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Before Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney hit the headlines as superstar Hollywood football club owners – a home-grown actor was quietly toiling away at a non-league outfit in Greater Manchester.

In 2019, Jonathan Sayer, best known as part of the Olivier-winning comedy troupe Mischief, bought out Ashton United with his father, after the club put out an SOS tweet begging for help.

It tugged on Sayer’s heartstrings – not least because his grandfather played for Ashton (which is one of the oldest football grounds in the world) more than 400 times and so, in the office of a flooring shop, papers were signed to make him the co-owner.

In his new book, Nowhere To Run, he gives a comical warts-and-all peek behind the curtain of running a non-league club – seemingly a universe away from what’s going on in the Premier League and beyond.

Ashton United was steeped in some surprise debt, players were being paid by the match from the secretary’s bank account, and only one person had the key to the changing rooms – and he’d gone AWOL.

Sayer goes from hiding in the car park following early losses in his tenure, to screaming on the terraces in a cup final.

Speaking to Sky News from Los Angeles, ahead of opening his company’s production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Sayer said owning a club has changed his relationship with football.

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“I think it’s fair to say I’ve seen how the sausage is made. It’s made in a terrifying manner – it’s a very expensive sausage.

“I think that there’s a point in the book where I talk about how the first competitive match started, and then 10 minutes later I just kind of realised that I hated it. I was just totally panic-stricken. I was just like, ‘Oh my God, what if we lose? What if we lose next week? What if we lose the weekend? What if we go down and really struggle to get out of the mindset for a while?’

“I think since then, thankfully, I’ve managed to come to terms with those emotions and the fact that football is up and down.”

He added not being able to deliver for his community “terrifies” him, and he wants to be a “custodian” on their behalf.

Jonathan Sayer at Ashton United. Pic: Colin Thomas
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Pic: Colin Thomas

‘Gaggle’ of volunteers holds the club together

Sayer also talks highly of those volunteering at the club, with Sayer calling them the “lifeblood”.

In scenes unlikely to be seen at Old Trafford or the Emirates, volunteers offered to water the newly relaid pitch earlier this year after the heatwave threatened to dry it up, by sleeping out in tents and taking shifts to walk up and down the new turf watering it.

Sayer added some volunteers have been around for decades working on the turnstiles or even painting lines around the terraces, calling the team a “gaggle”, rather than the cliched army.

“I think that’s super, super special,” Sayer said.

“It connects you with something – like a goal that’s bigger than yourself and a purpose that’s larger than you, and you feel connected to something.”

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‘There’s no winner if you’re not interested in the community’

And while Sayer has a deep family connection to the club and wants to root it in the community, he said some owners might see their clubs as assets – and that’s disappointing.

“There’s no winner, if you will, coming in to invest in a football club, and you’re not really interested in the community and the football club – you can have a bad time,” Sayer said.

“You’re going to just find after a couple of years, this is awful, this is expensive, there’s a lot of emotion knocking around.

“And what do you get out of that? I’m not sure. And the same for the supporters, the players – that’s just a negative situation.”

Sayer is keen to point out that giving back to the community and listening to the stakeholders is what should make people want to come in and invest in football clubs.

The actor said he can relate to what Reynolds and McElhenney are doing in Wrexham: “There’s a bit [in their documentary] where they’re talking about making good on their promise to the community and I think you do you feel that. I think that is totally true.

“You feel ultimately responsible for everyone’s happiness.”

Jonathan Sayer at Ashton United. Pic: Colin Thomas
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Sayer said being an owner has changed his relationship with football. Pic: Colin Thomas

‘Small things could make a huge difference to us’

Sayer said his club, and those in the Premier League are “chalk and cheese”, but added he would love to have more conversations about how they can support each other.

“It would be great for those worlds to connect, to just have formal connections in different ways. I think that would be really, really beneficial for so many different people,” he said.

He explained being able to link up with clubs higher up the pyramid would be really beneficial, adding he’d like to see the FA support the community side of clubs more, for instance on pitch maintenance – which for small clubs is a big deal.

