Mason Greenwood 🔴 What The Hell Was Going On?

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ Manchester United, formerly known as Manchester United Football Club have at last reached a decision on the future of potentially world beating forward, Mason Greenwood.

In January 2022 Greenwood was accused of assault by his girlfriend, Harriet Robson, and Greater Manchester police launched an investigation. Due to lack of evidence no charges were preferred against the footballer and Mason and Harriet are back together again and she has given birth to their first child. This should surely have been an end to the saga which has dragged out for eighteen months. In any other situation it would have barely made the fifth page of a local newspaper and even then, a tiny column perhaps.

So why has this become such a long drawn out almost boring saga when in reality there was little to report? The couple appear happy and Mason continues to deny the allegations. His voice appears not to have been listened to apart from by the alleged victim, his partner Harriet Robson! I wish them both well and all this appears to have been a domestic which went terribly wrong as Harriet put on Instagram supposed recordings of Greenwood abusing her and assaulting her persona. Again, and I must emphasise, Mason Greenwood denies all allegations even now when the couple are reconciled.

Manchester United are a transnational conglomerate which happens to have a football team attached and are no different to the other nine so-called European clubs, international conglomerates which wanted to break away and form the ‘European Super League’, an idea which has been shelved and not, as many wishful thinkers would like to believe, scrapped. Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and others are no different, with Newcastle United now joining this conglomerate exclusive set!

Mason Greenwood has been at Old Trafford since he was seven years of age and he is now twenty-one. Most of his life he has spent at United and showed great potential until this nightmare began. Manchester United have reached a decision having ‘conducted their own investigation’, or so they tell us, into the affair. Mason Greenwood having had no charges brought against him did not therefore go through ‘due process’ because in the eyes of the law there was no need to. Through the Mancunian grapevine it was revealed some days ago that the couple were in fact back together and that appears now to have been ratified. Yet, still the saga goes on! Plenty of clubs would want to secure Mason Greenwood's services and the outcome, as yet unknown, may come back to bite United in the arse!!

On Monday, United announced that the club had mutually agreed to part ways with Greenwood after completing a six-month investigation into his January arrest. Greenwood denied all allegations. The alleged victim withdrew the allegations and their support from the police’s investigation in April of that year.
Six months later, in October, Greenwood was charged with attempted rape, assault and controlling and coercive behaviour.
But in February, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped all charges against the 21-year-old, allowing United to start an internal investigation. According to the Manchester Evening News, Greenwood cooperated fully with the Greater Manchester police by allowing access to his devices.
United later heard explanations for the images and audio recording posted on Instagram by the alleged victim on Sunday January 30, 2022.

This is where the entire scenario becomes a farce. United do not believe they have “grounds to terminate the forwards £75,000 a week deal.” So, if they are not going to release him from his contract and at the same time “plan to support Greenwood in completing a move away, whether on loan or on a permanent basis” what the fuck have the club being crying out for a forward all summer for? They already have one and a very good one at that in Mason Greenwood! Yet, “United don’t expect him to represent that club again, even if he leaves on loan and returns with one year left on his contract.” This is bizarre to say the very least! Mason Greenwood commented saying:

Today’s decision has been a collaborative process between Manchester United, my family and me, The best decision for us all is for me to continue my football career away from Old Trafford, where my presence will not be a distraction for the club” (source MUFC Express).

I am not convinced that statement of Greenwoods was not made under some sort of duress. After all, who leaves Manchester United willingly at such a young age with so much promise when the only direction is south on a compass point, downwards? Especially having done nothing wrong, and being reconciled with his partner who made the original allegations. The club have openly stated they did not think the player guilty of the allegations so why let him go? Does the supposed manager have any say in this? Where is Erik ten Hag's voice? He says he needs a forward and goes out paying silly money for one, already injured, why did he not, as Matt Busby would have done tell the board, ‘I decide who comes and who goes’ or do modern managers have no say in the matter? Perhaps we should stop calling them managers, stooges of the owners may be a more appropriate title. Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and prior to his retirement he would not have stood for such interference from imbeciles who know nothing of the game. Perhaps this was why he retired, as he could see the way the wind was blowing!

