Why did Gary Neville invite Marcus Rashford ‘glitzy US trip’ nonsense?

“I’m not hammering him,” said Gary Neville, before embarking on criticism of Marcus Rashford that was always going to escalate.

Ballroom glitz
“I’ve got no problem with him going away in the international break and I’ve got no problem with the clothes that he wears, he can wear whatever he wants, the only thing I would say, and I’m saying this very calmly as I don’t want a ‘Neville hammers Rashford’ to be honest with you, as I’m not hammering him,” said Gary Neville.

Oh my sweet summer child.

As we open the MailOnline football homepage, this is the headline:

Gary Neville dubs Marcus Rashford ‘unprofessional’ as he rips into Man United star’s glitzy US trip to watch basketball with pal from Belfast tequila bender – and takes aim at jet-setter Casemiro too

Has he ‘ripped into Man United star’s glitzy trip’? Nope. Did he mention the Belfast tequila bender? Did he balls. Did he even call him ‘unprofessional’? Nah.

As for ‘takes aim at jet-setter Casemiro too’…Neville actually says “this is on Casemiro more than Rashford”. But then Casemiro has not been seen sporting a ‘glitzy new set of grills’, which is something nobody should ever write in supposed football coverage.

Neville might say he didn’t want to see such headlines but he knew exactly what would happen as soon as he started even vaguely criticising Rashford. The right-wing press dislikes Rashford and his child-feeding, unashamedly-being-black-and-rich ways and will always jump at the chance to criticise him for his behaviour.

Neville did not reference that Belfast bender and clearly had no interest in who he was holidaying with in the US, but he didn’t have to; the Mail and their ilk are more than happy to connect the dots and the picture is of a man in ‘a black t-shirt, black leather trousers and a white Louis Vuitton coat’ amongst ‘many stars of the entertainment world’ when he presumably should have been holidaying in Blackpool in a sensible jacket.

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Any Portland in a storm
What’s incredibly odd about Gary Neville’s quotes on Marcus Rashford is his bizarre insistence on talking about him being in Portland when he was clearly in New York at Madison Square Garden.

“I’m not that wound up about Rashford and Casemiro going over to the United States, but what I’m asking is, if you’ve got a four-day break, Portland is a 12-hour flight and an eight-hour time difference, your jet lag is bad, and you feel a bit [rough].

“They went to Portland, and I’m asking the question based on professionalism – you’re playing badly, the team are losing, your 13th in the league, and there is a new manager coming in – would you choose that trip as a break to recharge your batteries? That’s not a recharging trip. It’s not right that.”

It’s absolutely not right, Gary. But the ‘glitzy’ basketball game Rashford attended was in New York, which is about eight hours away with five-hour time difference. Not the same place.

The confusion has seemingly arisen because some old images of Rashford training with Portland Timbers have resurfaced online. Mediawatch can find no suggestion that Rashford went to Portland last week. Until now…

‘Gary Neville has blasted Marcus Rashford’s decision to spend the first half of the international break on holiday in the United States after he was spotted at a basketball game in Portland’ – Daily Express.

Nope.

In that report, the Express even write that Neville is ‘mistaking New York with Portland’; they knew and yet just went with the line that Neville has ‘blasted’ Rashford for going to Portland.

And on Liverpool.com (because obviously this is connected with Liverpool):

Gary Neville has been forthright in criticizing Marcus Rashford for opting to take a holiday to the U.S. during the international break, having popped up courtside at a basketball game in Portland.

Rashford and teammate Casemiro spotted enjoying their time in the States, while other Manchester United teammates reported early to greet new gaffer Ruben Amorim at Carrington.

Rashford’s underwhelming tally of just four goals this season already had some fans grumbling, and sightings of him at Madison Square Garden rather than grafting on the training ground only fueled fan frustrations.

Madison Square Garden is definitely in New York, guys; Portland is literally on the other side of the country.

It looks very much like Neville got confused; if you blithely quote his confusion then that makes you ten times worse.

Enjoy yourself
This is some sneaky nonsense by the way…

Rashford and teammate Casemiro spotted enjoying their time in the States, while other Manchester United teammates reported early to greet new gaffer Ruben Amorim at Carrington.

The only Manchester United players who ‘greeted new gaffer Ruben Amorim at Carrington’ were the injured Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount and Toby Collyer.

Because they weren’t given a few days off to do what they pleased – as long as they didn’t fly to New York/Portland – like Rashford and Casemiro.

And both Rashford and Casemiro were back to be worked by Ruben Amorim in his first training session on Monday. Exactly as planned.