The witch hunt has now begun.
10
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 32
- Goals
- 5
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Status
I have the feeling two joint injuries, one of which requires surgery, is a bigger cause of an athlete underperforming than what he does on the side. Just a hunch...
Your theory will be tested when Rashy is fully recovered, but he's been doing charity work long before he had a drop in form, so I'm doubtful.
Exactly
Footballers do other things than train/eat/sleep you know.. they have lives outside of football. Plus it's not like he's spending every day doing charity work. He initiated this amazing thing and is keeping it going and is vocal on Twitter for it... but I guarantee you that doesn't take up a whole lot of his time anymore.
Quite the opposite, it's because of his charity work that few people question as they would with another player why an injury was so severe to turn his form to garbage in the second half of the season yet never severe for him to sit out game time or indeed severe enough that even now it's not even sure if it's even bad enough to require surgery.
The charity work only gets brought up as a distraction from talking about how he's been abysmal since Christmas. His charity work may not be a distraction for him but it's a complete distraction from talking about his form and performances which has been awful in this calendar year.
"Didn't play well again, but does a lot for the kids". Maybe Marital should open up a cat's home and suddenly anyone suggesting he's not very good will also be accused of a 'witch hunt'.
Maybe that was Taibi's problem, didn't sit in a bath of beans for comic relief.
He's a footballer. His charity work is great but all those accusing others of a witch hunt hide behind it to distract from how he started playing like a raffle winner after christmas. I mean christ 20 years ago everyone was up in arms about the 'distractions' of Beckham which were - having a wife and wearing clothing. This isn't unique.
Last edited:
Some people really do get annoyed by his charity work don’t they. It’s pretty sad
You're right. Many United fans came across as complete fecking morons twenty years ago, too.
Maybe one of the papers should publish (for one day only) a newspaper that does not contain one celebrity story.
Celebrities sell papers, the papers will do anything to use a celeb to make money, that makes those vultures the lowest of the low.
If Rashford made money - who cares, if it wasn't for him pushing away at it the school meals thing would most likely have never happened.
He's not one of those celebs who does things purely for personal gain, you can't tell me that he doesn't genuinely care about the cause he was promoting.
Some celebs charge thousands just for a meet and greet, this guy got thousands of kids a meal and raised thousands of pounds for charity.
Absolutely mental that someone like him has to keep defending himself, what about the scruffy haired chap who asks for donations to decorate his flat, allegedly says things like let the bodies pile up, closes pubs to stop the spread but gives everyone a week to go to the pub and increase the spread first... possibly responsible for deaths.
Nahhh lets just go after the young lad who at just 23 has probably already raised more money for charity than Princess Diana did.
Celebrities sell papers, the papers will do anything to use a celeb to make money, that makes those vultures the lowest of the low.
If Rashford made money - who cares, if it wasn't for him pushing away at it the school meals thing would most likely have never happened.
He's not one of those celebs who does things purely for personal gain, you can't tell me that he doesn't genuinely care about the cause he was promoting.
Some celebs charge thousands just for a meet and greet, this guy got thousands of kids a meal and raised thousands of pounds for charity.
Absolutely mental that someone like him has to keep defending himself, what about the scruffy haired chap who asks for donations to decorate his flat, allegedly says things like let the bodies pile up, closes pubs to stop the spread but gives everyone a week to go to the pub and increase the spread first... possibly responsible for deaths.
Nahhh lets just go after the young lad who at just 23 has probably already raised more money for charity than Princess Diana did.
Tories don't like it when they are called out for anything.
Rashford has become a more effective leader of the opposition than the actual leader of the opposition. That's why everyone is going in on him. It's not a battle they can win though. He's an incredibly popular powerful young man.
Love Rashford...Hate Tories
Absolutely.
Have a t-shirt exclaiming the exact same thing, get some very polarising opinions thrown my way when I wear it
Love the guy, for all he has done for United and this godforsaken country.
I’m all for this guy I really am not just because he is from the academy but because he has the class and talent.
