What Did The FA Know About Mason Greenwood?

Allegations of rape and abuse raise questions about previous moves.

Mason Greenwood has been arrested by Greater Manchester Police and stands accused of raping and abusing his girlfriend.

She’s shared pics and an audio recording that are simply disturbing and atrocious.

Man U have suspended the 20-year-old indefinitely from matches, training, everything. Teammates are even ditching him on social media.

This brings into question what the FA will now do.

It’s kind of a Ray Rice moment for all you NFL fans.

When video came out of him in 2014 beating his fiancée in an Atlantic City elevator – he was banned for 2 games, and indefinitely suspended by the team. He has never played a game since, and no team ever knowingly made a move to put him on their roster.

After further public outcry, the NFL commissioner came up with new rules governing domestic abuse.

Will the FA do the same now? And what more will we learn?

Gareth Southgate has avoided picking Mason Greenwood for the England squad since a disciplinary incident in Iceland in September 2020, also involving Phil Foden.

The pair broke coronavirus lockdown rules by inviting two girls to their hotel room yet, while Foden was brought back on, Greenwood has never been selected again.

He’s clearly one of the brightest young talents in the country, so something had to have been known. The question is how much, and when.

A Sky Sports report in November said Southgate had reached an “agreement” to not put Greenwood in the squad:

"I think we had a discussion before the camp in September and we came to an agreement.

“John McDermott [Football Association technical director] and myself went to United and had a good chat with Mason and his family and we agreed we would park this until next year basically. We would leave the autumn games.”

It wasn’t only England – Greenwood has played sporadically for Man U since bursting on to the scene.

Much of that could have been explained by his age. A young player needing more time to develop while getting quality minutes here and there. But with these allegations now in the public eye – you have to wonder if Man U’s management had any inkling of what was really going on.

Greenwood was also warned about his discipline in October of 2020.

With police now investigating and Greenwood arrested, it appears we may soon find out how much United and England knew about their player’s behavior and what they did to address it.

If you’ve been a victim of abuse, contact the national domestic violence hotline.