Marcus Rashford has suggested he is judged more harshly than some other footballers and said there is “a tone” to media reporting of both his perceived attitude at Manchester United and off-the-field lifestyle.
In a first-person piece for the Players’ Tribune website entitled ‘Who I really am’, the England forward claimed his campaigning against child food poverty during the Covid pandemic “seemed to rub certain people the wrong way”.
Moreover, Rashford talked about a “tone” to the reportage, hinting at a certain wider, more disturbing, bias. “It can’t just be about me as a 26-year-old lad on a night out, or a lad getting a parking ticket,” wrote the striker who recently reported sick before training after being photographed on a night out in Belfast. “It’s got to be about how much my car costs, guessing my weekly salary, my jewellery or even my tattoos.
“It’s got to be about my body language and questioning my morals and speculating about my family and my football future. There’s a tone in it that you don’t get with all footballers. Let’s just leave it at that.”
Rashford has asked his critics, with Alan Shearer one of the most recent, to “have a bit more humanity” as they weigh their words.
“I think some of it goes back to the pandemic,” he wrote. “I was just trying to use my voice to make sure that kids weren’t going to go hungry, because I know exactly how it feels. For some reason, that seemed to rub certain people the wrong way. It seems like they’ve been waiting for me to have a human moment so they can point the finger and say ‘See? See who he really is?”
This has been far from Rashford’s best season in a Manchester United shirt and Shearer, the former England striker turned BBC pundit, criticised his body language during United’s FA Cup victory against Nottingham Forest this week, saying: “You as an individual have to take responsibility now and again for your actions on the pitch.”
Off the pitch, Rashford proved a hero of the pandemic, ultimately receiving an MBE
“Listen, I’m not a perfect person,” he wrote. “When I make a mistake, I’ll be the first one to put my hand up and say I need to do better . But if you ever question my commitment to Man United that’s when I have to speak up. It’s like someone questioning my entire identity and everything I stand for as a man.
“I grew up here. I have played for this club since I was a boy. My family turned down life-changing money when I was a kid so I could wear this badge. I can take any criticism, I can take any headline. But if you start questioning my commitment to this club and my love for football and bringing my family into it, then I’d ask you simply to have a bit more humanity.”
