Jack Grealish did nothing wrong but party with his teammates but Stan Collymore wants to give him a kicking. Of course he does.
Jack the lad
After the nonsense of the Jack Grealish coverage last week, what was clearly missing on this subject were the views of one Stanley Victor Collymore. And he’s not impressed. Because having been given permission to party in celebration of a momentous achievement for several days, obviously Grealish should not have done any such thing.
Collymore ‘writes’ in the Mirror:
Look, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed myself when I was a professional footballer – boy, did I enjoy myself. So before anyone accuses me of being a curmudgeon or a hypocrite, I’m not trying to do that.
But what I do want Jack to realise is that there’s a time and a place… and the days before an international get-together is neither.
Pretty sure the ‘time and a place’ to celebrate a magnificent achievement is just after the magnificent achievement, Stan. Especially when your managers for both club and country have absolutely no problem with it.
Grealish would have been better having one night to celebrate and then waiting until Tuesday, or Monday night if he really couldn’t, to head off to Las Vegas with his mates. This isn’t necessarily about what the general public thinks, either, but about how these things can be perceived by squad mates.
Manchester City won the Treble on Saturday night and then had a parade through Manchester on Monday night. Which ‘one night’ should he have celebrated? Presumably you think he should he not have gone to Ibiza with – and this is quite the list – Erling Haaland, John Stones, Phil Foden, Kalvin Phillips, Bernardo Silva, Manuel Akanji, Riyad Mahrez, Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker?
So of the 13 players who featured in the Champions League final, nine partied for three days rather than the Collymore-prescribed one. But of course this is all about Grealish.
If you’ve been a consummate pro and someone else hasn’t, yet he gets indulged for it, then you start to think, ‘Hang on, how is he getting away with things I wouldn’t?’ And it can cause friction.
The England players who were in Ibiza with Grealish are unlikely to cause ‘friction’ so presumably the perceived problem here is with England players who did not win the Treble. Pretty sure that most of them would just be jealous, Stan.
I saw it first hand with Paul Gascoigne. When he scored a wonder goal against Scotland at Wembley in 1996, Gazza was treated to the Dentist’s Chair. It was all a big laugh. Then suddenly, it wasn’t.
A massive difference is that Gascoigne was actually on England duty; Grealish was not. He had permission – along with the rest of England’s Manchester City boys – to report for duty on Tuesday. Which he did. He literally did nothing wrong.
So I just don’t think there’s any value in being seen in the state Grealish was in. And if England had been facing Holland, Germany or Italy, he’d have given Gareth Southgate a quandary.
People might say, ‘But the City players will have been told they’d miss the first game and we’ve always known it was going to be Malta and then only North Macedonia’.
They would indeed say that. And they would be right. And why would Grealish be looking for ‘value’? He was just looking for a good time and he really did have it. And that’s absolutely fine.
Look, Ederson said the City lads enjoyed a really good night before he joined up with Brazil. And Ruben Dias certainly did by the sounds of it. But that was one night.
Nope. Dias was in Ibiza along with Grealish. He was also on the open-top bus on Monday night looking like this…
Do you think he is sober after ‘one night’ of partying on Saturday?
Grealish has a history now that goes back to photos of him collapsed on a street in Marbella. I just don’t want to see pictures of him in 25 years, nursing a bottle and people talking about him in the same way they talk about Gazza.
He was pictured collapsed on a street when he was 19. That was eight years ago. To now compare him to an alcoholic is really f***ing low.
Grealish had a lovely time celebrating a Treble just as Manchester United players did 24 years ago when even the largely non-drinking David Beckham admitted he was “legless”.
It’s not like he kicked and punched anybody in the head, Stan.
Shaw thing
Luke Shaw posted images on Instagram of himself showing Declan Rice and Harry Kane around Carrington, which is perfect fodder for tabloid newspapers. The Sun lap this shit up.
And Shaw admitted he wants his Three Lions team-mates to join him after posting Instagram pictures suggesting he was giving the pair a VIP tour of the facilities.
He ‘admitted’ that he would like Manchester United to sign England’s best striker and defensive midfielder? Can somebody pin him down on Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland next?
Shaw’s undercover transfer efforts have not gone unnoticed by Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate…
‘Undercover’? He put it on sodding Instagram. He wasn’t even wearing a false beard.
The Commitments
Sticking with Manchester United and England, this is the leading headline on Mirror football on Monday morning:
MAKING HIS MARC! Southgate issues reminder to Rashford amid stop-start England spell as Three Lions manager discusses “commitment” ahead of 2024
Seriously, if you are going to go that big with the headline, maybe change the opening line…
Gareth Southgate has reminded all of his squad about their “commitment” ahead of next year’s Euros.
But we thought he was MAKING HIS MARC?! We thought it was pointed criticism of Marcus Rashford. And little sells more than pointed criticism of Marcus Rashford.
And the message could easily have been aimed at Marcus Rashford ahead of England’s qualifier with North Macedonia at Old Trafford. No-one can doubt Rashford’s ability or his passion for his beloved Manchester United but his England career has been more stop-start since making his senior debut seven years ago.
So incredibly stop-start that he is the fourth-youngest England player in history to reach 50 caps. And only six players have featured more for England under Southgate. Come on Marcus, show some commitment!
Rashford, 25, has won 52 caps but only made 22 starts for his country while he pulled out of England’s squad in March through injury and then posted pictures on social media of him making a whistle-stop break to New York.
Oh FFS. Not this again. We covered all this at the time; Southgate very plainly was not arsed that he went to New York. You know this, John Cross.
United striker Rashford’s last friendly appearance was against Romania in 2021 when he scored the winner. Before his run-out as a substitute in Malta on Friday night, his last 10 appearances all came in major tournament finals.
Pesky fact: England have only played two friendlies since that Romania game. And Rashford was not in the England squad for those two friendly games in March 2022 because he was not even playing regularly for Manchester United.
Yes, ‘his last 10 appearances all came in major tournament finals’ but Rashford was not picked by Southgate for 12 months before the World Cup finals because of his poor form. It’s pretty difficult to play for England if you’re not actually picked.
That is almost Ryan Giggs territory as the ex-United winger was infamous for pulling out of friendlies with Wales.
Rashford has pulled out of two squads in two years – neither of which were for friendlies – but do carry on…
But Southgate made it very clear that he expects players to report up if they want to be involved and teenager Jude Bellingham even provided the perfect example by joining the squad at St George’s Park despite being injured.
He also made it clear that Rashford had done this in the past – specifically in March 2021 – but that quote is oddly absent from this particular piece. What a curious oversight.
Fascination Street
Define ‘interesting’, Mike Keegan of the Daily Mail…
It was interesting to see England training at Manchester United’s Carrington base rather than Manchester City’s Etihad Campus ahead of Monday’s Euro qualifier against North Macedonia at Old Trafford.