26 Apr 2024 19:10:21
Ed002 - If you've got time please, even if Utd wanted to sell Rashford or he wanted to leave is there any genuine interest in taking him? Given his current form and massive wages I wouldn't suspect there is a big queue? Thanks in advance.

{Ed002's Note - I am getting sick of answering the same quesions over and over. It is a complete waste of my time.

Marcus Rashford (LW/F) Much will depend on what happens in the summer regarding a new coach, but I am sure Manchester United will be regretting the new long-term contract. A third-party has spoken to clubs, including Juventus and Arsenal about him on behalf of Manchester United, but I am not aware of any serious interest. Suggestion that he could be a Mbappe replacement at PSG seem far-fetched given they have other clear targets in mind.}

1.) 26 Apr 2024
26 Apr 2024 20:38:07
My apologies thanks for your reply.

2.) 26 Apr 2024
26 Apr 2024 21:05:11
More or less our biggest star/ face off our marketing. Can't see us letting him go for a fee that would be anywhere near realistic. Think he will stay and stink up the place ala Martial for the foreseeable.

3.) 27 Apr 2024
27 Apr 2024 08:16:28
His wages too high to be sold.

Maybe short term loan to help him get form back away from spotlight.

4.) 27 Apr 2024
27 Apr 2024 13:17:13
Quite a few contracts on reduced terms have been signed at the likes of Barcelona recently. Maybe de Jong this summer. Most have done so. True measure of love for a club.

5.) 27 Apr 2024
27 Apr 2024 13:18:23
There were rumours he didn’t get on with Greenwood at all and cannot work with him.

Now that’s a tough choice. A lazy and out of form Rashford or Greenwood back?!

6.) 27 Apr 2024
27 Apr 2024 22:07:56
That's not a choice Eric.

7.) 28 Apr 2024
28 Apr 2024 00:20:58
Why not choose between Messi in his prime or Rashford? ?.

8.) 28 Apr 2024
28 Apr 2024 11:08:36
Generally I tend to find it hard to judge players on things beyond their performance on the pitch. Frankly I just don't know enough about them personally or what is going on in their lives to feel like I know enough to draw a sensible conclusion.

With Rashford he seems like he has a decent moral core based on his efforts to make sure kids didn't go hungry. He used his position of fame to help others and that should be commended, on the most part that has been.

On the pitch he has at times carried us, and has shown genuine world class form at times. Consistency has been a problem, but a fully fit and on form Rashford starts for pretty much every side in the league.

The question is why is he so inconsistent. In the past the excuses of youth and being moved around position have been valid potential reasons.

While he has carried the goalscoring burden for us in the past he isn't the kind of player who can drag his teammates performance up. To be fair very few forwards tend to have that quality. They are goal scorers and by nature that tends to make players selfish and more focused on themselves in their efforts to score. Midfielders and defenders tend to be more team focused and as such there are far more examples of players from those positions who can elevate the performance of those around them.

As such for a player like Rashford his form will be more dependent on that of the team, he needs his teammates to provide him with good quality chances for him to be able to play at his best. So maybe his form and inconsistency can be partially explained by the team's own inconsistent performances.

There have also been rumours and suggestions that his form might be connected to his private life. Again something that shouldn't be too surprising. Most of us will see a downturn in our performance at work when we are dealing with turmoil or difficulties in our private lives. Very few people can block out those troubles while at work, and I think the ones that can tend to be able to do so because their work is an escape. I wonder how that might change if you're work is examined under the microscope of the print and online media. Can work be an escape when you are put under that much pressure.

This brings me to the crux of this whole situation for me. What support should the club offer a player like Rashford and are they giving him that support.

If a player, particularly a current or former academy player has issues in their private life to what extent do the club have a responsibility to support them with that?

We as a club take kids who are not emotionally or mentally mature and start training them to become top players. Part of that process puts them in situations that most teenagers never experience. They are exposed to pressures that many fully mature adults would struggle with, and they are expected to make good decisions and are disproportionately judged when they make mistakes common for most teenagers.

Most of them don't come from homes or backgrounds that have experience or the knowledge of how to support and advise them. They are picked out by agents and hanger-on's looking to make money on the back of these young players talent. People who will use manipulation on these kids to further their own ends.

