The iconic Disney Channel series first premiered in 2006
Samantha King Content Editor
10:06, 18 Feb 2026Updated 10:14, 18 Feb 2026
It’s been quite some time since Hannah Montana graced our television screens. The beloved programme first launched back in 2006, and a film followed in 2009.
Running for four seasons, the comedy series centred on apparently ordinary teenager Miley Stewart. Yet Miley harbours a secret – she’s simultaneously living as a globally renowned pop sensation performing under the alias Hannah Montana.
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To conceal her real identity from both the public and her classmates, she wears a blonde wig during her performances as Hannah, depending on her father, brother and best mates whilst attempting to balance schoolwork with her clandestine celebrity career.
In a case of life mirroring fiction, the show’s lead Miley Cyrus subsequently became an international music superstar, recognised for chart-toppers such as Flowers, Wrecking Ball and The Climb. The ensemble also included Miley’s actual father, country musician Billy Ray Cyrus, alongside Emily Osment, Mitchel Musso and Jason Earles.
Two decades later, Disney+ has confirmed a 20th anniversary special featuring the pop sensation herself. Recorded before a live studio audience, the performer and actress will sit down with Call Her Daddy podcast presenter Alex Cooper to discuss everything Hannah Montana, reports the Mirror.
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Disney’s description hints: “With heartfelt nostalgia and fresh perspective, Cyrus will revisit the moments, music and memories that defined an era.
“Viewers will be treated to never-before-seen archival footage, while some of the most memorable sets from ‘Hannah Montana’ are brought back to life – including the Stewart family living room and the legendary Hannah Montana closet. There will also be some familiar *notes* that find their way back into the spotlight.”
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The special programme will broadcast on Disney+ on March 24. Prior to its arrival, the streaming service released a teaser clip showing a vehicle with the registration plate ‘HM 20’ arriving at a backlot, whilst a muted version of Hannah Montana track ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ plays. It accompanied the footage with: “Going back to where it all began.”
Before the special’s launch, Miley Cyrus revealed: “Hannah Montana will always be a part of who I am. What started as a TV show became a shared experience that shaped my life and the lives of so many fans, and I’ll always be thankful for that connection.
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“The fact that it still means so much to people all these years later is something I’m very proud of. This ‘Hannahversary’ is my way of celebrating and thanking the fans who’ve stood by me for 20 years.”
Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special will air on Disney+ on March 24.For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.
“It’s heartbreaking now, when I think about it, that young Noah has gone on”
A retired police officer has described the “horrendous” conditions in a storm drain tunnel network in which the body of Noah Donohoe was discovered.
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Retired inspector Menary, who previously managed the PSNI hazardous environment search (HES) team, told Belfast coroner’s court that anyone entering the tunnel without protective clothing would have been “absolutely frozen”.
The inquest into the death of the schoolboy at Belfast Coroner’s Court, which is being heard with a jury, is now in its fourth week.
Noah, a pupil of St Malachy’s College, was 14 when he was found dead in a storm drain tunnel in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after leaving home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.
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A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was drowning.
Resuming his evidence on Wednesday, Mr Menary told the jury that his team had resumed his search of a stretch of the storm drain network on Thursday June 25, four days after Noah went missing.
The tunnel could be accessed from a culvert entrance in Northwood Linear Park in north Belfast, close to where Noah had last been seen on the Sunday before.
Mr Menary told the jury that at this stage he was involved in a search operation, not a body recovery operation.
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He said at that point there was “no evidence” Noah had gone down into the storm drain.
He said: “We were looking for anything strange or out of the ordinary within the culvert.”
Mr Menary searched in an area underneath Seaview football pitch, the home of Crusaders FC.
Describing the conditions, he said: “It’s freezing cold. My flood suit at the time is sealed, but doesn’t fully seal around the waist, so when I was lying down the water was coming over the top of me and up into the bottom of my jacket.”
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Counsel for the coroner Declan Quinn asked what it would have been like for someone to be in the tunnel without protective clothing.
Mr Menary said: “Somebody doing that with no clothes would have been absolutely horrendous and you would have been absolutely frozen.”
Mr Quinn asked about the physical exertion which would have been needed for someone to travel from the entrance to the culvert system at Linear Park to the stretch of tunnel which the retired officer had searched.
