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Who knows how much impact the faff had on their performance?
Manchester United Women have been left with work to do in their Champions League qualifier and might need to have a word with kit staff too, as the administration is now said to be investigating how a bag of boots went missing ahead of the crucial match.
Now this is the sort of stuff you really couldn’t write…
Yes, unbelievably, global footballing giants Man United had to quite literally pop to the shops to buy new football boots after a reported 13-15 pairs were lost before their first leg against Norwegian side, SK Brann Kvinner.
As per the likes of The Athletic and The Guardian‘s women’s football writer, Tom Garry, the majority of the players were left without anything to play in, resulting in the travelling squad having to go and buy replacements.
Manchester United were defeated 1-0 by Brann in the Women’s Champions League third qualifying round on Thursday after some of the squad’s football boots were lost on the way to Norway.
During the side's journey to the city of Bergen, where Brann are based, for the first leg of… pic.twitter.com/NjyaalHinJ
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) September 11, 2025
Citing Reuters as his primary source, Garry detailed how a bag containing several players’ boots disappeared during the journey to the game in Bergen on Thursday evening.
As a result, United are now investigating exactly how the boots went missing.
Marc Skinner’s side went on to lose the game by a single goal scored a quarter of an hour from the end in the third qualifying round, but remain confident they can turn the tide in the decisive knockout tie upon returning home to Leigh Sports Village on 18 September.
They are said to have arrived at a local shop, Torshov Sport, around three hours before kick-off (4:30pm local time), grabbing 15 pairs of boots and 20 sets of shin pads in total. Speaking to BBC Sport, owner Andre Gullord said they paid nearly £4,000 for the last-minute kit haul.
“We are a big store, but they were very lucky we had enough boots in stock that were the right size”, he said, adding that “they paid between £200 and £230 for each pair of boots and £30 for the shin guards.”
Quipping that they catered to the odd native player in the past but never a full team, he went on to joke: “Maybe we should have told them we only had boots with no studs to help the local team!”
It does give frantic pre-match Sunday league antics, doesn’t it?
city not getting bunnys visa, our plane catching on fire and united boots going missing oh i love the chaos of wsl in the uwcl https://t.co/mNTh83p0av
— gooooooooner 🏆🏆 (@lessisbackheelx) September 11, 2025
Many supporters have found it hard to believe how a sporting organisation as huge as the Red Devils can find itself in such unlikely circumstances.
Then again, unexpected and as yet inexplicable stuff like this can happen to anyone – even a sporting franchise as established and well-staffed as Manchester United.
MUWFC chartered a group flight to the game this week after the club recently came under fire for leaving players to pay for their own travel back from their previous European fixture in Sweden at the start of the month.
It wasn’t all chaos and frustration, though; one big plus from the night was the midfield play from new signing Jess Park, who joined in a sensational swap deal with rivals Man City on deadline day. You can see the highlights from the game down below.
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Featured Images — MUTV (screenshot via YouTube)/adidas/Manchester United (publicity pictures)
Sport
Brand new venue confirmed as the host of The Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness Danny Jones Danny Jones House of Social and First Street hosting 2025 Manchester Run Against Homelessness charity fundraiser
The magnificent Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness is back this year, and with the 2025 event fast approaching, they have announced arguably their biggest host venue yet, setting up in camp in a brand new food and drink hall.
Having housed the incredible charity gathering from Freight Island last year, it was always going to take some beating this time around, but somehow they’ve managed to.
The annual relay run in aid of Greater Manchester’s homeless community will be taking place at none other than the city centre’s recently unveiled House of Social, with the building’s wider student living quarters serving as the perfect fit for the initiative first thought up by university friends back in 2018.
Announced this week, House of Social will be teaming up with the wider First Street neighbourhood to look after the hordes of incredible runners this year.
Jamie Hills, Development Director at Ask Real Estate – who operate the ever-growing First St complex – said of volunteering as this year’s hosts: “First Street is thrilled to welcome and fuel the incredible runners of The Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness.
“As the city’s hotspot for community events and culture, we’re proud to be a place where community thrives, so we’re incredibly excited to support this important initiative. With our fantastic on-site amenities like House of Social, we’re ready to keep those participating powered up and going strong!”
