Mason Greenwood’s image rights company liquidated after Man Utd loan exit
Mason Greenwood’s image rights company appointed a voluntary liquidator two days before Sir Jim Ratcliffe stopped short of ruling out the striker’s return to Manchester United.
Greenwood moved to wind up TSM Sports Ltd less than a year-and-a-half after he was charged with attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour, and assault causing actual bodily harm.
Those charges were later dropped with the Crown Prosecution Service citing “a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light”.
An internal investigation by United also concluded Greenwood did not commit the offences, but the club said he admitted he had “made mistakes” and had agreed to leave Old Trafford, which he did via a loan move to Getafe.
Nike confirmed in November it no longer had a sponsorship deal with Greenwood, with United having already removed all merchandise bearing his name or image from their shop and online store after his initial arrest.
Liquidating TSM, which was set up shortly after Greenwood made his United debut aged 17, could possibly be viewed as a sign the striker’s team fear he does not currently have a brand value to sponsors.
The move came less than a year after accounts showed the company’s cash in the bank had risen to £1.03 million. The most recent filings, in December, showed that figure had fallen to £401,000 as recently as September 30 and that total assets were £530,000.
A statutory declaration of solvency dated eight days after the February 19 appointment of a liquidator declared the company had an estimated surplus of £508,862.50.
Six days before that, Ratcliffe told reporters he needed to make “a fair decision” on Greenwood’s United future, reflecting their values.
The situation was put to Ratcliffe as he spoke to journalists for the first time since securing his 28 per cent stake in the club.
When asked if a fresh decision would be made on Greenwood, Ratcliffe said: “Yes, absolutely. We will make a decision and we will justify it.”
Richard Arnold, then chief executive, was previously criticised over his handling of the internal investigation into Greenwood, which led to some calls for his resignation after United backtracked on plans to bring the striker back into the first-team squad.
The expectation was Greenwood would not play for United again, but Ratcliffe stopped short of saying that.
“He’s a Manchester United footballer so we are in charge of football,” Ratcliffe said. “So the answer is yes, we have to make decisions. It’s quite clear we have to make a decision. There is no decision that’s been made.
“He’s on loan obviously but he’s not the only one. We’ve got one or two footballers that we have to deal with and we have to make a decision on, so we will do that.
“The process will be: understand the facts, not the hype, and then try and come to a fair decision on the basis of values which is basically is he a good guy or not, and answer could he play sincerely for Manchester United, would we be comfortable with it and would the fans be comfortable with it.”
