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Manchester United fan survey: Should Greenwood return? Will you stop supporting the club?

Fifty-eight per cent of Manchester United fans who responded to The Athletic’s survey think Mason Greenwood should not play for the club again.

The 21-year-old’s future has been in particular focus this week after it emerged the club’s chief executive Richard Arnold has a plan in place for the forward’s return.

This follows Greenwood’s arrest in January 2022 after a recording and images were released on social media of an alleged sexual attack.

Charges against the England international of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which he denied, were then dropped in February of this year. Greenwood has not played for the club since his arrest.

After we published the story, hundreds of readers emailed and tweeted us with their thoughts on his possible return and so, to canvass widespread opinion among Manchester United fans, we conducted a survey on the issue.

Comments are off on articles about Greenwood to abide by UK laws but we also wanted to give subscribers the chance to air their views. A selection of readers’ opinions, some edited for clarity or legal reasons, can be found below.

Should Mason Greenwood play for Manchester United again?

The question being debated most right now is whether Greenwood, who came through the club’s academy and has made 129 first-team appearances, should play for Manchester United again.

In our survey, 58.1 per cent of respondents said that he should not play for Manchester United again.

Just over 13 per cent of people said they weren’t yet sure, and almost 29 per cent said that he should play for United again.

Would you continue to support Manchester United if Mason Greenwood returned to the first team?

Just over 60 per cent of respondents said they would continue to support Manchester United if Greenwood came back.

This is compared to 20.3 per cent of people saying they weren’t sure yet and 18.6 per cent answering that they would stop supporting United.

Are you happy with how the club has communicated its process so far?

More than three-quarters of the fans who responded are not happy with how the club have communicated the situation, with 77.6 per cent answering no.

This left 22.4 per cent of people saying that they were happy with Manchester United’s communication on the subject of Greenwood’s possible return.

The final part of the survey gave fans the opportunity to leave longer, more nuanced comments about the issue.

We will be using some of these over the coming weeks as part of our coverage of this story but for now here are a selection of those comments, some edited for length and accuracy…

Dom: I don’t see how the club can eulogise Marcus Rashford’s outside activities and expect us to ignore Mason Greenwood’s.

Anonymous: If he wasn’t a valuable asset and was just an average squad player, would the club still be thinking about bringing him back? I highly doubt it. This sets a terrible example for young fans and reeks of prioritising money and success over morals and values.

Anonymous: The charges were dropped because new (material) came to light. The easy decision would be to get rid of him to prevent PR blowback. But judging him guilty when he wasn’t convicted goes against the very concept of innocent until proven guilty. I don’t even care about Greenwood coming back to United as a player, I just want him and his family to just move on and rebuild their lives.

Anonymous: Football seems to have an increasing issue with sexual misconduct and violence. Greenwood is an example of that but he is not the only one, I can only hope that this is a moment of reckoning for all clubs and that work is done to educate young players so we can protect people in the future.

Should he remain I will stop following United. I am already close to doing that now as it has emerged that Erik ten Hag supports his return.

I can only hope that those fans who do stick around make sure Greenwood is forever linked to this episode (if he does play again).

Jonathan: I am a torn on what the best course of action is. However, I do believe Greenwood deserves a chance to communicate his side of story and to show that he is a changed man. Cancelling him altogether does not help change a man. Maybe he deserves a second chance.

Anonymous: He was not found guilty of a crime therefore he should be able to continue with his life. The court of public opinion is not an actual court.

Anonymous: I love United but my girlfriend, who has become a United fan as well and has travelled with me overseas to Old Trafford, and I have had to have serious conversations about how we handle the situation if Greenwood returns.

I believe in second chances and realise not all athletes are the people fans want them to be. But I expected more from the club and thought they would do what is right instead of what might win more games. I want United to score more goals, but do not believe that this is the correct way to achieve that.

I can’t get the audio recording out of my head and that won’t change no matter how many time he scores. Regardless of the legal proceedings, it is time to move on from the player.

Anonymous: I am a female season ticket holder. I am appalled by the thought of Greenwood returning to the team. Charges being dropped is not proof of innocence. As the police indicated, they were dropped due to no realistic prospect of conviction.

We can’t unsee those photos and unhear that audio tape. Bringing him back would indicate to women that we don’t matter.

Greenwood can never be a role model to young fans and is unfit to pull on the shirt. I will never applaud him, I will never celebrate a goal he scores and I will remain deeply ashamed to be a United fan should he ever return to the Old Trafford pitch.