Rashford: I’ve made mistakes but never doubt my commitment
MARCUS RASHFORD admits he has made mistakes, but insists it is wrong to question his commitment to Manchester United in the wake of a 12-hour tequila bender in Belfast last month.
Rashford missed training after flying to Northern Ireland on a private jet, then tried to mislead United by claiming the boozy night out had taken place 24 hours earlier, before a planned day off.
The England star, 26, was axed for the FA Cup tie at Newport and faced widespread criticism, but he has dismissed any suggestion he is not fully committed to his boyhood club.
‘Listen, I’m not a perfect person,’ Rashford writes. ‘When I make a mistake, I’ll be the first one to put my hand up and say I need to do better.
‘But if you ever question my commitment to Man United, that’s when I have to speak up.
‘It’s like somebody questioning my entire identity and everything I stand for. I grew up here. I have played for this club since I was a boy. My family turned down life-changing money when I was a kid so I could wear this badge.
‘Football can be a bubble. I have tried to stay a normal person, keep my same friends. I have tried my best not to change, even when I’m on a night out or on holiday.
‘But there’s another side to that. I’m a human being. I’ve made mistakes a lot of lads in their 20s make, and I’ve tried to learn from them. But I’ve also made sacrifices nobody sees.
‘The thing that I want you to understand is that money is not what keeps you playing through the hard times. It’s the love of the game, plain and simple.’
Writing for the Players’ Tribune, Rashford suggested the critics have had their knives out for him ever since he was awarded an MBE in 2021 for his work tackling child poverty.
‘I think some of it goes back to the pandemic,’ he added. ‘I was just trying to use my voice to make sure kids weren’t going hungry, because I know how it feels.
‘For some reason, that seemed to rub certain people (up) the wrong way. It seems they’ve been waiting for me to have a human moment so they can point the finger and say, “See? See who he really is?”
‘I can take any criticism. But if you start questioning my commitment to this club and my love for football and bringing my family into it, then I’d simply ask you to have a bit more humanity.
‘You have to understand, when I was young, playing for United was everything. It was out of reach for us. It was hard to get there and even harder to stay there.
‘Money is great. It’s a blessing. But dreams are priceless. For me, even at 11 years old, playing for United was my only goal.
‘To be able to go on and live that dream, as a kid from Manchester — as a kid from Hulme, Moss Side, Chorlton, Withington, Wythenshawe — if you think I would ever take that for granted, then you simply do not know me.
‘You know what, though? If I’m honest, a part of me doesn’t mind it when people doubt me. When everyone is telling me they love me, I get suspicious. I know the way the world works.
‘Whenever I’ve been in my darkest of places, and it feels like half the world is against me, I tend to go off by myself for a couple of days and reset, then I’m fine. Other times, when that hasn’t worked, I’ve found someone to talk to.
‘But every time I’ve been down, physically or mentally, I always feel like that’s when I turn it around and play my best football for United and England.’