Mr Menary said: “The water would have continually come over you and you would have been frozen.
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“You begin to get disorientated because of the cold, you begin to slow down and you just continually move on that section underneath the football pitch.”
The retired officer said it was “heartbreaking” to think Noah had been in the tunnel.
He said: “It’s hard and that bit underneath the pitch was fairly horrendous.”
Asked about the email to the First Minister, a spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service told PA: “The Lord Advocate provided the First Minister with an update to ensure it was understood she was not involved in the case, that it was active for contempt of court, and therefore it should not be commented upon.
From hit series such as Heated Rivalry and Bridgerton to the most talked about movie of the moment, Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, yearning is everywhere right now. Falling in love and living happily ever after? BORING – we want storylines with long, drawn out power dynamics, tortuous emotional restraint and hopefully, a moment of release.
Yearning, as the Cambridge Dictionary defines it, is “a strong feeling of wishing for something, especially something that you cannot have or get easily” – and we can’t get enough of it.
You only have to search #yearning on TikTok to be flooded with videos (245k posts, in fact) to find romanticised clip after clip of Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff looking miserable on the Moors or videos of Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony Bridgerton staring down a camera with misty-eyes.
Meanwhile, the phrase ‘best yearning scenes’ has been Googled so many times in the last 30 days that it’s been classified as a ‘breakout’ term (Heathcliff’s finger sucking has a lot to answer for).
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However, according to new research from Tinder, it turns out that many of us don’t just want these intense feelings in our pop culture, we want them mirrored in our own dating lives too.
Not content with yearning being restricted to screen, stage and page (yes, we see you too A Court of Thorns and Roses readers), 71% of UK singles aged 18-25 want love that feels as intense as it does in films or books, while two thirds (67%) say they love the feeling of being yearned after, and 61% enjoy yearning for someone they like.
However, is yearning really all it cracks up to be in practice in the real world?
Well, as chartered psychologist Dr Tracy King explains, one of the main issues with yearning is that a lot of it is based around uncertainty and it can actually lead us to have an unrealistic idea of the person we’re yearning for.
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“When someone is just out of reach, the mind fills in the gaps,” she says. “You are not relating to a full, consistent picture of a person, you are relating to fragments and possibility. That creates intensity, but intensity is not the same thing as compatibility.”
In other words, you’re so wrapped up in this feeling of want and longing that you might be blind to the pitfalls of the person themselves – that this idea of them is actually more attractive than the reality of who they are.
We’ve all been there, when the thrill of the chase and the ‘will we, won’t we’ element of dating is absolutely intoxicating, but then when things eventually work out after painful uncertainty, everything feels a little… flat.
Tinder’s data actually echoes this, with 28% of UK singles saying they enjoy having a crush even if it doesn’t go anywhere i.e. the whole point is the feeling of longing over the actual fruition of a relationship.
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And unfortunately the reason it can feel so delicious is because yearning sits in the brain’s same learning mechanism as intermittent reinforcement – and for this example, Dr Tracy uses rats (sorry Heathcliff).
“We can look at the effects of intermittent reinforcement from past behavioural psychology experiments using rats. When a reward was delivered consistently to the rats, their behaviour stayed steady.
“However, when the reward was delivered unpredictably, the behaviour became far more embedded. The uncertainty drove the animal to keep trying. Unpredictable rewards embed action and need far deeper.”
Apart from desperately trying not to make a joke about our exes and rats, how does this relate to our dating lives? Time to reintroduce our dating trend friend breadcrumbing, something which yearning relies upon, according to Dr Tracy.
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“Yearning is exactly how breadcrumbing is able to work. A message arrives after silence. Interest appears and disappears. There is just enough contact to keep hope alive, but not enough consistency to create security. People may call this romance, or proof of how much they need and want the other but what is happening is nervous system activation plus a reward loop.”
Yearning suddenly isn’t as sexy when you think of it as a weapon for shitty dating behaviour, is it?
At the moment, pop culture tends to romanticise yearning because it looks like depth of feeling on screen but in real life, it is worth asking a more grounded question: is this feeling coming from mutual connection and real knowledge of the person, or is it being driven by inconsistency and the pull of possibility?
Sure, healthy love might not be as glamorous and sexy as yearning, but maybe we should leave the misery on the Moors and the unpredictable breadcrumbs for the rats.
