Manchester United: Marcus and his Rash Behaviour!
By Derek Ross
12 hours on the tequila if nothing else demonstrates a talent for something. It certainly demonstrates that Marcus Rashford is more deadly in front of the bar than he is in front of the goal! Maybe this is his real potential? But in the wake of his Belfast Bender, Rashford has quickly moved from smelling the barmaid’s apron to hopefully, as far as Manchester United supporters are concerned, smelling the coffee. Rashford, as has been surmised, is unhappy at United and doesn’t have the manager. Fair enough. But his unhappiness is at least softened by a three hundred grand a week pay cheque. And he isn’t the first high-profile footballer to convince themselves that they are the wheel of the club and not merely a cog within it. Anyone at this particular moment who has Rashford’s ear should give him the tip that leaving a club the size of Manchester United on your own terms because you want a fresh challenge or want more is one thing. Being shown the door because your behaviour and demeanour make you surplus to requirements would represent a career move equivalent to the decision by Tonya Harding to break Nancy Kerrigan’s leg!!!
No doubt Sir Jim Ratcliffe is monitoring the situation and already assessing the exit strategy for a player that is viewed as world-class only in Manchester, where four goals in twenty games make you as good as Ronaldo! Unfortunately in the poker game between players and managers, it is the players who hold all the cards. What can Ten Hag do? Fine him, ostracise him from the rest of the group or drop him for a couple of games. Any course of action along these lines will only exacerbate Rashford’s present psyche. The dressing room at any major football club is not a place for the faint-hearted. Even during the most triumphant of days agendas are everywhere.
Quite opinions are shared around the inevitable cliques, and the power struggle which often exists between the managers at the top stars is a continuous plate-spinning exercise. However, the Rashford chapter is part of the wider narrative at United which includes the travails of Jordan Sancho and Anthony. The discontent around the captaincy of Bruno Fernandez, the five hundred failed attempts to sell Anthony Martial, the Harry Maguire debacle, a dodgy goalkeeper and yet another hokey jokey manager for whom the fans have one foot in and one foot out.
The club’s culture is in a terrible mess. It requires fixing from the top down and pretty damn quickly. For the neutral, this is yet another sorry tale along the lines of ‘where did it all go wrong?’ Hopefully, Rashford will come to his senses and stop all this badboy nonsense, because when it comes to his recent behaviour he will never match the true world-class antics of a certain Mr Frank Worthington! Look him up.