He dismantled his boyhood club
Marcus Rashford has laid into Man United and has critically explained the downfall of his boyhood club.
The local lad has lived a turbulent 12 months at United, falling out with latest manager Ruben Amorim and being shipped out on two loans to Aston Villa and Barcelona respectively.
Now, speaking to Gary Lineker on The Rest is Football podcast, Rashford has revealed that it is this revolving door of managers which is to blame for the club’s ongoing downfall.
United are once again midway into another rebuild under Ruben Amorim which is just one of a handful since the departure of the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.
Rashford spoke on this matter saying “if your direction is always changing, you can’t expect to win the league”.
He explained: “Show me a successful team that just adapts. When Fergie was in charge, not only the principles for the first team – the whole academy set up so you could pick players from 15 years and over – that’s a full generation. And they’d all understand the principles of playing the Man United way, right?
“You see it with any team that’s been successful over a period of time – they have principles that any coach that comes in, any player that comes in, has to align to these principles or be able to add to these principles.
Divulging further, Rashford spoke about his time at United, explaining how players were hungry to win, but struggled with fitting players into constantly changing systems.
“At times I feel like at United we’re hungry to win, so we’ll always try to adapt and to sign players that fit this system. But it’s reactionary,” he said.
“If your direction’s always changing, you can’t expect to be able to win the league. Yeah, you might win some cup tournaments, but it’s because you do have a good coach and you do have good players and you have match winners in your team – you’re not there by accident.
“This is what some people forget. We’ve been way below where we deem United to be. But then if you take a step back, which I’ve been able to do, especially over the last six months – what do you expect?
“People say we’ve been in a transition for years. To be in a transition, you have to start the transition. So it’s like the actual transition’s not started yet.”
As well as identifying United’s problems, Rashford also praised Liverpool for how they returned to success after waiting 30 years to win a league title.
He said: “When Liverpool went through this, they got [Jurgen] Klopp and stuck with him. They didn’t win in the beginning. People only remember his final few years when he was competing with City and winning the biggest trophies.
“To start a transition you have to make a plan and stick to it.
“This is where I speak about being realistic about what your situation is. We’ve had that many different managers, ideas and strategies in order to win that you end up in no man’s land.”
When asked if the situation at the Old Trafford hurts, he replied: “Yeah, 100 per cent. But not just as a player but as a fan.”
Man United have started their latest rebuild with a bumper transfer window in excess of £200m as Ruben Amorim prepares for his first full season as United manager.
The new additions of Cunha, Mbeumo and Sesko will give United fans hope for the new season in a team that has been lacking goals of recent.
Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Marcus Rashford will be looking to continue his upward trend in form that he found during his half season at Aston Villa at the start of the year.