Lying face-down in a floating cabana during an aromatherapy massage in a 500,000-year-old cave is the closest thing to nirvana I’ve ever experienced.
My cabana sits above an azure underground lake, and I’m entirely surrounded by stalactites, hanging like icicles from the roof, and stalagmites (mounds formed on the floor) in Prospero’s Cave, Bermuda.
It’s hard to imagine a more calming setting as I feel my muscles relax, to the soundtrack of the drips of water (or calcium carbonate deposits, more accurately) falling from the ceiling, echoing around this ancient cavern.
This cave and the nearby Cathedral Cave form a pair of expansive ancient underground limestone grottos beneath Grotto Bay Beach Resort & Spa.
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Guests can also take a dip in the Cathedral Cave’s naturally cool waters – which reaches depths of nine metres – a welcome relief from the balmy outside temperatures.
A refreshing dip in the cool cave waters at the Grotto Bay Beach Resort (PA)
These caves were first discovered during Bermuda’s early colonisation. It’s thought that Sir George Somers, whose ship was wrecked near the country’s shore in 1609, first discovered Prospero’s Cave.
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Now, the resort’s Natura Spa, set inside the cave itself with just three overwater cabanas, offers an exclusive setting for a variety of treatments – and it’s said to be one of the few places in the world for such a unique experience. It also marks the beginning of my wellness journey on this beautiful archipelago in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Famous for its pink-sand beaches and turquoise waters, the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, comprising seven main islands within an archipelago of 181 in total, is positioning itself as a leading destination for wellness-focused travellers.
I’m pleasantly surprised by the mild winter temperatures in January, ranging from 16 to 20 degrees Celsius, a respite from the harsh British winter and some eight hours away by air.
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A view of the private pink sand beach at the Rosewood Bermuda (Rosewood Bermuda/PA)
But Bermuda feels worth visiting for the warmth and hospitality of its people alone. Walking around the capital, Hamilton, on Main Island, with pastel-coloured buildings lining the waterfront, splashes of street art, and charming shops and cafés, it’s almost impossible to pass anyone without being greeted with a smile.
I’m staying at the luxurious five-star Rosewood Bermuda on Tucker’s Point in Hamilton Parish, home to Bermuda’s largest private pink‑sand beach.
The sand has a subtle pink hue on several beaches here, thanks to the presence of a microscopic marine organism, foraminifera – its bright red or pink shells mix with white sand and tiny coral fragments, giving the distinctive colour.
And a trip to Bermuda wouldn’t be complete without a visit to nearby Horseshoe Bay, the island’s famous crescent-shaped pink-sand beach with dramatic limestone cliffs.
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My spacious room, complete with its own private balcony and a dark-wood, four-poster king bed, has views straight over the North Atlantic Ocean.
This 240-acre resort also features a spa, five scenic swimming pools, and three restaurants with two bars, the perfect setting to relax and unwind.
The island’s food and drink scene celebrates flavours and produce unique to its shores. A driver, Tim, insisted I couldn’t leave without trying a Dark ’n’ Stormy, made with Gosling’s Black Seal rum and ginger beer, and the famous Bermuda fish sandwich: fried white fish served on toasted raisin bread. It’s a challenge I happily accept.
The main objective on this trip, however, was to explore the full range of wellness experiences Bermuda has to offer.
One stop on the wellness tour is a barre class at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club. Also known as the ‘Pink Palace’, the hotel boasts an impressive art collection, including original works by Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, and prides itself on being Bermuda’s only luxury urban resort.
But no one embodies Bermuda’s wellness ethos quite like Jessica Burns, founder of The Retreat House, described as “a sanctuary for connecting more deeply with yourself, others and the natural world of Bermuda”.
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A Bermuda native, Burns established the business after losing her mother, Kim, to ovarian cancer in 2023. Leaving behind her corporate career in London, she returned home to transform the beach-facing property her mother had rented to tourists for more than a decade into The Retreat House.
Local vegan chef Doreen Williams-James who led our foraging tour (Lynn Rusk/PA)
Since 2024, she’s hosted a range of retreats, from the Kim Burns Retreats for people living with cancer, to programmes designed for expectant mothers. Her aim, she tells me, is to help establish Bermuda as “one of the world’s leading wellness destinations,” encouraging travellers to embrace the island’s healing nature.
