Manchester United’s leadership team has been told thatMason Greenwoodis coming back to the club.
In a way, it comes as little surprise. For some time now, the feeling has been that United would re-open the door for the 21-year-old.
Even so, the likelihood of Greenwood pulling on a United shirt again remains a difficult reality to absorb.
He has not played for the club since he was arrested in January 2022 after graphic images and audio were released on social media. Charges of attempted rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and controlling and coercive behaviour — all related to the same woman, and all of which Greenwood denied —were discontinued in February of this year.
Greenwood’s case has never been tried in court but those images and that audio are impossible to ignore.
On the first day of the season,a group of Manchester United supporters released a ȿτɑτємєɴτexpressing their concerns about “taking Greenwood back”. It “tells us, as women, that we don’t matter,” it said, “that the 1 in 4 women who experience domestic abuse and/or sexual assault in the UK don’t matter. It tells us that the men who make the club money matter”.
I nodded while reading it, from start to finish.
Inviting Greenwood back into the fold would afford him the opportunity to rebuild his career and status as aPremier Leaguefootballer, even if the possibility of a return to the international arena withEnglandremains less clear.
It gives him the chance to become a hero for young boys and girls too young to understand the ɾєɑȿօɴs for his 18-month absence; who simply love United and anyone who dons the shirt – especially if they are match winners.
It sєɴԀs a clear мєȿȿɑɢє that if you are a valuable asset who has the potential to bring in money and success, or a player with the kind of talent that sets you apart from your peers, then the rest is irrelevant. Manchester United seem to simply not care.
Nothing about that last paragraph is much of a surprise, but that doesn’t make it any less sickening to write.
United say no final decision has been made but, if Greenwood returns, the narrative around him among pundits and ɾєρօɾτers will eventually shift. It’s just a question of how quickly that happens and how loud the noise is around his ρłɑɴned return.
Greenwood celebrates scoring in September 2019 (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
There might be an initial discussion dancing around the allegations, covering the steps United are (hopefully) taking to rehabilitate Greenwood, debating the position of young players as role models and the ɾєɑȿօɴs the club felt it right to take him back. After that, his absence might be referenced now and again as part of assessing his performances (particularly if it takes time for him to reach his previous level).
But what about the uncomfortable details behind his disappearance from our television screens?
Broadcasters (and likely pundits, too) will be wary of getting too deep into the details. It’s uncomfortable, unpleasant and difficult given the restrictions around identifying the alleged victim (under UK law, those who complain of certain sexual offences are entitled to anonymity for life).
The further into the rear-view mirror those pictures and audio released on social media in January 2022 become, the easier it will be for some to gloss over the horror of the man’s voice, said to be Greenwood, when he said: “I’m going to f*** you, you twat. I don’t care if you want to have f***ing sex with me. Do you hear me?”
We do not know the context of those posts but, with every game Greenwood plays and every goal he scores, they would be consigned further to history in the rush to celebrate the undeniable talents of a young footballer with the world at his feet.
I’ve tried to imagine hearing the crowd cheer as Greenwood comes off the bench or watching his team-mates mob him after he scores a goal. I’ve pictured my seven-year-old football-obsessed nephew recreating a Greenwood goal in his back garden. I’ve thought about how I spent this summer trying to get my young daughter to watch as much of the Women’s World Cup as I can in an attempt to show her that football is as much for girls as it is for boys.
And I feel complete disgust.
There are those who say Greenwood has been cleared of any wrongdoing; that he is an innocent man who should be able to get on with his life.
And that’s not just social media noise, either. One male pundit from a major Premier League broadcaster believes Greenwood was found not guilty of any wrongdoing and should be treated as such.
None of that is correct or right and if those falsities are given oxygen by people in positions of power and influence, then I fear history will be rewritten.
Greenwood is a free man not because he has been found innocent, but because the case never made it to court. In part, that’s because new evidence came to light and key witnesses withdrew their co-operation, according to the UK’s Crime Prosecution Service (CPS).
Reminder: alongside the charges of attempted rape and assault causing actual bodily harm, one of the charges against Greenwood was “єɴɢɑɢιɴɢ in controlling and coercive behaviour”, with the prosecution claiming Greenwood made threats and derogatory comments, monitored a woman’s social media accounts and changed the way she socialised.
Greenwood denied all the charges against him but he has never denied it is his voice on those clips.
And it is that audio and those pictures that remain so key now that there is no legal case for him to answer. They have shone a light on a different side of this particular sportsman, a side that no claim of “innocence” or withdrawal of key witnesses can ever erase as long as there are people alive who have seen and heard it.
In many ways, it reminds me of the situation surrounding American boxer Gervonta “Tank” Davis. In his most recent fight, the WBA “regular” lightweight champion knocked out Ryan Garcia, assuring him a place on many people’s pound-for-pound list and solidifying him as one of the sport’s biggest names.
The 28-year-old has twice been arrested on charges of battery/domestic violence. The first case, from 2020, related to an incident at a basketball game, which was recorded by CCTV, a clip of which was then released on social media. The 14-second video showed Davis forcefully grabbing the woman near her neck and pulling her out of her seat during the game. Davis then walked her out of the arena as they appeared to argue. The case dragged on for almost three years before the prosecution abandoned the charges in December 2022.
