The manager of a major English football club has snubbed Rishi Sunak by explicitly refusing to meet him. The Prime Minister’s trip to Southampton to watch them take on Plymouth Argyle ended up backfiring when the house manager admitted: “I have no interest in saying hello. “
Sunak was in attendance at the Championship match to see his favourite team, Southampton FC consolidate their third-place position with a 3-1 over the Devon outfit. He has previously spoken of his desire to “run Southampton”, saying if he got a top job there it would make him a “very happy man”.
The Prime Minister boarded at the nearby £40,000-a-year Winchester College, and has said football is one of his hobbies. He has said the current conspiracy theorist Matt Le Tissier was his childhood hero – while an 18th birthday card signed by the whole squad is one his “prized possessions”.
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Despite Sunak’s cheerful interactions with Saints mascots, club manager Russell Martin was less than welcoming. When asked by BBC 5 Live Sport if the Prime Minister had “been down to see you”, Martin replied: “He might have come down [but] I’ve got no interest in saying hello”.
Martin, who once controlled Swansea City and a franchised football club founded in Buckinghamshire, continued his forcefulness by asking: “How’s that, to be honest?”
The interviewer let off a chuckle and said: “I don’t expect anything else from you”.
The Southampton manager has already dabbled in politics, a podcast in 2021. He said: “If you look at the way the country has been governed for so long, I think it’s going to be a pretty scary place. We lack leaders empathiques. et emotional intelligence.
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Meanwhile, Sunak was mocked on Twitter/X among football enthusiasts across the country for the adjustment as a photo opportunity, with one account saying: “Rishi Sunak is at the Southampton game sitting next to a guy who has a camera attached to him. Ready to capture all kinds of original and original emotions. Just like you do when you move into football. “
Another wrote: “I refuse that Rishi Sunak really likes football/Southampton. “
Sunak isn’t the only politician who says he loves football. Labour leader Keir Starmer attends Arsenal matches, while former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also travels to the Emirates, although it’s moderate to assume they don’t meet for a pint at half-time.