Ahead of the new 2023/24 Premier League season, Manchester United have the most delicate of decisions to make regarding their striker, Mason Greenwood.
The youngster is making his way back to full fitness with a view to, potentially, being welcomed back into the first-team fold at Old Trafford, but there has been significant pushback to such a move, particularly from women’s groups.
Whatever decision the United hierarchy make is likely to be divisive, but former Premier League star, Stan Collymore, believes he deserves a second chance.
“I think that now all of the outside noise around Mason Greenwood matters. Famously or infamously, I struck a girlfriend of mine, Ulrika Jonsson. It happened at the time when I was playing for Aston Villa and I trained and played as normal. I think that if I was in that situation now, I would have been more than happy to meet women’s groups and to be able to, hopefully, talk in an erudite fashion,” he said in his exclusive CaughtOffside column.
“To explain that football is my job and that what goes on outside of football, outside of your working environment – although it should be taken into consideration by supporters, groups and stakeholders – that people should be given a second chance.”
Collymore’s opinion might not chime with a large majority of United supporters as well as football supporters more generally, however, he attempted to qualify his remarks.
“If Manchester United think there is a football reason for keeping him at the club – and they would argue that he’s a bright young talent – then I think that those women’s groups should also be listened to. Football is also a very visible public industry,” he continued.
“Imagine those women’s groups go into Tesco’s, go into Oxfam, in other words go and put petrol in their car… we don’t know what the CEO of Tesco, Oxfam or Shell do, because in a lot of cases it’s not public enough. Football is very public, so there’s an argument that Mason Greenwood would be dealt differently to a guy that works for a high profile company, or your corner ship, or your bank or building society CEO, who may have behaved just as appallingly.
“His behaviour was appalling, as my behaviour was appalling, and I think that what we need to do now is acknowledge everything.”
The bottom line for the organisation that is Man United is that they have an asset in their ranks with Greenwood. When all is said and done, regardless of the vulgarity, there is a business as well as moral decision to be made.
It isn’t impossible to see both sides of the argument and feel some sort of sympathy with all parties. One thing that Collymore has suggested as a possible solution is to get everyone around the table to have an honest, adult conversation.
“The reality of football, is that football clubs will keep people on the books if they feel that they are an asset. Do I believe that Mason Greenwood deserves an opportunity to be able to make amends and move forward and make strides in his career and off the pitch to be an advocate for women’s groups? Yes. Do I believe that those women’s groups and men’s groups and all other groups have a voice inside their club? Yes,” he noted.
“So I actually think in this case, everybody’s needs can be met by sitting down and talking to each other. As long as things like that are talked about, and stakeholders and all of these people have sat around a table, I think that you could get to a very sensible conclusion. What I think shouldn’t happen is that Manchester United should take an arbitrary view just on Mason Greenwood’s ability, because I think that we are an inclusive sport that wants everybody to feel included.
“I don’t think that Mason Greenwood’s career should end because of a mistake that he made. I do believe in the redemption of every single person. That everybody deserves a second chance, and he’s still a very young man that can go on and learn and add significantly as an advocate for the issues that he’s got involved in.
“Manchester United are a very important, well-respected, national and global organisation that should listen to their supporters. That would be my solution to it. Everybody get around the table, have a conversation and talk honestly and openly and see if a solution can be found.”
For everyone’s benefit, the sooner that this situation is clarified, the better. Each party can then hopefully move forward and put this whole unsavoury episode behind them.
I think Mr Collymore has a very good point. Both parties should do this. Thank you very much Mr Collymore.
A very good idea from Mr collymore both parties should sit down on a round table and trash out this issue as early as possible so that everyone can move on .
Eminent sense from an unexpected source. I’ve maintained all along that there is a way back for Greenwood. He is a very young, immature man who is still developing as a person. His misogynistic behaviour/controlling/coercive behaviour towards his partner was utterly unacceptable and I genuinely hope that he has learned a lesson (and a lesson to others invisible to the public eye). But to pursue him in this way is unhelpful – it is effectively trial by social media where people have exaggerated feelings and lose perspective. He obviously wasn’t convicted and realistically, it would go some way to addressing the issue if he was to make a public statement that he has learned lessons from this situation and will strive to grow up and be a better human being in the future than the one exposed to the world.
I believe what he said is a good idea.
Please think of tomorrow not today, if u have never made a mistake in your life then let the young man out and wait for your losing point.
He who give u advise to let the young talent out does not want progress, please & please have a decision on him
Whilst Greenwood’s matter is rather polarising and divisive, there’s a fine line between perpertual condemnation and redemption. I believe in latter, and my hope is that when all parties have sat around the table and mapped a remorse based and reconciliatory action plan, then Greenwood should be given an opportunity to redeem himselfvthrough a public announcement and endorsement of poaitive women issues narratives. He must project genuineness and humility in such. This may endear him to some sections of supporters. This is a long journey to reconciliation and he must expect that there will be sections that will maintain their stance for him to be excluded from club activities. My concern about him being loaned off or sent to a different league suggests that those leagues will be accepting of such abhorrent behaviour and predicates that women groups in those countries will not be concerned as much as the women groups in England are. This, in my view undermines their intelligence. What would be key is what Collymore has proposed, and I fully support him.
Would just like to gauge more of what Stan means here as I can’t really wrap my head around it. First of all, he got away scot-free after he assaulted his ex-partner and continued his playing career as normal, which he seemingly advocates for Greenwood to do the same, as people deserve ‘second chances’ – though this is an admission that Greenwood did in fact do what he was accused of and what the pictures/audio revealed. In every other job, this would probably be the case, so long as the person that was assaulted didn’t work in the same company, but for (most) Premier League footballers it’s an entirely different story; you are put in the spotlight week in, week out and automatically become role models for thousands of children across the world, whether you like it or not, you must uphold that role by setting a positive example for those children that may ask their parents to get your name branded on their shirt. Should a young girl or boy be walking around with a potential rapist and abuser’s name on her back? How would that conversation go down with the parents? I know for a fact – I would never allow mine.
Collymore labels Greenwood’s behaviour as “appalling” like his, and I agree. The transaction of “I don’t want to have sex” met with “I don’t give a f**k what you want” and “I’m going to f**k you, you tw*t” really cannot be justified in any way, shape or form. That plus pictures of cuts and bruises, as well as a woman’s bloody lip, shows that perhaps this wasn’t just a “mistake” like Collymore says it is – it appears to be something that happened over a prolonged period. Especially when factoring in the dates of each photo shared.
As for Greenwood meeting with women’s advocacy groups, would they really want a man like him to be the face of, or an advocate, for what they push for? For women looking to flee situations like the one he seemingly put his partner in for numerous years? Would a victim of sexual assault or abuse ever want to come face-to-face or share a room with a man that said “push me one more time and watch what happens to you”? Quite frankly, it’s an insult to women everywhere.