“To clubs like ours, that would make a huge difference because it would mean that lots of our teams could play on the pitch, we’d have more of a sense of community, you wouldn’t have games postponed at the same rate… It genuinely puts clubs into financial peril,” he said.

He added even just being able to contact bigger local clubs and ask for advice would make a “tremendous difference”.

Sky News has contacted the FA for comment.

Fans look on as Ashton United score their third goal during the pre-season friendly match at Hurst Cross Stadium, Greater Manchester.
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Hurst Cross in 2020

Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds
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Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds at Wrexham

Is Ryan Reynolds the Jonathan Sayer of Wrexham?

And on Reynolds and McElhenny – well, Sayer was there first.

But would he say Reynolds is the Jonathan Sayer of Wrexham?

“I think that if you said that to him, he’d say, ‘Who is Jonathan Sayer? What are you doing in my club? Get out!’

“I certainly don’t honestly think that I’d started a trend. I don’t think we’re the same people at all.”

He points out at one time, the two teams were only a league apart – and a good season for Ashton or a bad season for Wrexham could have seen them meeting up.

Sayer added: “I’m desperate to get a copy of the book in their hand because I think both of them would do a really good job at playing me in a movie, you know?

“Quite often people are saying, ‘oh, you know, Jonathan, that guy from Deadpool, you’ve got similar physiques’. So, you know – he could do the stunts.”

Nowhere To Run is out now.

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Coldplay reschedule Wembley Stadium shows over Tube strikes

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Coldplay reschedule Wembley Stadium shows over Tube strikes

Coldplay have rescheduled the final two dates of their 10-show run at Wembley Stadium because of strike action on the London Underground.

Rail, Maritime And Transport (RMT) union walkouts next Sunday and Monday make it impossible for fans to get to and from the venue safely, the band said in a statement.

The completion of their Wembley run will see Coldplay become the first act to play 10 dates at the national football stadium in the same year, knocking current joint record holders Taylor Swift and Take That from the top spot.

Both Swift and Take That have played eight Wembley shows in a single year.

Industrial action on the Tube will take place at different times from 5 September for seven days, impacting Coldplay’s gigs – which are part of the band’s eco-friendly Music Of The Spheres world tour – on 7 and 8 September.

A statement from the band posted on social media read: “We’re sorry to announce that, due to planned industrial action on the London Underground, we’ve been forced to reschedule our final two concerts of the current Wembley Stadium run.

“Without a Tube service, it’s impossible to get 82,000 people to the concert and home again safely, and therefore no event licence can be granted for the nights of 7th and 8th September.

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“To avoid cancelling the shows, our only option is to reschedule.”

They said the show on 7 September would move to 6 September and the show on 8 September would move to 12 September.

The band added: “We’re very sorry for the inevitable disappointment, frustration and inconvenience that this situation causes.”

Coldplay said tickets would remain valid for their rescheduled date, but any fans who are unable to attend their rescheduled show can get a full refund on their ticket from their point of purchase before noon on 2 September.

Returned tickets are to go on general sale at 11am on 3 September via Ticketmaster.

The band confirmed shows on 30 and 31 August, and 3 September and 4 September would go ahead as scheduled.

Some 10% of the band’s proceeds from the Wembley shows will be donated to the Music Venue Trust to help support grassroots UK venues and upcoming artists.

Fronted by Chris Martin, Coldplay formed in 1997, and have gone on to achieve two UK number one singles and 10 UK number one albums. They are best known for songs such as Yellow, Fix You, A Sky Full Of Stars and Viva La Vida.

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Jessie J cancels tour dates ahead of second breast cancer surgery

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Jessie J cancels tour dates ahead of second breast cancer surgery

Jessie J has been forced to rearrange or cancel all upcoming tour dates as she will be having a second operation as part of her treatment for breast cancer.

The 37-year-old announced in June that she had been diagnosed with early breast cancer. She had her first operation later in the same month.

The singer, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, was due to tour the UK and Europe in October, before gigs in the US in November.

In a video posted on Instagram, she’s now told fans: “Unfortunately, I have to have a second surgery, nothing too serious, but it has to be done before the end of the year and unfortunately, that falls right in the middle of a tour that I had booked.”

