You’ve probably heard the phrase “shut up and sing,” a saying that instructs musicians not to spout opinions on social issues, but to instead merely perform their songs. The condescending and confrontational slogan only applies of course to situations where the music consumer/fan strongly disagrees with the stance of the artist.
If the musician’s opinion conforms to the fan’s worldview, then hey, it’s fine. “Shut up and sign” is the message Jose Mourinho gave to one of his favored players, midfielder Marouane Fellaini, and this order actually came in a more joking and fun tone.
“I told him yesterday ‘sign the contract and shut up’,” the United manager said with a laugh.
“I told him ‘don’t gamble too much, sign the contract before you know the extent of the injury’.”
Fellaini, consistently one of Mourinho’s favorites for selection, elected to have surgery in hopes of fixing the knee injury he suffered Wednesday night in the 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur. Fellaini, who has had a very injury plagued 2017-18 season, will now be out of action until the end of March. Here’s a link to much more on that.
His injury/fitness situation could cast more doubt on his already uncertain future with the club. The big Belgian is out of contract at the end of the year, and there hasn’t been any progress to speak of regarding a possible extension. However, as made clear by Mourinho’s remarks here, he is very much wanted by the club and it seems like the two sides should be able to hammer something out before the end of the season.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.