Paddy McDonnell

Comms. Former journo. Liverpool fan & Louth man. Views mostly my own, not employer’s.

[Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_]

How long is the stench of the “sham” going to corrode the meaning, worth, and very essence of the Premier League?

Listening to commentary about Manchester City’s players matching the defiance of their ownership and triumphing in adversity.

Listening to fans chorusing the names of the men running the club, wearing masks or displaying banners of their faces and jibing: “We’re Man City, we’ll cheat when we want.”

Victory being framed as “a lovely moment,” a show of togetherness as though some grave injustice has been imposed on City, rather than their hierarchy being found by an independent commission to have orchestrated financial doping on an industrial scale.

Their opponents and the rest of us wondering if any of this actually matters now and how much of it ever did?

There can be no business as usual pretence. We need a full stop to the absurdity.

[Limitless Football @lmts_football]

🚨 Chris Kavanagh's controversial refereeing decisions:

❌ 2022: Rodri handball vs Everton, no penalty awarded. PGMOL later apologised.

❌ 2023: Ødegaard handball vs Liverpool, no penalty awarded. Howard Webb later admitted it was an error.

⚽ 2024: Stones' late winner vs Wolves, allowed despite Bernardo Silva being offside near the goalkeeper.

❌ 2025: Van Dijk's goal vs Man City — disallowed. Independent PL panel ruled it should have stood.

🟥 2026: Gravenberch sent off vs Man City.

[Lewis Goodall @lewis_goodall]

@afneil We’ve also noticed it gets dark at night. Do let us know if that’s one of yours too.

[Paddy McDonnell @McDonnellPaddy]

@M_OToole One of the great tackles the old ground has seen, in either game

[Paddy McDonnell @McDonnellPaddy]

Worth considering this in light of former mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham’s reaction to the independent commission investigating into Manchester City.

[Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_]

‘None of Manchester Life’s homes are affordable, and the developer does not pay any subsidies for local amenities, known as section 106 payments.

‘Rivals say the partnership has created an uneven playing field for developing the lucrative east Manchester corridor next to the Etihad. “This is a sweetheart deal between the council and Abu Dhabi,” said one. “They get the land without any fair competition process, they can build apartment blocks, and when the blocks start earning millions the council gets no rental income. They don’t even have to make section 106 payments, like lots of other developers. The whole thing stinks.”

‘Manchester Life was launched with a promise “to rebalance the relationship between landlord and tenant to one of equals”. Just a year after the opening of a rental apartment block in Smiths Yard, residents received section 21 eviction notices. These allow landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason, even if the rent has been paid on time and the property kept in good condition.’

https://t.co/vQMVTAbWcS

[Paddy McDonnell @McDonnellPaddy]

Throw the book at them. Distorted the competition for clubs and the league. https://t.co/ZEskZ8xl9s

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

EXCLUSIVE: Manchester City have been found guilty on almost all of the charges relating to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations.

The sanctions have not been decided, with all possibilities remaining on the table, and City are expected to appeal.

City have been found guilty on all but one of the 115 charges, according to sources briefed on the matter who spoke anonymously as they were not authorised to do so publicly.

More from @David_Ornstein

🔗 https://t.co/zYiTTVwByv

[Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_]

Howard Webb continually references acknowledgement of - not even apologies for - officiating errors as though we should be grateful for the admission. No, it’s the bare minimum.

“We felt it was important that we acknowledged an error in this situation.” Did you? Why, thank you, that’s so kind.

The repetitive “we want to ensure that we are transparent and open” line is also nonsense.

Individuals get briefly taken off duty for mistakes, but there‘s no accountability when it comes to the organisation itself and Webb. Systemic problems with how officials are trained and the lack of alignment gets ignored, along with the long-reported culture of fear and intimidation.

The real acknowledgement should be clearly and obviously fixing these overarching issues.

[Christiane Amanpour @amanpour]

Gloria Steinem will go down in history as one of the most important activists of all time, leading a movement for the equality of half the world: its women.

She lived a long and passionate life dedicated to this vital and basic cause.

She did it with intellectual precision, emotional awareness, humour and beauty. May she rest in peace and may the cause thrive.

[George Hamilton @HamiltonRTE]

Well, now ...

[Kieran Maguire @KieranMaguire]

Just a reminder that shortly after being appointed president in 2017 that Infantino was instrumental in a major FIFA overhaul that ousted the two independent co-chairmen of the Ethics Committee, Cornel Borbély and Hans-Joachim Eckert. At the time, the committee was actively investigating… Infantino

[Louth GAA @louthgaa]

1957 —— 2026 ❤️🤍❤️🤍

[Paddy McDonnell @McDonnellPaddy]

@robynkonichiwa & @cmatbaby ❤️

[Paddy McDonnell @McDonnellPaddy]

An Lú abú

[Louth GAA @louthgaa]

Matchday updates brought to you in association with @ViatelGroup

How is that for an upset?????????? Inniskeen.

@statsports @PPFS_ @SportsDirectUK @OfficialBSM_1

Photo @sportsfile

[Paddy McDonnell @McDonnellPaddy]

@MiguelDelaney Absolutely. Best performance by an individual I’ve seen in the flesh and am likely to see. It was like one man versus 11.

[Liverpool FC @LFC]

...

[John Aldridge @Realaldo474]

😩😩We had it in the bag at 2-0 then at 3-2 on pens !!Gutted folks ☘️☘️

[Adam Moynihan @AdamMoynihan]

Ireland will play in new gear vs Czechia. That's 20 new shirts since 2017, almost double the UEFA average. England have had 11. Northern Ireland 10.

Between yearly releases and rising prices, are Irish fans getting a raw deal?

Read more: https://t.co/6lLI6yXCRv

@ExaminerSport

[Kieran Cunningham @KCsixtyseven]

Sally Rooney on Mo Salah.
From The Guardian in 2017.

[Paddy McDonnell @McDonnellPaddy]

@MoSalah Thank you for so many incredible moments