As for co-founder Tom Lewis, speaking to The Manc, he said: “We’re excited to return for our 7th edition, with Manchester being our flagship event.
“Through being hosted at House of Social in First Street, we’re hoping to make this year’s edition the best and biggest yet, aiming to raise £50,000 for the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity Scheme, ‘A Bed Every Night’.
“We’d love to see you all at the event, plus bring your friends and workplace to. There are paces for everyone, including walking laps.”
In November 2024, not only did the fundraising phenomenon mark its first-ever expansion with an inaugural event in Birmingham, but it also surpassed £50,000 here in Manchester alone, and is now set to make debuts in a trio of new cities.
Tom went on to add: “I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve managed to accomplish as a team with starting up three more events across the country this year and expanding Manchester to a scale we couldn’t have dreamed of when we started out seven years ago.”
We here at The Manc Group have been helping The MCR 24 Run Against Homelessness for several years now, and have put in plenty of those 5k laps between ourselves, so you can bank on us being there to put in some more hard yards this November.
Even better still, we’ve already roped in our friends over at The Hoot to help out with the maiden 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness in Leeds, and we hope to see lots more of you chipping in across the North and beyond.
Here’s to helping rough sleepers find beds and get back on their feet all over the country.
The @mcr24hourrun is expanding in 2025 and is heading to Leeds for the first time. 🏃♂️
And they're not the only city making their debut this year either… 👊
Find out more and learn how you can help here. ➡️ https://t.co/lmitkDMHKM#GreaterManchester #Leeds #MCR #Yorkshire pic.twitter.com/xArlOfkLyT
— The Manc (@TheMancUK) August 11, 2025
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Featured Images — The Manc Group/The 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness
Sport
Darts returns to Manchester as Premier League dates are confirmed for 2026 Danny Jones Danny Jones
The schedule for the 2026 Premier League Darts tour has been officially announced, with the PDC’s annual championship returning to Manchester once again.
PDC Premier League fixtures continue to grow in popularity both in TV figures and live match attendance, with a whole new generation of fans getting into ‘the arrows’.
Just as it has for decades now, league darts is coming back to Manchester city centre and the legendary AO Arena once again, with our date landing right in the middle of the season.
Booking a big night right in the middle of a crucial period in the competition? It sounds like 0161 is set to welcome another blockbuster night up at the oche.
Confirmed on Thursday, 11 September, next year’s PDC Premier League Darts campaign will get underway in February, spanning the course of four months and eight countries.
Of the European cities on the circuit, the tournament will be heading to Belgium for the very first time, as the AFAS Dome in Antwerp replaces Exeter.
Elsewhere on the continent, there are two other mainland evenings in Germany and the Netherlands, along with multiple Northern dates here in the UK, such as Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.
As for Manchester, we’ve been selected for round nine of 17 (including the finals), with the AO Arena set to welcome multiple favoured competitors from the North West, including 18-year-old phenomenon Luke Little from down the road in Warrington, as well as Stockport’s very own Nathan Aspinall.
It was an unforgettable experience for Aspinall last time around in his local event, as he finally managed to win a PDC Premier League night on home turf for the first time in his career.
We were arguably just as emotional as he was.
Those hoping to enjoy a night of darts in front of a Manchester crowd on April 26, 2026, still have to be patient for now, as general admission is still a little way off.
However, if you are interested, you can sign up for the AO’s newsletter to find out more information and get yourself on the waiting list early.
Better, if you go straight through the PDC, you can throw your hat in the ring for the presale window right now and be first in line to grab tickets when they go live.
You can do so HERE and, until then, get your signs and fancy dress at the ready because we’ll be heading back to the ‘boring, boring tables’ soon enough.
See the 2026 PDC Premier League Darts schedule in full down below:
🚨 The @BetMGMUK Premier League IS BACK! 🎯
🗓️ 2026 Tour Dates are out. Who’s coming to the biggest Premier League yet? 🏆
🎟️ Register for Pre-Sale access https://t.co/5MrHiWqkKW
📰 Read the full story https://t.co/7I7omkv8kn pic.twitter.com/4wmLbcKdMR
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) September 11, 2025
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Featured Images — Sandro Halank (via Wikimedia Commons)* /*Press shot (supplied via AO Arena)
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