The club looks to benefit from producing these young players, either making money on the back of selling them on, or by producing a top level player for a fraction of what it would cost to buy a similar player. Academy players on the whole tend to earn less at their clubs than players signed by the club. Their attachment to the club being taken advantage of by the club to have higher quality players on lower wages than they would potentially earn elsewhere.

Which for me personally means that the club does have more responsibility to support it's players, particularly it's academy and former academy players, far more than that of a traditional employer.

The club, while providing these young players with a fantastic opportunity, have exposed these young people to experiences and challenges they are not for the most part equipped to deal with.

Rather than throw a player like Rashford to the dogs, the club should be doing everything they can to support him and help him deal with whatever issues he has and work with him to get him back to his best form.

Maybe they are, I hope they are. Maybe playing most games is part of that support, maybe he needs the distraction of playing to give him a rest bite from whatever is happening off the pitch. Maybe the club is offering the support and the player isn't accepting it. Or maybe they aren't offering any support at all.

The point for me is that I don't know which of the above is happening. Which makes it very hard for me to judge Rashford currently beyond that his form (for whatever reason) isn't good enough and that needs to be addressed. His on pitch body language and his perceived effort is difficult to judge as I don't know why it's changed. As previously he has always been a hard working and committed player.

His body language, the rumours, the speculation, his tweets or response to questions in the press, and everything else is something I find it difficult to judge him on as I'm only seeing less than 10% of what is happening.

Is Rashford's form a problem? Absolutely. How best to fix that? Well without seeing the whole picture it's impossible to say.

9.) 28 Apr 2024
28 Apr 2024 11:08:59
Why not ship out both and completely remove Ole's first choice attacking line from the club in one fell swoop. None of them have lived up to what we had hoped they would be for different reasons.

10.) 28 Apr 2024
28 Apr 2024 22:23:47
Why not bring back Greenwood, since the charges were dropped, he has a child with that girl and also married her?

11.) 29 Apr 2024
29 Apr 2024 04:27:22
Quite simple Trololo. The club doesn't need the circus that will come from bringing him back. They are trying to turn the page and move forwards with positivity, and bringing Greenwood back would not help to deliver that.

12.) 29 Apr 2024
29 Apr 2024 06:25:29
Sell Greenwood to whichever Spanish side want him and use the money to fund a bid for Olise, then move Garnacho back to is favoured position on the left, move Mount up to attacking midfield, Bruno as the box2box midfielder and let Mainoo keep learning the DM role.
With Licha back next season with Shaw we only need a new CB, maybe Braithwaite or the kid from Nice and we are good to go.
Easy being a manger isn't it.

13.) 29 Apr 2024
29 Apr 2024 12:59:13
I understand that Dodgy, the problem is with the fans, who are, imo, hilarious, that is why I posted that.

14.) 29 Apr 2024
29 Apr 2024 13:23:55
She is so lucky eh Trololo?

15.) 29 Apr 2024
29 Apr 2024 14:00:56
Taking Greenwood back is not an option. Rushford is in poor form and clearly struggling with his mentality. Greenwood is a scumbag who doesn't deserve the talent, platform or career ahead of him.

16.) 29 Apr 2024
29 Apr 2024 16:33:14
What is your point patrick?

James, that is only your opinion. If he is or isn't a scumbag should be irrelevant. He wasn't convicted and that should be enough.

17.) 29 Apr 2024
29 Apr 2024 19:23:58
Are you really asking Trololo?

18.) 30 Apr 2024
30 Apr 2024 16:02:20
For some reason, my comment didn't go through.

Anyway, yes, I am really asking.

19.) 30 Apr 2024
30 Apr 2024 17:45:58
Trololo, Domestic violence. Not a good image for the club to be associated with. Most victims stay / withdraw from cases. Does that make him innocent? What about women, both players and fans of Man Utd? Move on from Greenwood.

20.) 04 May 2024
04 May 2024 14:22:36
I think there is another angle that is worth looking at.

First of all, if he realLy is innocent as Richard Arnold’s taskforce seems to believe, he should be reinstated.

If not, then him playing for Manchester United is in the best interest of the victim. She would be isolated anywhere else in the world, in Manchester she would have her family around for those tough moments that will surely be coming again sometime in the future.

Just food for thought.