Celebrity, Rachel Riley, a supposed Man Utd fan entered the scene in what has become a play William Shakespeare would have been proud of. The celebrity said of Greenwood; “she’ll stop supporting Man Utd if the forward stays.” Well Rachel he is neither staying or going it would appear, but why would you stop supporting the team if a good, potentially great, player stays? Is this a bit of self-publicising stunt? She shared a statement from the charity Women’s Aid; “Greenwood’s departure would be a relief to many survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.” Ordinarily I would agree with this statement fully but this has to be counterbalanced with the fundamental principle of law which is ‘innocent till proved guilty’. Not only was Mason Greenwood not found guilty, it never got that far, with him and his accuser, his partner, are now happily reunited. So surely this abuse aspect does not apply! This is one of the problems with ‘Radical Feminism’, as opposed to ‘Marxist Feminism’ - it is vehemently anti-man. The man is guilty automatically and, in the rare occasion of a battered husband (not as rare as was once thought) they are not interested, a case of Misogyny terrible, rightly so, but as for Misandry, who cares a fuck. Domestic violence by either gender on the other is wrong and must stop, on that I’m sure we all agree but perhaps a little less selective in our choices might be sound advice for these groups? What a great pity Rachel Riley does not lend her celebrity status and voice to support women in shit paid sweat shops and other jobs where they are subjugated to many degrading acts by billionaire male bosses, like Donald Trump: her silence on such issues is deafening. However, I am deviating, perhaps Rachel feels there is not the publicity in supporting women working eighty hours per week for wages well below the minimum wage in the UK?

Another point worthy of mention is, where the hell have the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) been throughout this saga? They are the players' trade union and are supposed to represent which, it would appear, they have not done. Now we have a situation where a player has been told he will “never represent the club”, Manchester United, “again”. Essentially the same as any other employer at least in theory, but will not release him from his contract. Manchester United have the best of both worlds here, pacifying the ‘new age supporters’ as I call them, while at the same time deciding when and where their surplus player will be allowed to go to. At the same time the club hypocritically maintain the deception they are trying to help Mason Greenwood “develop his career elsewhere”! If this is the case, put the lad on the transfer list or are they afraid to do this? With Newcastle United and Aston Villa looking in the ascendancy Greenwood may just be the final piece in their jig saw!! The PFA should stand firm here because whether Mason Greenwood agrees, or pretends to agree, with this position of his employers it sets a precedent to other clubs to treat their players the same. Outside the world of football, trade unions everywhere should monitor this situation with alarm. What if every employer decided their employees could not leave their employment but neither could they work?? The potential is frightening!!

Finally, while this apparent glorified domestic argument between Mason Greenwood and Harriet Robson plays out, what is really happening at Old Trafford? Little is heard of the buy-out except I could not help noticing, very briefly, the figure of six billion pounds has suddenly become “seven billion” by the ever-greedy Glazers. This report may be true or well wide of the mark but what is really going on behind this smokescreen? While all appear to have been baying for the blood of young Mason Greenwood, have they all forgotten the real issues, the important ones? I am sure the club have done this on purpose to divert attention away from the activities of the Glazers, after all the protesters appear incapable of processing more than one issue, so why not divert attention, and continue to do so, away from the corrupt institution which was once Manchester United Football Club, my team since the sixties, (and still is along with FC United, the future perhaps, though I have not attended Old Trafford since 2005), and on to Mason Greenwood and Harriet Robson?

It appears to me, and did so as soon as the Mancunian grapevine informed me last week the couple were reunited and had a child, this was a domestic argument which got very much out of hand. If this had not been the case Harriet would surely have had her day in court by bringing a private prosecution against Mason. This did not happen, why not? Anybody reading this blog whose parents never argued even verbally aggressively using unsaintly language towards each other please feel free to let me know. Or, has anybody never argued with their partner? Again, feel free to let me know. Mason Greenwood and Harriet Robson are no exception, it happens, alas, it shouldn’t, but until we perfect the world it does and will continue to do so tragically in some cases, the real situations which need addressing! Unfortunately, Harriet chose, foolishly in hindsight, to put the scene on Instagram and regretted it shortly afterwards. Hereby hangs a lesson to social media addicts!

The question supporters, even today’s variant, should be asking is quite simple really. What are the club’s owners really up to using this unfortunate situation to hide their intentions behind? The next time anybody wants to stand behind a banner stating ‘Greenwood out’ ask yourselves; why? If an offer of ridiculous money comes in possibly from Saudi Arabia for Greenwood's services United will make a mint, and he will get a new life with Harriet and their child. Could this “collaborative process between Manchester United” Greenwood and his family have been planned? Could this be why he agreed with the club’s statement regarding their long drawn out unnecessary ‘investigation’ and he may not have said the words he did under duress at all - could that be the case? Could it have all been about making money, as football appears very much secondary these days, by selling Greenwood to the Saudis or other oil rich interested parties? These are questions, not statements of facts. What I do know is Matt Busby, Wilf McGuinness, Frank O’Farrell, Tommy Docherty and Dave Sexton would all turn in their graves at what is going on in todays so-called game, particularly events at Old Trafford.

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.