Sometimes it can come down to the company you keep.
Like appointing your brother to be your agent, or employing a so-called PR guru who still thinks, even now, that their client’s lifestyle isn’t to blame for his football career going backwards faster than Max Verstappen in reverse. So who is at fault for the sad demise of former England and Manchester United sensation Marcus Rashford?
I say ‘former’, because, while still being 27, Rashford hasn’t played for England since the 2022 World Cup. And now things have got so bad, he can’t even get into his club’s squad, let alone team. Rashford has spent the last 18 months disappearing into the abyss. And his nadir came last weekend, in his beloved hometown of Manchester.
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That’s where Rashford spent his Sunday watching United come from behind to beat neighbours Manchester City at the Etihad – from the discomfort of his own home. The former darling of English football, reduced to posting a message on social media congratulating teammates he wasn’t even deemed worthy of sharing a dressing room with.
Staring at his TV watching a colleague with the sort of work-rate, desire and hunger United demand, win the game at the death. But will the penny drop? The answer to the original question at the beginning of this column is obviously Rashford himself.
Because no-one forced him to go on a booze bender in Belfast ahead of an FA Cup tie last season. No one forced him to jet to New York during the last international break and sit courtside to watch a basketball game with A-listers.
Before leaving the arena dressed, as someone acerbically suggested on social media, ‘like a two-bob pimp’. At the same time as new manager Ruben Amorim was heading to United to start his new job.
And no-one is telling Rashford to train in such a way that leaves the same Amorim with no choice but to axe one of his highest-paid players for one of his biggest games of the entire season.
(Image: Getty Images)
How has it come to this? Only Rashford knows the answer, but Amorim has made it clear the forward’s attitude is nowhere near the levels expected of him. It’s been claimed the greatest irony is that days like Sunday should be made for Rashford.
But is this really true? Have we all been hoodwinked into believing Rashford is world class? That he has the talent and gumption to have a long and successful career? The bitter truth is that Rashford has had one stand out season, when he scored 30 goals. The rest has been a maelstrom of mediocrity.
To such an extent that Rashford, who should be approaching the peak of his career, has morphed into one of the most overpaid and overrated footballers of modern times.
(Image: Getty Images)
It has emerged that Gareth Southgate refused to take him with England to the Euros this summer because of concerns over his work rate and application.
Yet this was six months ago – and it seems nothing has changed. But here we are still debating the lifestyle, attitude and application of someone closer to the age of 30 than 20. It has taken Amorim a month to see some things in Rashford he doesn’t like.
But the real problem is how the years continue to roll on, yet the man himself remains blind to those things now leaving him with a career that’s simply passing him by.
Kyle Walker brought shame on himself, his club and the game
When will the FA introduce a rule to stop idiots like Kyle Walker bringing shame on himself, his club and the game in general?
Barring a brain transplant, it appears the only way those who govern the sport can stop incidents like the one Walker instigated, is to bring in retrospective punishment. It’s one of the biggest matches of the season, being watched by billions around the world, yet Walker thinks it wise to touch heads with a rival, then crash to the turf claiming to have been head butted.
(Image: Getty Images)
Does he seriously not have the wit to work out countless replays will expose his cheating? And does the beautiful game not have the wit to introduce powers issuing him with a belated red card, for what is a clear and obvious act of skullduggery?
As it stands, a player can instigate an act of simulation in a bid to get an opponent sent off – and escape with a booking. That’s the same punishment a player gets for taking his shirt off.
No-one would care too much if a youngster scored a goal on a Sunday morning then took off his shirt to celebrate. But if one collapsed in a heap claiming to be head butted when he hadn’t, then that’s a different matter altogether. It has to stop.
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