Paul Scholes was ‘bitter’ and ‘nasty’ in an assessment of Marcus Rashford which captured a ‘spitefulness’ still holding Manchester United back.
And why are Football365 trying to get Ange Postecoglou sacked?
Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.
Scholes, Rashford and opinions
Longtime reader, first time mailer. Naturally I decided to pop the cherry on a safe and non-controversial topic: Marcus Rashford.
I think the problem with what Ian Watson and a handful of Mailbox ultras have been saying about the ongoing Scholes/Rashford drama is that they think that the reason why what Scholes said is problematic is solely because of the content. It’s not. It’s the very presence of the comment in a public space.
To explain: Paul Scholes is fully entitled to enjoy (or not enjoy) any opinion of Marcus Rashford that he likes. He can hate him for any number of reasons, including – and this is important – stupid, nonsensical ones. Furthermore, as a United fan it makes perfect sense for him to resent Rashford up and leaving them, and there is no sense in demanding that he or any United fan wish him the best.
The problem is that Paul Scholes is not just a United fan. He is a massively famous pundit who is paid, I imagine, a lot of money to talk about football. And what irks me about him STILL moaning about Rashford is just how utterly unnecessary it all is at this point. Love them or hate them, United this season are absolutely delicious narratively. They are either a sleeping giant about to awake or an old palace burning down, depending on your outlook, but the one thing that is totally not part of this saga is Marcus bloody Rashford. He is GONE. It is time to MOVE ON.
I guess what I’m saying is that there seems to be an assumption from old pros that their every opinion deserves to be heard, all the time, no matter what. But I don’t particularly give a monkey’s what Scholes thinks of Rashford as a person. I’m interested in what he thinks of him as a footballer, but modern pundits aren’t quite as vocal on that subject.
There is also something so bitter and nasty about Scholes saying what he said, because as much as it’s fair to hold Rashford responsible for his performances at United, it’s also important to bear in mind that the club wanted him gone. It was generally accepted that he had to go in the summer for his own good and the club’s. So with that in mind, what is the point of seeing a young man finding a new lease of life after years of sullen, uninspired football, and then nastily snipe him from the pundit box? It smacks of spitefulness and is one of the many reasons why I think all the Alex Ferguson old boys – Scholes, Keane, Ferdinand and Neville – have been absolutely toxic for both punditry and United as an institution. If we must talk about United then let’s talk about United, if we must talk about Barcelona let’s talk about Barcelona, but swiping at Rashford for his bad performances last season just drags down the conversation. I would expect better from a man of Scholes’ age.
Correct opinion? Maybe. I don’t think so personally, but that’s not really the point. Why does it actually need to be said, is the real question. Does it enlighten the fans? Does it explain United’s struggles this season? Does it explain Barcelona’s success? No. It’s just meaningless negativity, like so much of modern football.
It also is yet another example of United old boys finding a way to tear down a young black man no matter the situation. Every single time. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, this mail is long enough as is.
Samuel, Fulham fan till the end
Dear Reader,
I hope you are all well (or at least caffeinated). I just read two recent F365 takes on Marcus Rashford.
Let me save you some time: I don’t care whether Rashford sulked at Manchester United.
Before you throw a tomato at me for lack of nuance, allow me to explain:
1. Sulking is a spectator’s hobby
If a player is walking, moody, whispering dire oaths in the tunnel — I’ll raise an eyebrow, maybe tweet (sorry X) about it, but I’m not launching moral crusades. Football is messy. Players are people. Sometimes they sulk. Big deal.
2. Would you want to play in the current Manchester United team?
Let me ask you this, dear reader: if someone handed you a contract today to play for this Manchester United — the board, the chaos, the constant managerial churning, the pressure to be more myth than person — would you take it?
Because spare me the nostalgia of “United would have done this” — the United of today is a far cry from the Fergie glory years.
3. Rashford is doing well at Barça
While some are busy flinging “disgrace” accusations, Rashford has started making noise in Barcelona. He’s scoring, contributing, adapting. He’s quieting critics the best way — by playing. And (whisper it) I happen to think that’s more compelling than being praised from my cheap seat at Old Trafford.
4. Even Alex Hunter wouldn’t want to play for Manchester United
Yes, I just dragged a FIFA video game character into this. But hear me out: Alex Hunter (from the FIFA story mode) has tons of dramatic options. If the script handed him the chance to play for Man Utd — under the current regime, under the weight of expectation and instability — I reckon he’d look at his agent and say, “Nah, I’ll play for a mid-tier side and enjoy my life.”
Because even in fantasy land, there’s an escape clause.
So here’s my bottom line: you can publish/ podcast a hundred think-pieces dissecting Rashford’s body language, demeanor, or public statements. But unless you’ve walked in his boots — including the ones he’s now laced up in Barcelona — you should STFU and don’t get to claim moral high ground.