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With its turquoise waters, lush tropical greenery, and unhurried pace of life, Bermuda naturally fosters relaxation and restoration.
But it’s also rich in natural culinary sources and medicinal plants. I join a foraging tour with local vegan chef Doreen Williams-James on Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve, at the south-eastern tip of the island. She leads us on a leisurely walk, pointing out edible and medicinal plants along the way, including Old Spice, fennel, wood sorrel, hibiscus, and scurvy grass.
“I grew up eating scurvy grass, a coastal, vitamin C-rich plant, as a child,” Williams-James explains.
“My father would take me out at this time of year to pick it – it only grows once a year. When sailors first arrived on the island, their diet consisted largely of salted pork, which led to vitamin C deficiency and scurvy. They discovered that eating this plant cured the disease, which is why [we know] it’s so high in vitamin C.”
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She also touts the health benefits of eating seasonally: “At this time of year, there are so many plants naturally high in vitamin C. Eating what’s in season can help prevent illness and support healing through food.”
Lynn Rusk at Horseshoe Bay (Lynn Rusk/PA)
Foraging isn’t just a popular activity on the island, it was once a way of life. Williams-James adds: “For the older generation, foraging was simply how they lived – that’s what they ate and relied on. When I go foraging now, younger people often look at me and think, ‘What is she doing?’ But I’m seeing more of them join my tours because they want to eat better and embrace a different lifestyle.”
From a massage in an ancient cave to foraging in the wild and spending time on unspoilt beaches, I leave Bermuda feeling refreshed and ready to take on the challenges of city life once again.
A number of Southern routes from London Victoria to Ore, Littlehampton, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis and Portsmouth Harbour are also impacted. Meanwhile, Thameslink services between Peterborough and Horsham, Cambridge and Brighton, and Bedford and Three Bridges or Brighton may also see alterations.
A van driver who crashed into the back of a broken-down car in the fast lane of a smart motorway has been convicted of causing the fatal collision.
Barry O’Sullivan, 45, was driving a grey Ford work van along the M4 on March 7 2022 when he hit a Nissan Micra which had stopped in the outside lane.
The crash, which took place on the M4 westbound between junctions 11 and 12 in Berkshire, caused both vehicles to propel forward, with the Nissan bursting into flames.
Pulvinder Dhillon, who was a passenger in her daughter’s Micra, suffered fatal injuries.
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It was later discovered an unresolved technical failure on the M4 smart motorway network meant alerts for broken-down vehicles were not properly communicated in the days leading up to the collision, the trial at Reading Crown Court was previously told.
Defence lawyers argued O’Sullivan could not have caused the death of Ms Dhillon because the crash was “inevitable” given that the car was stationary in the fast lane and the smart motorway was not displaying any warning signs to other motorists.
While acknowledging “something went wrong” with the motorway’s safety alert system, the prosecution argued O’Sullivan still caused the death of Ms Dhillon by driving carelessly and “at speed”.
He did not pick up on “cues” that the vehicle was stationary, including the fact other motorists were taking steps to avoid the broken-down Nissan, the prosecution told jurors during the trial.
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The panel found O’Sullivan guilty on one of one count of causing death by careless driving, having deliberated for more than six hours.
On the day of the crash, alerts from stopped vehicle detection radars on the M4 junction eight/nine to 12 had not been communicated for five days due to a technical failure on the IT network, the trial heard.
Consequently, the network “wasn’t showing messages about any obstructions in the road ahead” on the morning of the incident.
The technical malfunction had been flagged by the system on March 2 2022 and automatically generated tickets, but they were assigned to the wrong National Highways team and with an incorrect priority level of “seven-day resolution”, the trial was told.
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The Nissan had been stationary on the fast lane for six minutes before the collision, jurors previously heard.
O’Sullivan, of Wixams near Bedford, was driving his Ford van at speeds of 74-80mph along that same stretch of motorway for the five seconds before the crash.
A roadside breath test and drug test was later administered and O’Sullivan had a zero reading for alcohol and no cocaine or cannabis was detected.
Ukrainian officials will boycott next month’s Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics over the participation of a handful of Russian and Belarusian athletes who have been cleared to compete under their flags.