He is 23 now and while that is still young he should be cleaning up them inexperienced mistakes he makes. His output has improved but I still feel he does things that a 19 year old does when lacking the knowledge and experience.
I think a rest will do him good and hoping for a big season
He is 23 now and while that is still young he should be cleaning up them inexperienced mistakes he makes. His output has improved but I still feel he does things that a 19 year old does when lacking the knowledge and experience.
I think a rest will do him good and hoping for a big season
Yet that's rarely the case, except in the vivid imaginations of posters like yourself.
If his charity work distracts people from criticising his performances, then the poor lad is going to have seriously step is his charitable efforts.
Sure, he's probably been given a lot of leeway by (most) pundits because of his good work, but it didn't take too long to dig out plenty of criticism about his performances in recent months.
I've been very critical of his performances in that time and I'm certainly not alone. If anything, his charity work has a polarising effect. Some may avoid criticising him because of it, but there's plenty of others that use it as a stick to beat him with.
I've always seen it for what it is- two separate issues. His charity work is fantastic and goes beyond football. His performances have been well under par for too long. I was dismissive of the idea of him carrying an injury, because the dip in form started a long time ago. But considering he's undergoing surgery clearly I was wrong. In which case questions need to be asked of the club and England for letting him carry on without addressing the injury.
I’m guessing his point was why is that being posted in the performance thread when it has nothing to do with his performances playing football.
No agenda at all.
No dog in the fight to be honest but even the most supportive of Rashford must surely accept that the incredible energy and force he put into his political campaigni
I dont give a damn about what charity he chooses to promote nor...contrary to the implications in the Spectator article do I care if he has benefited financially himself as a result.
What I do have strong feelings about is when a football player on big wages who is paid to be 100% committed to his club and focused on that end is seeing his energy diverted into other avenues, whether that be charity work , politics or other time consuming and mentally demanding pursuits.
This would be no issue if his performances had not declined simultaneously with his recent high profile campaigning. As they have. It is.
Incidentally can you name any top quality player from any country who has chosen to get seriously involved in the political arena and stayed as effective on the pitch ?
No dog in the fight to be honest but even the most supportive of Rashford must surely accept that the incredible energy and force he put into his political campaigni
I dont give a damn about what charity he chooses to promote nor...contrary to the implications in the Spectator article do I care if he has benefited financially himself as a result.
What I do have strong feelings about is when a football player on big wages who is paid to be 100% committed to his club and focused on that end is seeing his energy diverted into other avenues, whether that be charity work , politics or other time consuming and mentally demanding pursuits.
This would be no issue if his performances had not declined simultaneously with his recent high profile campaigning. As they have. It is.
Incidentally can you name any top quality player from any country who has chosen to get seriously involved in the political arena and stayed as effective on the pitch ?
Injuries directly affect performance, so a case could be made.
Exactly. Rashford was always criticized, before and after the charity work. There are at least 20 threads starting in a year or 2 dedicated just to criticize/question his place in the team.
I don't know why people think he is beyond criticism because of his charity work.
As per this thread/forum/social media and few posters, so does his charity work.
We all have hobbies, he probably has a whole team doing much of the leg work for him and aligns with pre-existing charities. I doubt it‘S really that strenuous or much of a drain that unless he is single handedly doing it alone. The idea footballers have to live 24/7 for football, can’t have a dance, get a hair cut is ridiculous in my opinion. If anything a distraction from football is probably a good thing in their down time.
Much rather he was doing charity work than risking injury playing golf or basketball in his downtime to relax from football. The one thing maybe from his charity work that may cause an issue if he even bothers with it, is the amount of trolls and racist scum that his great work will probably attract to him. The abuse they will throw his way, No one should have to live with that.
Surely if he reads that sort of abuse and hate that is going to chip away at you.
Anyway, hopefully next season he sorts out this injury, comes back fit and healthy and just improves as there is a great player there that is just let down by constantly poor decision making.