Gaptoothfreak, Man. Utd. fan with too much time, New York
Ange under pressure?
Long, long time reader of 2 decades. Occasional letter writer.
I wrote in last year about how the site is actively trying to generate managerial sackings and drama, to create negative narratives about clubs, managers and players. For clicks I assume, and instead of analytical articles that are harder to write. The standard of writing has fallen a long way.
I have a 15 year old daughter who has a longer concentration span, and is less fickle and emotional, more mature . The knee jerking and need to create a story is a far cry from earlier years, where there was mature reporting and genuine humour.
Now we have a site that is essentially a list of top 10s. “Next manager to be sacked“, “Top 10 replacements for Ange”. A couple of bad results and the narrative begins “X is under pressure”.
Ange has had 4 games. 4 away games. He had a couple days before the Arsenal game, so essentially 3 games. All away. 2 draws where they dominated. Let’s start building an Ange out narrative, spread it across social media until it reaches fans who put pressure on the owner and he pulls the trigger so you can say “we were right”.
He won a major trophy, got Spurs into the CL. Recruited a large number of excellent players. Such is the poor attention span and need for instant gratification people are now disregarding a 5th place finish in his first season. He got lucky at the start of the season apparently. Trying to paint him as though he’s a village idiot. There was a zero percent chance of Spurs going down at any time, and he knew it, so switched attention to CL qualification.
Would fans rather win a trophy or finish 8th? Who had a better season last year, Spurs or Villa? One won a trophy they’ll be talking about for generations, qualified for the CL. Would you rather finish 6- 8th every year, play conservatively and have a cup run?
Oh, and now apparently Emery, the golden boy of the last 2 seasons is now under pressure after a slow start, according to 365. His last 2 seasons don’t count anymore because of a few poor games.
Jesus.
Fadida
The Potter shambles
Read that Sulivan is considering Bilic as manager with Mark Noble and James Collins as assistants. This beggars belief but perhaps helpfully demonstrates the board’s thought process.
While Nobes and the ginger Brazilian will always be club legends, we all know that the ‘club player to manager role’ route is almost always a complete disaster. And Bilic is conspicuously out of work. So for Sullivan, he thinks “fan favorites, and they are all so thick that this will therefore surely stop the protests, tick, “costs me absolutely nothing”, tick. That’s how shallow and clueless this guy is.
I appreciate that with Moyes, Lopetegui and now Potter, WH fans must have a reputation for complaining about any new manager, but as long as Sullivan is in place using the club as a personal money bank, this is going to go on and on.
Mike, WHU
Stats all, folks
There was a rare occasion where I agreed with John Nicholson when he bemoaned stats and said we’d turn football “from poetry to maths”. One of the things that’s especially irritating about the saturation of stats is that the average punter either doesn’t understand them or misuses them, xG being the most obvious example.
xG is pretty meaningless in telling you about how an individual game has gone. A late goalmouth scramble having been under the cosh all game can massively boost a side’s xG but isn’t reflective of the whole. The stat only becomes relevant when viewed over a sweep of games, and can then be used to tell you trends of many goals a team should be scoring/conceding and whether they’re getting lucky.
Stats can be a useful tool, but they’re ultimately quite boring and especially when being used by a boring person to backup a boring opinion.
Lewis, Busby Way (Le Tissier was wonderful, he’d be dropped on his stats)
The wrong shirt
Following news that Gary Neville was pedalling Kane to Chelsea/United instead of Spurs (should he even return to these shores), I found a little bile rising to my throat at the thought of Kane in another English clubs shirt – it’d just be wrong now, no? Not like the weird, yet heart-warming feeling of seeing early Shearer footage in the red and white of the Draper Tools kit – but actually quite horrifying.
Then it gots me to thinking… who could never have worn anything but their last clubs shirt?
I don’t think it’d have bothered me to see Giggs or Scholes wear an Arsenal shirt for example and that’s not an indictment on those two, just, some players would look ghastly in another teams shirt and the initial ones that come to mind are:
Cantona – his year at Leeds was one thing – but imagine if he’d “pulled an Ince” and put on a Liverpool shirt?
Henry – if he was in England, it had to be Arsenal, surely
Gerrard – imagine him taking a year at Palace before he retired?
Hibbert – an original one-clubber – and he is just EVERTON.
Slightly left field one to end my starters – Tony Yeboah – that man could NEVER have worn anything other than Leeds Blanco while in Blighty
Arguably the biggest version of “another shirt would be horrifying” would even be abroad… imagine a world where Totti, took a few years with Inter or Juve. Ew.
Thoughts?
Harold Ernand Hooler