Russia and Belarus will have a combined 10 athletes at next month’s Winter Paralympics following Tuesday’s decision by the International Paralympic Committee.
Ukrainian athletes will still take part in the March 6-15 Paralympic Games, but the country’s sports minister, Matviy Bidnyi, said no Ukraine official would be at the opening ceremony or any event of the Games.
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Mr Bidnyi said: “In response to the outrageous decision to let Russians and Belarusians compete under their national flags, Ukrainian public officials will not attend the Paralympic Games.
“We will not be present at the opening ceremony. We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events.
“We thank every official from the free world who will do the same.
“We will keep fighting!”
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This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Work is set to start this year while Magor and Undy is set to be the first completed
A long-awaited transformation of Wales’ rail network is set to begin as ministers prepare to green-light a multi-million-pound programme of new stations across the country.
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Construction on new railway stations across Newport is scheduled to commence this year with Magor and Undy expected to be the first to reach completion.
Whilst the UK Government confirmed work on those five stations will begin this year the anticipation is that construction of just two will commence by 2029.
The announcement will also secure funding for a Cardiff Parkway Station at St Mellons, with a seventh station to be constructed in north Wales serving the Deeside industrial park, with the government claiming 12,000 jobs throughout Wales will be generated.
Almost half a billion pounds was pledged for the stations in June’s spending review. The Prime Minister said: “This government is turning the page on historic dither and delay with seven new stations, thousands of jobs, and a generational commitment to build a rail network fit for Wales’ future.
“This isn’t tinkering nor sticking plasters. This is investment for the long term – and change communities will feel. This is putting Wales on the front foot and getting Britain building again.” For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here
A Wales Office statement confirmed that construction will start on stations at Llanwern, Newport West and Somerton alongside Magor and Undy and Cardiff East later this year. Magor and Undy is anticipated to be the first of these stations to reach completion.
The announcement will be viewed as welcome news for First Minister Eluned Morgan who has urged Mr Starmer to commit funding to rail infrastructure as polling indicates Labour may face difficulties in May’s Senedd election, potentially ending the party’s 26-year control of the Welsh Government.
Ms Morgan said: “We are now in an unprecedented position to deliver the next chapter of transformation for rail services in Wales. We have secured long-term commitments to key projects and a renewed ambition for our rail network.”
She added: “Today marks another important milestone for rail as Transport for Wales publishes an exciting and essential pipeline for future investment. This includes projects the length and breadth of our nation.
“We warmly welcome the UK Government’s support for these plans and for their commitment to putting right the injustice of Welsh rail underfunding left by the previous government.”
The new stations flanking Newport had been proposed by the Burns Commission in 2019 to tackle M4 congestion following the abandonment of earlier relief road proposals, and are designed to facilitate easier commuting into Newport and Cardiff.
The proposal Mr Starmer is expected to formally back on Wednesday is the strategy developed by Transport for Wales, which oversees local rail services and public transport strategy.
The UK Government is also pledging funding to enhance the line speed of the relief lines running parallel to the main lines between Cardiff and Severn Tunnel Junction, which will establish two additional high-speed lines and offer greater flexibility for freight and passenger operations.
A comprehensive business case is expected to be submitted this spring, with work coordinated alongside the proposed new stations and services.
Campaigners, who initially put forward proposals for a walkway station designed to serve commuters within walking distance in 2013, had urged for Magor and Undy to be prioritised when funding was announced, as a station could be delivered without requiring an upgrade to the line.
The demand to prioritise Magor and Undy has received cross-party support from Monmouthshire County Council. Cardiff Parkway is projected to serve approximately 800,000 passengers annually which is expected to generate around 6,000 jobs.
Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens added: “This investment in seven new stations and other upgrades will boost capacity across our network and transform the experience of thousands of passengers.
“It is part of the generational investment we are making to improve Welsh rail which will better connect people with the well-paid jobs we are creating across the country and drive economic growth.”
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Manchester City have seen empty seats at the Etihad in the last few weeks, and what happens next matters to supporters.
12:13, 18 Feb 2026
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It wasn’t just Pep Guardiola who suffered from post-Christmas Blues. As his Manchester City team walked into an injury crisis that saw their Premier League title challenge falter, supporters have been hit by the most congested spell of home games for a decade with nine matches at the Etihad in the first two months of 2026.
