Everyone, if you love Man Utd, PLEASE watch this , heartbreaking, poignant, brilliant interview with Ravel Morrison and see if we as a community, even if on purely humanitarian grounds, can help him.
It is clear that his family background, growing up in a single-parent family, did not set him up to avoid trouble (which he acknowledges now that he is older) and take things seriously at Man Utd. He was on a scholar's wage and his mother didn't have the resources to get him to training on time (he had to ask for rides and sometimes showed up in a white van, sometimes even came on his bicycle) and he really suffered at the club because of the resulting tardiness. He admits to stealing boots from the changing room to sell off. When asked why, he said because it would give him enough money to put Chinese food on the family table and he would look like a star to his family.
Football and its management could have helped him more too. He describes how no one would talk to him from the first-team coaching staff at Utd, so never felt (ludicrously) that he ever had a chance of getting into the first team. When he went to West Ham where he was doing well and enjoying it, he says that Sam Allardyce made it a requirement that he dump his agent and sign with Allardyce's agent in order to sign a new contract with West Ham. When Ravel refused on account of loyalty, Sam refused to play him and later refused to sell him to Harry Redknapp's QPR where he had had a successful loan and sold him to Cardiff.
Seeing this interview, one's heart goes out to the kids in the ultra high-pressure, incredibly selective, performance industry that is football. Imagine the disappointment of being a young player (a child) told that they weren't good enough and had to do something else rather than the one thing they had spent their whole lives upto that point training for. Add to that the lack of support and guidance that is present even at the BEST CLUB ACADEMY. And, to top it off, the clear quid pro quo for illegal bungs and the like in the professional game. Players without a strong family background face many more obstacles and Ravel, despite his clear footballing genius, fell between the cracks.
What is there to be done? From a footballing standpoint, he is now 28 so unlikely to tear up any trees. Yet, if United is a family club as we keep saying, we should be able to take care of one of our own. Ravel has not played much football and because of his talent (he was never reliant on pace) he could easily play for another 7 years. So, couldn't we start a campaign for United to sign him (he is a free agent), loan him out to a Championship club to see if he can get some good minutes and, if that works, bring him into our setup next season? How little would that cost and how feel good a story that would be that United could partially right what seems like a deep wrong (but must happen frequently). A story that would make everyone feel better.
We are not glory hunting fans only but also a community and I would love to believe that we could get this done. Rio seems to care that he was treated badly and has the platform to amplify this potential campaign, it would be great to bring this idea to him.
