Exclusive: Mason Greenwood should advocate for women’s groups because Man United star deserves second chance says Collymore
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 […]
The post Exclusive: Mason Greenwood should advocate for women’s groups because Man United star deserves second chance says Collymore appeared first on CaughtOffside.
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.
The post Exclusive: Mason Greenwood should advocate for women’s groups because Man United star deserves second chance says Collymore appeared first on CaughtOffside.