Last edited:
The charity work has literally zero impact on his performances and frankly it’s stupid to correlate the two. What’s a more pressing issue is his injuries and to be honest his overall talent level. They will be far bigger deciders on how his career turns out than doing some fantastic work off the pitch.
I don't remember any player's charity work discussed to this level, maybe this is the first time and it's so weird. Even if he retires today, he is a legend (not ManUtd legend obviously) for being the face of campaign that fed millions of kids.
It's funny people want footballers to wake and sleep football because "they are well paid for it". Aren't you well paid to do your job? I am sure you wake and sleep your job too. I am sure you have no other interests or pursuits. Maybe the problem isn't really footballers, maybe it's you trying to hold them to standards you can't even keep to.
Yeah agree with all of that, it's the stupid posts that is posted just when someone posts something good about this player.
@bosnian_red found some interesting tweet about Rashford's charity work and posted it and then the stupid post "Some x person does charity too, doesn't mean I want them in my first 11".
Yes this is performance thread, if we we go by binary 1 and 0 rules, then all the injury news should be posted in Rashford's injury thread as this thread is to discuss Rashford's performance (he is yet to play this season) and all his charity work posts should be in new thread dedicated for that.
It's just hilarious to see how there are few who just don't want to see anything positive posted about Rashford.
Megan Rapinoe?
Hector Bellerin?
Could throw Raheem Sterling in there with his role in tackling racism?
Didier Drogba?
The two can be mutually exclusive (and they are). His performances have declined because he has been overworked and he genuinely has been playing through pain/injury for a good 18 months.
Here's a tweet from James Ducker, from January 2020:
He's been playing through the pain barrier which has led to subsequent injuries. His shoulder is fecked, and his ankle has been a huge problem too.
I'm struggling to find the tweet now unfortunately, but his management team replied to a tweet where somebody asked when the last time Rashford was playing without injury was, and their response was "2 years".
The decline in performance from Rashford (who is still performing at a top 5 Man Utd player standard, really) is almost ALL based on overworking and injury issues. Not his philanthropy.
What the hell are you talking about? what political campaigning Rashford did? is he going for MB seat? or a council seat? is he challenging Boris for PM position? the guy just advocated for feeding poor kids, that's all, no political campaigning or any kind of incredible energy and force put here, just tweets and calls to people in government and maybe some interviews with media to bring attention to the issues he cares about, you talk as if Rashford was attending rallies across the country and going on protests in front of downing street or whatever, jeez
I’m pretty sure the poster that responded with that did so in jest which was quite funny. Then the usual happened with the people taking it as a slight against Rashford and going balls deep in their defence of something so innocuous which was quite clearly a joke. It’s why “The Cult of Rashford” thread survived so long. Overly sensitive people.
Anyway when he actually comes back and starts playing football we will see where he is at. Hopefully thriving.
I was talking about TOP players.
Ronaldo, Beckham, Mbappe, Messi....etc
Not saying these guys are great role models but their performance levels are way above those of the players you mention and none to my knowledge were very actively involved in political campaigning and all were very focused on the football side.
He was involved very actively in campaigning against and successfully forcing the government policy to be overturned on free school meals during the lockdown.He had meetings with government and Opposition Ministers and Shadow Ministers as well as involved charities. Did a lot of interviews on the media. Great result for the kids and their parents.
Less good result for Marcus Rashford's performance levels.
Yet you dont think that is political ?
Politics is much more than elections.
How stupid was that decision to play him against Wolves? Same with Pogba against Rochdale.
wow, you still insist it's political, and i know politics is more than elections, but all he did was advocate for feeding poor kids, meeting with officials, media interviews and whatnot, all only for feeding poor kids, this is just charity work, you said it yourself, it was done during lockdown and no football during that period last year, he had the time to do all that.
Ole and the club management will tell him off if all of his Charity work impacted his football, such as missing trainings, or being late, or not training properly as paid professional, etc... he didn't neglect his duties toward MUFC, and you know that.
if you wanna criticize his form and performances, go ahead, it's fair to do so, but don't attribute his poor form to his charity work, as that is BS and you know that too.
