Three: May Day

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Photo: Jamie Trecker / FOX Soccer

By Jamie Trecker

SALFORD, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

The drums began around 11 this morning. I walked out of the flat I am renting and turned right into a group of policemen. They were keeping one eye on a rag-tag group that had gathered in the courtyard of the Salford Cathedral, next to one of Chapel Street’s better-known pubs.

This is May bank holiday weekend in England, and here in Manchester it is the weekend for May Day protests. May 1 saw protests around the globe – crowds rallied in Athens and Madrid to protest austerity measures and Seattle made news as 18 marchers were arrested after eight policemen were injured. Here, May Day was delayed, but not deferred.

May Day goes unremarked upon in the United States. The traditional start of spring in Europe doesn’t have the same visceral connection to workers in the States as it does here, and, to my chagrin, most European news of late in our press has started and stopped with Amanda Knox. But Manchester has a long history of worker activism and the city has never lost their emotional tie to this holiday.

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8
Mar

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of driving whilst disqualified.

The Argentina international, who was banned from driving for six months on January 16, was arrested on Thursday near his home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of driving whilst disqualified.

The Argentina international, who was banned from driving for six months on January 16, was arrested on Thursday near his home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire. He was later bailed pending further inquiries.

A spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said: “At 5.13pm yesterday police arrested a 29-year-old man from Alderley Edge on the A538 in Macclesfield.” Read more here.

Watch Tevez’s expensive sled get towed away second by second.

5
Mar

Trecker’s Travels: Manchester

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By: Jamie Trecker

MANCHESTER – This is the third time I’ve been in Manchester in the last 18 months. Or is it the fourth? You start to lose count when you’re on the road for soccer, because much of your time is spent getting from rail stations to the grounds and back again. Was that game at the Etihad or was I in Liverpool, over at Goodison that day? Was that hotel a converted print shop, or am I thinking of the one next to the railway, the one with the high ceilings that carried and held the drunk fans and their songs long into the night.
 

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