The UK and Europe dates have been postponed until April next year while the US tour has been cancelled.

“So that is what it is, and I’m sorry,” the performer said. “I feel frustrated and sad, but also it is what it is, and I need to be better.

“I need to be healed, and I know this is the right decision to make. So I’m postponing the tour till next year.”

The star has asked fans to “please bear with us for the US tour”, adding that it’s “something that I want to do, but when the time is right”.

“You guys know how much I want to do all of it, but I just can’t,” she said. “And I have to be realistic.”

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Jessie J has battled numerous health issues, including being diagnosed with a heart condition when she was eight years old and suffering a minor stroke aged 18.

The singer-songwriter has had three number one songs in the UK singles chart, with Price Tag and Domino – both released in 2011 – and 2014’s Bang Bang, a collaboration with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj.

She won the Critics’ Choice prize at the 2011 BRITs and bagged four Mobo awards in the same year.

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‘I’m shocked at how fragile I am still’: Cumberbatch and Colman on protecting their sanity from perils of social media

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'I'm shocked at how fragile I am still': Cumberbatch and Colman on protecting their sanity from perils of social media

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch says he’s shocked at how “fragile” he still is – despite years in the spotlight and success in the industry.

It might seem like the Doctor Strange star and The Crown actress Olivia Colman have it all when it comes to money and success – but they are also human like the rest of us.

The pair lead the cast of new satirical black comedy The Roses, which sees picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo Rose – a rising star chef and ambitious architect – raise their two children in California, while chasing their own dreams.

‘I am shocked at how fragile I am’

But behind its dark humour and comic language, the film also looks at the realities of power imbalance, insecurity and wounded pride – in even the strongest of relationships.

And 49-year-old Cumberbatch – whose character faces a major setback in his career – tells Sky News that in real life the glare of social media only intensifies those type of situations.

“I am shocked at how fragile I am still.

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“I don’t go anywhere near it [social media] because of that.

“It’s like walking into a place where people want to marry you or kill you. Those extremes.

“I think we will get to a stage, a corporate culture that’s now manifested around it where people are obliged to do that in order to sell their lives, and therefore their brand and what they do for a living.”

Co-star Colman – who’s long-shunned the online world – agrees.

Cumberbatch and Colman in The Roses. Pic: Jaap Buitendijk/ Searchlight Pictures
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Cumberbatch and Colman in The Roses. Pic: Jaap Buitendijk/ Searchlight Pictures

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“I’m afraid I am very thin-skinned.

“I don’t look at any of it. My husband will look at a review and if it’s nice he’ll show me – but if it’s anything mean he knows to just go ‘don’t look – don’t look.’

“You just have to learn to be thicker-skinned.

“But actually, I think we need people who are sensitive and kind.”

‘Don’t do it… delete it all’

Colman – now 51, and whose leading role in The Favourite bagged her an Academy Award in 2019 – says no amount of experience and success can shield her from criticism.

“My advice to a young’un – sort of dipping their toe into the world of social media for the first time is absolutely don’t do it.

“Delete it all. If you want a happy life, don’t have any of it. I’ve never had it.”

The movie – directed by Meet The Parents’ Jay Roach with The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara – also calls into question the notion of success – asking, is it really possible to have it all?

Or is sacrifice inevitable when it comes to spinning the plates of a high-flying career, marriage and parenthood?

Cumberbatch admits “you can’t do it all without there being a cost”.

“You just have to weigh up what those balances are,” he adds.

Colman says “there are I suppose little sacrifices along the way” – from both sides of a relationship.

The comedy drama offers a fresh take on Warren Adler’s novel The War Of The Roses – and the 1989 hit film adaptation- starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.

Colman and Cumberbatch – both producers on the film – insist they weren’t daunted by that though.

“We wanted to find a project to do together, and we have utter respect for the iconic status of the film and book,” explains Cumberbatch.

“Hopefully this will have its own place in the culture – it’s very different, it’s not a remake – it’s a reimagined jumping-on point.”

“But beyond that, it’s very different,” adds Colman.

Former Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa and Barbie’s Kate McKinnon also form the cast.

The Roses is out in UK cinemas now.

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