Lisandro Martínez has been involved in a war of words with Man United icons Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes(Image: Getty Images)
Manchester United players are reportedly concerned about the conduct of ex-players in the media amid the ongoing spat between Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Lisandro Martinez. According to the Daily Mail, Butt has now signed up to the new social media platform Peek, where high‑profile sports figures will share their views.
It’s said that United icon Scholes also in talks with the company amid a growing concern within the club’s ranks that the situation is ‘becoming personal’ after comments from fellow Old Trafford icon Roy Keane regarding Michael Carrick’s wife.
This comes after Butt joked that Manchester City striker Erling Haaland ‘would pick Martinez up and run with him,’ before comparing it to ‘a dad after school running down the road with a little toddler.’
Scholes then chimed in with a laugh, adding that Haaland ‘would score and then throw him in the net.’ Martinez and his teammates delivered their answer on the pitch in the Manchester derby, shutting down Haaland so completely that Pep Guardiola took him off with ten minutes of normal time still remaining.
Martinez, who was asked about Scholes’ comment afterwards, said: “Honestly, he can say whatever he wants. I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to wherever he wants – to my house, wherever. I don’t care. And I think for me, I respect the relations when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on the television, but when you see [them] here face to face, no-one says anything in your face. So for me, I don’t really care what they say. I just put the focus on my performance, the performance of the team and I give everything to this club until my last day.”
Following the Manchester derby win, Scholes wrote on Instagram: “Someone’s had a good game, was really happy for you…” In response to the invite to Martinez’s house, he added: “Tea, no sugar pls.” Meanwhile, Butt not only told the defender to “f*****g grow up” but also warned him he shouldn’t be at a club like United if he is going to react the way he did.
FOLLOW OUR MAN UNITED FB PAGE! Latest news and analysis via the MEN’s Manchester United Facebook page
Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Butt addressed the situation again, saying: “First and foremost, he was brilliant on the day and fair play to him. He’s gone out and gone man to man against probably the best centre-forward in the world, possibly.
“Him and Harry, to be fair, were brilliant, so we could come on here now and say brilliant well done. But that is what is expected from a Man United player on derby day. For me, we are a podcast, and we talk like three lads in a pub having a conversation; we are not on Sky doing commentary on a game.
“It is tongue in cheek, and it is quite obvious that Haaland is not going to pick him up and run with him. It is f*****g obvious. It is a figure of speech. I just think when someone gets so upset about someone in the media or on a podcast saying something about them, to come out and basically say they can say what they want, come to my house and all that, f*****g grow up.
“It is literally if you are going to get so emotional about someone saying something and come out and react like that, you shouldn’t be a big football club because I am telling you now he is going to get that for the rest of his career at Manchester United. You get your ups and downs and I got so much crap when I played at Man United and Newcastle, but then next week you get your plaudits and you get clapped at. There is no personal issue with us and Martinez. None.”
Butt continued: “He’s telling us to come knock on his house. I’m f*cking 50 years of age; I’m not going knocking on someone’s house saying, ‘Can we have a chat?’ It’s just ridiculous. And, if you’re going to get that precious, you better be sh*t hot every week.”
Meanwhile, Scholes clarified the point they were both trying to make, saying: “The point we were trying to make is that physically, they are a mismatch. Now look, possibly we could have worded it better. It doesn’t sound brilliant when you watch it back. But we’re just having a laugh about it, and if it was about you, then you’d probably be upset, but you gotta give him credit, he was brilliant on the day.”
“Look, we exchanged messages on Instagram quite some time ago.Yeah, he weren’t happy with something I said, I can’t remember what it was, and he just said that he lost all respect for me.
“I wouldn’t have said this normally, but he’s come out and said stuff, so why not? He said he lost all kinds of respect for me. When we got stick as players, you look at it and remember it. We used it as fuel, you don’t go answering back.”
Read more on Manchester Evening News
