Sport

The defender, 35, is working for the BBC as a pundit at the World Cup after the club brought his 12-year stint at Old Trafford to an end in May.

Thousands will flock to roadsides in Rochdale and across Yorkshire this weekend as northern England hosts the Grand Départ of the world’s biggest sporting event, featuring 198 riders, 22 teams, plenty of gritted teeth and 3,656 kilometres of racing.

Manchester United and City will jet off to the States in the coming weeks for pre-season tours in preparation for the new Premier League season.

Eight different players from Manchester’s big two have netted a combined ten goals as the competition enters the quarter-final stage – add one more goal from Wigan’s Jean Beausejour and Greater Manchester is comfortably the country’s most dominant region.

Broady and fellow Brit Neal Skupski are the only remaining all British pair in the mixed doubles at the All England Club after winning their third round match with Florin Mergea and Elina Svitolina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to delight a partisan home crowd on No. 1 court.

MP David Crausby, who has represented Bolton North East since 1997, has re-launched a campaign to change the way grassroots football is funded.

Van Persie believes his young Dutch teammates Memphis Depay and Jordy Clasie will bring the team glory days in the future.

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, a day of celebrations is taking place across the country, including a free family festival in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, showcasing the very best in disability sports.

The club had just eight weeks to raise the funds and managed to meet the target with less than a day to spare after receiving an extension from Crowdfunder.

Manchester City skipper Vincent Kompany believes his Belgium battlers have what it takes to lift the World Cup.

Fletcher’s initial taste of pre-season first-team action came in 2003’s trip to the United States, when United visited Seattle, Los Angeles and New Jersey.