Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire has finally responded to the criticism he has received from supporters over the past few years.
The English defender found himself on the receiving end of the majority of United supporters’ rage last season when the team exploded and fell apart under Ralf Rangnick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. They heaped the blame on him due to his numerous error-prone performances that caused the team to concede a multitude of goals.
Maguire turned to become a laughingstock and the face of United’s flaws. The defender’s situation was made worse by the fact that club executives paid a defender a world record sum for him, yet he was prone to errors that would cost his team dearly. The former Leicester City player eventually saw hundreds of failed videos and compilations of his mistakes shared on social media as the climax of all this mockery. Things became worse when Maguire’s own admirers, began to criticize him.
The situation deteriorated to the point where the athlete and his family received a bomb threat, which prompted the authorities to search his home extensively. Maguire has broken his silence on such widespread criticism directed towards him and his family. As reported by The Times, he said:
“I still didn’t really switch on to what was being said about me, I try my best to ignore what goes off in the outside world. No one likes being spoken about in a bad way. It’s just a human trait we all have.”
“The bottom line is, when you’re in the spotlight, that’s going to happen. And I totally understand that. But when my family reads it, or things go to an extreme, then it’s probably tougher for them to understand.”
“Increasingly, fans prefer short, consumable, high-octane hits of football moments, rather than the time-consuming reality of a whole match. Which is a shame for the game, really.”
He also cited internet football fandom, where the importance of opinion has grown more than ever. According to Maguire, since most football fans don’t observe the game with their own eyes, they frequently succumb to mob mentality.
In his interview, he stated how some short viewpoints or news stories are having an impact on these fans. Simply put, most supporters cannot distinguish between a player’s failures and those of the team.
Maguire hinted that he might have succumbed to this form of criticism and been a target of an internet sentiment that portrays him as a poor player.