Yeah, when people post something silly and others argue against that, it means "cult"
The treatment of Rashford by the club has honestly been appalling. I get it, we miss a lot without him, and I’m sure he wants to play every single game, but someone has to put their fecking foot down and stop this guy for a bit.
I hear what your saying but I would counter that the 'running in behind defence style' of Rashford is seldom as useful these days as it was during the early years of Ole's reign. Even the big teams know not to leave that sort of space anymore.
The overall team performance and subsequent goal output is paramount, not individual stats, and if fluid configurations emerge to better deal with deep lying defences then Rashford will need to adapt to continue as an automatic starter in attack.
Rashford's injuries are definitely hampering him, remember when he got tackled very early in the season, fell on his shoulder and screamed like a Banshee? I think he needs surgery and a lot of rest. I also don't think it helps that in sports it's seen as a badge of honour to play through bad injuries. Rashford had good numbers last season but towards the end of it (you could argue as he got more tired and the injuries got worse) even those took a nose dive.
Regarding his charity work, I'm a big supporter and couldn't be prouder that one of ours in making a real difference in the lives of real people around me. When last could a footballer or any sportsman in the UK say that?
However, as someone who gets involved in a fair bit of charity myself (nowhere near the influence of Rashford of course), you can't categorically say whether or not it influences his performances at all one way or another, let's be honest. Depends on how hands-on he is with the day-to-day and how emotionally invested he is. It can become a huge part of one's thoughts as you could be thinking of ways you can make more of an impact all the time - including night time. So I do think it's harsh to jump on anyone that suggests it could be a factor.
All that said: it could just as likely affect his performances positively as it could affect them the other way.
Take players who become parents for instance (Luke Shaw a case in point), there is no greater distraction in life as I'm sure most parents know! Often times though, it gives them purpose, a sense of responsibility, makes them more mature, and therefore better players.
Charity work could be a very similar motivator I reckon. And even if it impacts negatively, do I want Rashford to stop? No - he's already a very good player, and I'd take him effecting real change in the lives of families over the joy I'd take in him reaching the highest echelons of football.
Ideally though, I'd take both.
Regarding his charity work, I'm a big supporter and couldn't be prouder that one of ours in making a real difference in the lives of real people around me. When last could a footballer or any sportsman in the UK say that?
However, as someone who gets involved in a fair bit of charity myself (nowhere near the influence of Rashford of course), you can't categorically say whether or not it influences his performances at all one way or another, let's be honest. Depends on how hands-on he is with the day-to-day and how emotionally invested he is. It can become a huge part of one's thoughts as you could be thinking of ways you can make more of an impact all the time - including night time. So I do think it's harsh to jump on anyone that suggests it could be a factor.
All that said: it could just as likely affect his performances positively as it could affect them the other way.
Take players who become parents for instance (Luke Shaw a case in point), there is no greater distraction in life as I'm sure most parents know!
Often times though, it gives them purpose, a sense of responsibility, makes them more mature, and therefore better players.Charity work could be a very similar motivator I reckon. And even if it impacts negatively, do I want Rashford to stop? No - he's already a very good player, and I'd take him effecting real change in the lives of families over the joy I'd take in him reaching the highest echelons of football.
Ideally though, I'd take both.
This is spot on.
It's not even like the criticism is consistent. There are players who spend their free time playing golf or video games, others who spend hours every day getting their hair done or going shopping but you hear feck all about it.
Rashford spends a few hours a week doing actually decent things in his spare time and you get idiots using it to question his professionalism.
It boils down to people not liking to see other people doing good things because it makes them feel inadequate about themselves.
He scored a champions league hat trick off the bench in the midst of his most involved charity work. This isn’t based in reality.
The obvious and most likely explanation for his drop off is a combination of managing injuries and fatigue. Don’t let that get in the way of the fan fiction though.
- Status