The Aston Villa stars past and present have been the focus of a debate on how footballers should handle themselves - and the media reaction to their behaviour
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Sport
Updated 17:00, 09 Mar 2025
Marcus Rashford
Talk of the town? Villa loan recruit Marcus Rashford
(Image: UEFA via Getty Images)
Aston Villa loan star Marcus Rashford would have been “destroyed” by the media if he had been pictured leaving a pub on his day off, as the club's former captain Jack Grealish was last week, it has been claimed.
The Manchester City playmaker was pictured at North Biddick Social Club near Sunderland as he visited Jordan Pickford’s brother, Richard Logan, last weekend.
One local punter told The Daily Mail: "Jack was a total gentleman. £500 is enough to keep the whole bar in pints for a good few hours. What a star he was, he can come back any time."
Despite it being a day off for Grealish, who paid for 200 pints, sections of the media were still critical of his decision to head to the pub during his down time, especially as he is struggling to hold down a place in the City team.
“They know what they have to do,” said Pep Guardiola when asked about Grealish on Friday. “A day off is a day off, there is no training.
“They have private lives to do whatever they want. I’m not going to control what they do in their private life. I judge what I see on the pitch, the training sessions and the performances in the game. That’s where I judge the players.”
However, the issues were debated by Sky Sports, with Mirror assistant editor Darren Lewis claiming Rashford would have received different treatment if it had been him at the pub instead of £100m signing Grealish.
He told viewers: “Sometimes we have to be real. If it was Rashford doing the kind of thing which we are seeing Grealish doing … if we see Rashford we see Rashford in those images stumbling down the road outside the pub, he would be destroyed.
“I think there is a double-standard here, in the way that we treat images like that. I’m sure Rashford will look at that and I am sure Grealish will look at that and feel relieved that he is not Rashford in this situation. We are not being fair and even handed if we don’t articulate the state of play."
Back in January, Rashford was dropped by Manchester United after being spotted on a night out in Belfast. He had been visiting a friend at Irish Premier League side Larne on Thursday, before heading out in the evening, prompting him to miss training back in Manchester the next day.
The episode was widely reported in the media and prompted United to issue a statement.
Lewis continued: "Jack at his best is an absolutely fantastic talent. He will want to get back into the thinking of Thomas Tuchel with England as the squad is about to be picked, but at the moment you’d suggest there are more potent, consistent, much more creative options for the manager to look at.
“It’s about where does Jack go from here. Does he want to get back into the City side? Does he want to get back into the England side? It’s his responsibility. He has a universal popularity and respect that he has earned because he is so down to earth.
“I don’t think there is a will to really take him down or anything like that. He is a super player and we want to see him back where he was. You just hope that he gets back to where he was.”
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