We are not at the level of anger that has turned into official protests over the last few years. Last year’s walkouts during games helped to visually highlight the discontent of fans and helped to secure a season ticket price freeze and cheaper matchday tickets from the club as a result.
That should at least get the club some credit, especially at a time when other clubs are asking more and more. Not only did Arsenal announce a 3.9 per cent increase in season tickets at the Emirates for the 2026/27 season, they are also adding even more tiers to their matchday pricing that could see a single game cost £168; the most expensive at City this season costs £60.
Nevertheless, relocating 500 fans in the North Stand to make way for a new hospitality area has seen protests at the Etihad and even where there isn’t anger among City fans for an increasing number there is – just as dangerous – apathy setting in: the feeling that, as it gets more difficult to watch their team, it simply isn’t worth bothering with anymore – either at all or as much as they used to.
Helped no doubt by the fact that they have seen Guardiola’s side win the lot in recent years, some fans have had enough and in a recent survey of around 3,000 by 1894, a fan group focused on matchday atmosphere, over 200 said they were considering giving up their season ticket for next year.
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Adam had been a season ticket holder for close to 40 years and joined the original City Matters committee when the official fan representative groups were introduced across the Premier League. It only served to accelerate his exit from matchdays and after giving up his season ticket in 2021, he has pretty much stopped going to any games.
“I just find the atmospheres are pretty lame these days at most games. But you know, but also VAR’s a big thing, the petty officiating and just general modern football really on the pitch. But also, I got to 40 years old thinking I’d never seen my team play at Wembley and now I wouldn’t even contemplate going back to Wembley. I’ve been however many times I went, but there’s no way I would pay that sort of £300 day out anymore for that experience,” he told the Manchester Evening News.
“There is the life journey element there as well I think after 2023. I was lucky enough to go to all of those, all of these trophies in 2023 [when City won the Treble] and the analogy I used after that was it’s like if you’re a mountain climber and you just did Everest, do you wake up the next day and want to go and climb a hill?That was a natural breaking point as well, I guess, for me.
“I have a big group of friends in the South Stand. They have season tickets and they come from far and wide. So there’s literally always tickets available out of that group. Even after I stopped my season ticket, I would still go to most matches. But now I don’t even take advantage of these free tickets that are always going, I just don’t go at all anymore.”
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Fatigue is natural, and even with the price freezes or reductions going to multiple games quickly becomes expensive – especially when the team is as successful as City is; Salford at home was the 21st game at the Etihad this season, more than Manchester United will have at Old Trafford in the entire campaign. The club have sold more than 99 per cent of tickets for Premier League games but must still ask themselves why other games are less attractive.
A League Cup semi-final when City are already 2-0 and you may be thinking about another trip to Wembley for the final, a Champions League dead rubber where the team’s defeat to Bodo/Glimt could force another home game for the play-off, and FA Cup ties against lower league opposition are all examples where fans may simply prioritise saving their cash. Even measures such as the loss of free parking around the ground in the last two years has been enough for some to drop a cup scheme, or decide it isn’t worth the price of a ticket and a 30-minute walk in the rain.
The same goes for the £35 that it costs for matchday membership, allowing fans to buy tickets. For casual fans wanting to attend a few games a season or if existing members want to introduce somebody new, that fee can become a hefty percentage add-on to a ticket or two.
There have also been tweaks to season tickets this season that were brought in to alleviate one major concern but have proven hugely unpopular for another reason. The first is a new minimum attendance policy whereby season ticket holders must attend 10 games personally to guarantee that they keep their ticket.
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It has never been said that not attending 10 will definitely mean somebody loses their ticket for next season – the club showed with Flexi Gold tickets (another debate entirely) that they can adapt when they introduce something – and there was a promise that the club would be accommodating for a change that is ostensibly to get rid of people who buy a season ticket and either never go or just go to the big games. How accommodating they will be though, with many thousands of tickets held by those who live in another city or country and are at the mercy of broadcast companies rearranging kick-off times, remains to be seen.
That quota has followed on from Flexi Gold to further ask the question of what a season ticket fundamentally is and what an owner should be able to do with it, but attendance has also been challenged by a clampdown on transferring tickets. Where fans used to be able to send their ticket to any other season ticket holder, now it is only a select few pre-designated members that each one can choose.
