Update: speculative reporting was indeed true- the club has totally reversed course, and will now part ways with Mason Greenwood (more here).
According to multiple outlets, an announcement of the decision on the future of indefinitely suspended forward Mason Greenwood could come as early as today. United made an announcement that they’re soon going to make announcement (yes, this was a real thing that happened) on this matter last week.
That release was clearly a response to The Athletic‘s report the same day that said club Chief Executive Richard Arnold already told the club’s executive leadership back at the beginning of the month that United was bringing Greenwood back.
Their plan was in-depth, as it reportedly included a video that Arnold (who the Glazers specifically delegated this task to) recorded for the organization, another video of Arnold for release to the public, a specific way to announce the forward’s return, usage of photos of Greenwood training and the talking points assigned to manager Erik ten Hag for when this issue would inevitably come up in press conferences.
The plan even included a list of “hostile figures,” as a major backlash is inevitable (and deserved). Greenwood was criminally charged with rape and assault in early 2022, with the charges later being dropped earlier this year.
And while this case won’t be tried in court, it has already been tried in the court of public opinion, with the accuser’s audio and photos having been leaked on social media.
United’s original plan was to get things wrapped up by August 4, at the earliest, and ahead of the season opener on August 14, at the latest.
However, the club kept postponing as MUFC wanted to discuss this decision in more detail with all the key stakeholders, including members of the United women’s team, who weren’t available as they were on international duty at the World Cup.
United honestly probably overthought and overanalyzed this process, as it was less a fact-finding mission/internal investigation and more so a focus group of public opinion.
The club should have just made their decision, gone with it, and dealt with the consequences. Instead they have been trying to hard to try and please too many people in a situation where it is impossible to do so.
Their decision kept getting delayed because the timing was never right, and you always had something else going on that made the optics look bad.
One case in point is the English national team reaching the final of the Women’s World Cup- a Greenwood reinstatement announcement would have overshadowed the accomplishments of Three Lionesses.
And all of this is an obvious clue to MUFC- if there is never a good time to announce what you’re doing, then maybe what you’re doing is actually the wrong thing.
We’ll see if they go through with reinstating Greenwood, who hasn’t played since January of 2022. Although there have been some reports claiming United will reverse course, and instead part ways with Greenwood.
That could come by terminating his contract, or sending him out on loan.
It all remains to be seen, and it’s still up in the air in this point. Moving on, United still have a whole lot of clearing out to do this summer, with midfielder Donny van de Beek and defender Brandon Williams next on the chopping block.
Ten Hag, in answering a question about players who were missing from the team that lost to Tottenham this weekend, said Harry Maguire had a fresh injury while Van de Beek and Williams were preoccupied with finding a new club before the deadline on Sept. 1.
“Yesterday, the final training, ‘H’ fell out with a small issue and after September 1 everything can change, but we need players who are totally with their heads in our team,” Ten Hag said.
“And, I wouldn’t say the players you just mentioned, they are not, but it’s also obvious in this moment they are looking for something else.”
Anthony Elanga, Fred, Alex Telles, Matej Kovar and Zidane Iqbal have all left the club this summer, raising around £32m in return.
On the other side of the ledger this window, United have spent more than £160 million ($204m) in signing three players: Mason Mount, André Onana and Rasmus Højlund.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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