On his mural in Manchester Marcus Rashford looks ready to take on the world. Now he just seems lost and sad, writes IAN LADYMAN
- Marcus Rashford has looked a little lost, a little sad, for quite some time now
The sun shone in Withington, South Manchester, on the mural of Marcus Rashford on Thursday. The last time I was there the sun shone brightly too.
That was the day after the final of Euro 2020. Rashford had missed a penalty in England's shoot-out loss to Italy at Wembley and the people of Manchester and beyond had reacted to abuse aimed at the young forward by leaving tributes, notes of thanks and bunches of flowers on the pavement.
By the time I got there a simple back street was awash with people. TV crews were present and talkSPORT radio were broadcasting live from the Coffee House Café on the corner.
I left my own note, dictated to me by a friend's son in London. He was a West Ham fan but this lad had been going through a tough time and wanted Rashford to know he had given him a sense of purpose, an example to follow. It was a privilege to leave his short letter there with all the rest.
That was a day to feel good about football and about sport and about someone like Rashford. Back then we were not long out of Covid lockdown and it had been a long and pretty dreadful 18 months for most of us.
Fans show their love and support for Marcus Rashford at the mural of him back in 2021
There was an outpouring of support for Rashford after he missed a penalty for England in the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy at Wembley
The tears flowed readily for Rashford after Manchester United won the FA Cup last weekend
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Only when I returned to Moorfield Street on Thursday did many of those feelings come crowding back.
That day back in July 2021 – standing with the crowds in the sunshine – I had felt a little like a line was being drawn under something dreadful. It was time to move forwards again.
Rashford's part in all of that was small but significant. Whether he wanted to or not, he became a beacon for many. His push for access to school meals for all children was something that came to symbolise something greater than a solitary act of defiant determination.
Rashford looks tall and proud on that mural. That is the first thing that struck me this week. He is younger and a little fuller of face.
But he has his shoulders back and his chin out. He looks ready to take on the world and win. And it was impossible not to think as I looked at his image that it is too long since he appeared like that.
The Rashford we have watched suffer on the football field recently has too often looked resigned to difficulty. He has looked irritated, annoyed, put upon, like a player waiting for somebody to give him the answers to the problem.
That is not the Rashford we had previously known. The younger version had been the kind to grab opportunities when they were there and go looking for some when they weren't.
I was there on occasion of his debut for United – thrust on in a European tie at the last minute – when he announced himself to the world with two goals. Rashford, still just 18-years-old, appeared like an answer to a question.
Taking to X after the final whistle, Rashford also outlined his affection of his boyhood club
Rashford has decided to take a break from social media following a challenging season
The message Rashford sent to announce his break off social media after a difficult season
And everybody changes. We know that. Nobody stays forever young. Privileges can quickly turn into responsibilities and they can weigh heavy.
That's what it looks like for Rashford now. The weight of the shirt and of expectation – both sporting and societal – has started to make those broad shoulders slump.
He was back in Erik ten Hag's team for the FA Cup Final last weekend and he did his bit. But Rashford is not in Gareth Southgate's provisional squad for this summer's Euros, not considered among the best 33 players in the country.
Not long after United's win at Wembley he was posting on social media that he would be disappearing for a while.
'Thanks for the fans that stood by me through a difficult period,' he wrote.
'To those who didn't, remember at United we always stick together.'
It seems a long time ago now that Rashford burst onto the scene against Midtjylland in 2016
Some at United will have raised eyebrows at that notion of sticking together.
Rashford has not always embodied that concept recently. And this is just one of the things that stalks him now. The way he views himself is no longer always as others view him.
He could do with taking some better advice at times. He has done, said and written some strange things over the last year. All of that stuff sits around the edges, though.
At the core of it is that he has just looked a little lost, a little sad, for quite some time.
Standing in front of that beautiful, spotless, black and white mural on Thursday, it was impossible not to be struck by the profound weight of Rashford's impact on his home city. He is one of the most important faces in the long history of this town.
But his grip on sporting relevance is slight now. He needs to hold on fast before his peak years slip away from him.
His performances though have seen him be axed from England's squad for Euro 2024
ENGLAND'S 'GOOD TOURISTS' NEED GREALISH
It was sitting in the late Jimmy Armfield's garden in Blackpool in 2010 that I first heard the phrase.
'Summer tournaments can be long and challenging,' Jimmy told me ahead of the South Africa World Cup.
'You need to have good players but you also need to have good tourists.'
Conditions for England players are rather different than they were when Jimmy was in the party for the 1962 World Cup in Chile. Sixty-two years ago they were unsure about drinking the water. Ahead of Euro 2024, they have been busy making sure the scent in the team hotel will be the same as the one the players are used to at St George's Park.
The point remains, though. Of the 26 players Gareth Southgate will take to Germany, many will not play regularly and some not at all. So Southgate needs smiling faces, players who can see the bigger picture and who will enjoy the experience regardless of their own contribution.
Yes, Southgate will need good tourists in Germany and that's one of the many reasons he should take Jack Grealish.
Not in the team at Manchester City recently and not used as his team chased the FA Cup final, Grealish nevertheless remains a first rate footballer capable of making an impact from the bench, the kind of person who brightens a room just by walking in to it.
Grealish is set to report early for England duty and that's a good sign. He is in danger of missing out when Southgate whittles 33 players down by seven and the likelihood is that he knows it. As far as I am concerned, he should be on the plane.
England need characters like Jack Grealish in their squad for the Euros this summer
ROONEY MUST PROCEED TO PILGRIMS
Wayne Rooney didn't wait to be asked about the Plymouth job. He applied for it, interviewed well and got it. His desire to work and to improve and to make it as a manager is commendable and impressive.
However Plymouth will be in pre-season training by July 2 and their new manager is due to be part of the BBC team at the European Championships in Germany, a tournament that doesn't finish until July 14.
Rooney should do the obvious thing and step away from the studio. If he attempts to do both jobs at once he is giving himself a problem he simply doesn't need.
Wayne Rooney would be well-advised to be in Plymouth and not Germany come July 2
BAYERN BRAVERY MUSN'T BE RECKLESS
Vincent Kompany has revealed he wants his Bayern Munich players to be 'brave on the ball'. There is a fine line between brave and reckless, though, and Burnley supporters now know this to their cost.
CUP FINAL HAS BECOME TRACEY EMIN SET TO TECHNO
Remember the days when the FA Cup Final teams used to appear from a tunnel behind the goal and take that long walk across clay towards the vast emptiness of green that lay beyond?
Remember the time when all you could hear was the sound of the crowd?
These days the Cup Final build up resembles an abandoned Tracey Emin painting set to techno music and it makes me wonder who on earth it is who thinks it's better this way.