Prominent City fans who appear on official club channels have been publicly critical of this, with Big Steve making the changes a major factor in empty seats when he spoke recently: “There’s been a massive change in the ticket policy at Manchester City. If you’ve got a season ticket now and you want to give it to your mate or you want to give it to your son or your pal to take his lad, it’s literally impossible to do that.
“You used to be able to transfer your ticket to a season ticket holder, now you can’t. You’ve got to be on your registered list of people you can transfer to, and how do you know who’s available for what game? You can’t transfer it to a season ticket holder and they’re just making it difficult.
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“The other night I was in corporate and I had three tickets spare. I literally couldn’t transfer them to anyone to give them away, so the seats are going empty. They want me to sell the ticket back to the club but then the ticket ends up on Viagogo and all of a sudden your group of mates are sat there and three guys turn up who have paid a load to get there. City have got it all wrong and this is not going to be the end of it.”
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The Carabao Cup Final will see Arsenal v Manchester City at London’s Wembley Stadium this March.
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Both minimum attendance quotas and the tightening of ticket transfer were brought in by the club with the intention of boosting the atmosphere and clamping down on safety fears – the number one concern highlighted by fans in the 1894 survey last year. Limiting the unknown people who could get a ticket or flog it on seems a good idea, but the reality has in fact been reducing the number of City fans who feel like they can go to matches or introduce their friends or family to games.
Fans having to use burner phones that just have tickets on to be able to pass around physically because they can no longer electronically send on their ticket is an awfully long way to have travelled from five to ten years ago when the former CEO was talking of how easy he wanted to make it to build as big and wide a fanbase as possible and get 60,000 bums on seats ever week.
And while fans may feel safer, the resentment towards third party ticket sellers will only grow while the club has nine official websites that it uses and others are still able to buy up chunks of tickets for basically every game. City say that there is no guarantee that the unofficial sites actually have the tickets they claim to, but unless or until it becomes more transparent, fans will be suspicious.
When loyal fans such as Sean Riley are being knocked back in their efforts to represent the fanbase on the City Matters panel, a club that is getting more and more support globally still has plenty to do to stop its local core from getting fed up. The next few months have to be spent wisely because they could make an impact for years – especially with the expanded North Stand representing the final major expansion of the stadium.
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If the last two months have brought these problems to a head, they are likely to retreat beneath the surface again for the rest of the season. The business end of the campaign starts in March, the weather gets warmer, there are more people around, and there are more than enough Blues wanting to fill the stadium to support the team as Guardiola repeatedly calls for.
The club have already been in dialogue with City Matters about more tweaks to ticket transfer and will look at how the introduction of attendance requirements has gone. They will also be well down the road with setting prices for next season that will have to be competitive and reasonable, not least with 6,000 extra tickets to sell for every match.
City are swimming against the tide, with more and more supporters of all clubs being put off attending games by changes in the matchday experience including VAR, kick-off times moved at short notice, pricing, and atmosphere. It is not just the Etihad where there have been empty seats.
But at the same time, the club have to make sure they are doing everything possible not to add to those issues for their own supporters. The last few weeks have highlighted that a full house every week is not guaranteed if City do not pay attention to what some of their most loyal fans are saying.
Two police cars were significantly damaged as officers brought the car to a stop to prevent a danger to other motorists on the motorway.
The drama unfolded just before 7.30pm on Monday when an an ANPR camera alerted officers to a possible cloned or stolen vehicle travelling on Bury New Road, Heap Bridge on the border of Bury and Heywood.
As the suspect vehicle pulled into a petrol station, the driver spotted the second police vehicle nearby and attempted to make off.
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During the police pursuit the driver of the suspect vehicle entered the motorway and was followed by two patrol cars.
After a short police chase the driver performed a U‑turn in a bid to get off the motorway.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “This posed a significant risk to the public going the wrong way on the motorway and required immediate tactical intervention from officers.
“Officers successfully quartered the vehicle twice, ensuring it stayed on the motorway.
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“After a four‑minute pursuit, officers made tactical contact bringing the vehicle to a stop. Two police vehicles were significantly damaged during the incident.
“All three occupants were detained. The driver was arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle, failing to stop, dangerous driving and driving without insurance. The two passengers sustained minor injuries and were taken to hospital.
“The driver has been bailed pending further investigation.”
