Gary Neville has criticised Manchester United for their handling of the Mason Greenwood situation after they finally made the decision to transition him out of the club.
After months of speculation and rumours that he might be reintegrated into the squad following a raft of serious allegations, Man United confirmed on Monday that Greenwood will not remain at the club and they will be assisting his potential return to football elsewhere.
This comes after the 21-year-old was arrested on allegations of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour, as well as carrying out assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his girlfriend in January 2022 following audio and photographic evidence being leaked on social media.
The charges were ultimately dropped back in February but swathes of football fans have been vocal in their opposition to his return ever since, including a large group of female supporters organising a protest on United’s opening game of the season. As a result, Neville has summed up the club’s handling of the whole situation as “pretty horrible”.
The process taken by Manchester United to drop Mason Greenwood has been 'pretty horrible', says Gary Neville.
The former United and England fullback told Sky Sports during their Monday Night Football show, “I think it was clear from day one, for me or anyone who obviously saw that evidence that was initially released, that he wouldn’t play for Manchester United again.
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“They have got there [in the end] but I would say that the process of getting there has been pretty horrible. When you have significant situations and difficult situations like this, it requires strong authoritative leadership — and that comes from the very top. Manchester United don’t have that.”
Sitting across from former WSL star Karen Carney, she added: “Personally I feel really uneasy with the situation. I think Manchester United, as an institution and a football club and what it stands for, have handled this really, really poorly.”
There have also been calls for CEO Richard Arnold to resign after it was reported he told the key figures that Greenwood would be returning before ultimately making a U-turn following the immense backlash.
As for Greenwood himself, the young footballer has finally broken his silence on the whole scandal, writing in a statement that he “fully accepts I made mistakes in my relationship, and I take my share of responsibility for the situations which led to the social media post.”
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However, the now exiled academy product still insisted he was “brought up to know that violence or abuse in any relationship is wrong” and “did not do the things [he was accused of”.
Nevertheless, he and the club have said that the decision to part ways is a mutual decision, with both agreeing that it is best for him to try and continue his career elsewhere so as not to be “a distraction for the club”.
Featured Image — Mason Greenwood (via Twitter)/Sky Sports
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Manchester’s National Football Museum to screen England’s Euro 2025 matches for free this summer
Emily Sergeant
England’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 matches are to be shown on big screens for free in Manchester this summer.
As England women’s national football team look to retain their title and continue to build on their ever-growing success as one of the best national football teams in the world, Manchester‘s National Football Museum is set to host a series of family-friendly watch parties after hours for the UEFA Women’s Euros this summer.
Visitors of all ages are welcome to support and celebrate England as they kick-off their campaign against France in the group stages on 5 July, followed by matches against the Netherlands on 9 July, and Wales on 13 July.
As Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses head to Switzerland with the hopes of being crowned European champions, you can head to the National Football Museum for some safe and inclusive fun.
Not only will the matches be shown in all their glory for free on a big screen, but you can also expect an on-site bar, and even the option to pre-order pizza ahead of time to feast on while you’re watching the action.
Watch parties will be taking place at the National Football Museum on the following dates:
France v England – 5 July at 8pm
England v Netherlands – 9 July at 5pm
England v Wales – 13 July at 8pm
To mark the beginning of the tournament, the museum will also be hosting a vibrant weekend of events on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July, so get ready to strike a pose in Lionesses’ kits, create your own dazzling banner, and drum-up support with your very own chant.
Manchester’s National Football Museum is screening England’s Euro 2025 matches for free this summer / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“This promises to be an exciting summer for football,” said Tim Desmond, who is the CEO of the National Football Museum.
“We want to bring the powerful sense of community that tournament football delivers to our museum, helping both new and returning visitors understand why football matters, and witness the impact our pioneering Lionesses can have in inspiring generations of budding young footballers.
“That’s why we are so delighted to be able to offer watch parties for this year’s tournament, providing a safe, inclusive, and exciting place for all fans to cheer on England.”
Featured Image – Molly Darlington / The FA (via England on Facebook)
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Manchester City confirm fourth signing of the summer as spending spree continues
Danny Jones
Manchester City have officially revealed their fourth signing of the summer window after confirming the transfer of top target Tijjani Reijnders.
The highly sought-after Serie A midfielder joins the club from AC Milan on a five-year contract for an initial fee of approximately £46.5 million, after having been tracked by a number of clubs across Europe over the past season or so.
Reijnders, 26, registered 15 goals and five assists from central midfielder last season (more than any other player in the league) with Italian football journalist Mina Rzouki stating that he models his game on Kevin De Bruyne, making him the perfect replacement for the Belgian – on paper, at least.
Finally unveiled on Wednesday, 11 June, he is arguably the statement signing of what looks to be a continued spending spree which began back in January.
With Man City splashing roughly £200m to kick off the 2025 calendar year as they brought the likes of Omar Marmoush and a trio of defensively geared players in Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and CDM Nico Gonzalez, it seems like they started as they mean to go on.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak assured fans that the club would be picking up “several players” in a recent interview after he argued they hadn’t been aggressive enough last summer, and given that the current main window hasn’t even been open for a fortnight yet, we’d say he’s sticking to that promise.
This year actually marks a rare instance of the transfer window being broken up into two parts due to the FIFA Club World Cup (which City are among the favourites to win) and will then re-open on 16 June.
Nevertheless, the Blues look to have got plenty of their business done already, not only with the arrival of Reijnders but the acquisition of left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri earlier this week, plus another attack-minded midfielder, Rayan Cherki.
The second player of Algerian descent and the second signing of the summer window was quickly announced by the Man City social media team just before the Dutchman.
Along with the signing of a new shotstopper, Marcus Betinelli from Chelsea – set to replace former reserve goalkeeper Scott Carson, who left the club after six seasons on Monday – that makes it four new incoming already.
Once again, not only do these latest additions to Pep Guardiola’s squad take their transfer total to over £300m on new talent in 2025, but there is still plenty of time for City to sign even more players with the summer window not closing until 7pm BST on 1 September.
Although the club have now acquired all of the players they have been most publicly linked with so far, it’s unclear whether their spending will continue or if the focus now turns to the Club World Cup getting underway this month and preparing the current squad for next season.
What do you make of Man City‘s latest recruits? Don’t forget, there have been some new arrivals in the backroom as well.
Danny Jones -
22nd August 2023 
