Marcus Rashford: Premier League players wanted to ensure ‘money was going to the right places’
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford admitted it was lengthy process to organise the launch of the #PlayersTogether initiative but that Premier League stars wanted to ensure “the money was going to to the right places”.
The charitable fund was launched yesterday evening after a series of conference calls between Premier League captains and senior players and will partner with NHS Charities Together to raise money for those battling the pandemic.
Players had been urged to accept pay cuts by the Premier League and Health Secretary Matt Hancock. However, many were understood to be wary that the money saved could potentially benefit club owners as opposed to those affected by the crisis.
Rashford was one of dozens of players to join the collective initiative to help generate funds for the National Health Service and distribute them “where they are needed most”.
“For us we want to help in the best way possible, getting the money to the right places is a massive thing,” Rashford told BT Sport. “It took a lot of time, a lot of conversations between the players. We came to a decision that this was best way to do it, the club have supported that so everyone’s happy.
“There’s been plenty of occasions, for me personally, when you’ve tried to help but you’ve not helped in the best way possible and you can get backlash for that. We wanted to take our time with the decision, and we did that and thankfully we’ve done the right thing.
“It’s been tough honestly. From the beginning we always wanted to help, but getting it to this stage has been difficult. Harry Maguire has played a massive part in relaying the information, letting us have our say and reporting it back to the authorities.
“That’s the best way to do it. In terms of self-satisfaction and doing a good thing to help the cause it’s the best thing to do. But it wasn’t easy.’
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