Yesterday, it was there again. Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty for Manchester United and this meant defeat to Aston Villa at home.
United were six points outside the top four when the Portuguese midfielder arrived at Old Trafford in early 2020. The team has since finished third and second. He has 30 goals and 19 assists in 57 Premier League games and has won four Premier League player of the month awards. United have been awarded 23 penalties in that period and he has now scored 21 of them. Yet after one meaningful mistake (United ended up thrashing Newcastle when he last messed up), he has felt the need to apologise and somewhere in that apology was that word: responsibility.
It is a word, indeed, that follows every footballer around. A word that, funnily enough, has seemed to matter more to more people ever since they started performing on television at least two times a week while earning lots and lots of money. They are, of course, role models and that means somebody has to think of the children. Without embracing such “responsibility,” society around the game crumbles — or so it seems to be assumed.
Something is desperately wrong if we have reached a situation where footballers feel compelled to apologise for their carelessness. Fernandes has been a brilliant influence on United and if everyone in a job that in some way serves the public had made as few mistakes as he has in the last 18 months, the world would be in a much better place.
