Manchester United attacker Alejandro Garnacho is one of the gems of the squad and someone whom incoming manager Ruben Amorim should undoubtedly want to build his team around.
In Garnacho, Amad Diallo, and Rasmus Hojlund, there is a great deal of hope in the future at Old Trafford, and despite the fact that Man United are in the bottom half of the Premier League table after more disastrous coaching from Erik ten Hag, the witch is gone.
Moreover, Garnacho and friends have given Manchester United fans plenty to be happy about this season, with the 20-year-old already providing seven goals and four assists in all competitions in just his second season as a regular starter at the club.
Yet Garnacho hasn’t felt welcomed by all sections of the fanbase, and while captain Bruno Fernandes did well to explain to his fellow playmaker that he has more people behind him than those who are not, you can’t help but feel for the young man after he refused to celebrate in front of the fans last weekend.
After scoring a ridiculous trademark curler off the bench as part of a 3-0, get-right drubbing of Leicester City, Garnacho did not celebrate, explained by Fernandes, because he did not feel like fans were backing him.
What’s wild about the reactions to Garnacho’s decision is how quickly fans have basically proven his point by joining in the piling against him. It’s hilarious how little self-awareness many people have in the sport these days, and, unfortunately (though, perhaps, unsurprisingly), we have to put Manchester United legend Roy Keane on the list.
The former captain absolutely tore into Garnacho on the Stick to Football podcast for not celebrating with the fans, guilting him for not giving the fans their money’s worth despite, you know, scoring a wondergoal:
“If you can’t celebrate a goal, there is something drastically wrong with this game. Whatever has gone on off the pitch for any player – it could be family stuff – you work all week, you’re playing the game to score a goal. When you score a goal, there should be nothing else on your mind. You’ve got fans who have travelled, paid fortunes to get there, and he’s on about people having a go at him.”
“People make sacrifices to travel to watch Manchester United, he scores a brilliant goal, they are having a tough time – and if a younger player can’t enjoy scoring a goal for Man United, then get a job somewhere else.”
There is so much that is hilariously wrong with this quote. Look at the first line, “If you can’t celebrate a goal, there is something drastically wrong with this game.”
It’s like the reverse of the “had us in the first half” meme, in that, the quote begins looking like it should be an impassioned defense of Garnacho, who should be able to freely celebrate his goals without feeling like the fanbase is judging him or not on his side.
And yet, Keane’s response to Garnacho not feeling embraced by the fans is, a key member of the supporters himself as a club legend, to double down and completely rip the guy apart, again, only proving Garnacho’s original feelings valid.
The other great irony here is that Keane spoke about anything other than football on a podcast titled “Stick to Football”, which further proves that some people have no self-awareness.
Garnacho has been one of Manchester United’s only bright spots this season, and he is their most important piece of the future. He can do whatever he’d like after scoring goals, because if, God forbid, he didn’t score these goals, people would be having a go at him anyway.
Either a section of Manchester United fans need to stop being entitled goofs who hate their own players or the very idea of progress at the club, or they can wallow in continued mediocrity as young stars like Garnacho realize that they will be more successful and treated better elsewhere.
Thank you, Roy Keane, for proving that legendary footballers can indeed function as voices of the fans, in that they are also just as prone to inane buffoonery as the half-naked guy dousing himself in beer and yelling obscenities in Row Z.
