On The Ball | Precocious Mason Greenwood will need to learn his lessons, but Man United could craft him into a superstar
- Manchester United youngster Mason Greenwood has been in the papers for the wrong reasons in recent weeks, but he is making typical mistakes of a young man in transition
They worry about outside influences at Manchester United. About the effects of social media on their young players who grow up with phones in their hand, reading online praise about their talents from the age of eight, known as the best player in the school, area, city, region. It’s all positive. The fortunate few do the hard yards at a club and, against all odds, make the first team. Being at a huge club means they are targets for scrutiny and public exposure, to feed a voracious public appetite for dirt. Almost overnight, they have to change the way they live. A trip to buy some jeans in a shopping centre becomes two hours of selfies. That’s the least of their worries.
And then the backlash. A few bad games or missed chances can see pernicious, anonymous online abuse of the type they’ve not experienced before. It stings. Even if they develop a thick skin, it gets to their families.
Many want to be mates with players and they don’t know who to trust. Girls who wouldn’t look twice at them suddenly pursue them with lustful eyes now they’re in the public spotlight. The former United goalkeeper Gary Bailey recalled it as: “I remember going into town, a gangly 18-year-old with a few spots on my face. I went to a disco and not one person spoke to me all night. Girls didn’t believe me when I told them that I was a goalkeeper at Manchester United.”
And that’s a man who later married a former Miss Universe. Then Bailey made the first team.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I’m the man!’ There was a totally different response. Suddenly I was pulling the best girls around. I really had to keep my feet on the ground and bear in mind that being famous was a huge attraction to women.” Bailey made mistakes but he learned from them.
Young adults make mistakes and social media can be unforgiving. Brandon Williams posed on a private jet recently. Hardly the crime of the century – but coming at a time when the people who pay his wages were annoyed after their season ended in disappointment it left him exposed to rabid criticism. The possible consequences were pointed out to United’s hugely talented teen full-back and it was deleted. Hopefully he’ll be wiser about what he posts in future.
