Harry Maguire knows he can play better. “I analyse everything I do, I analyse the way I can improve even though I am 29-years-old and have played 40-odd games for England, lots of Premier League games on top of that as well,” the England defender says. Every day, he is trying to improve. “I’m my biggest critic. Although there are a lot of critics out there, I’m actually still my biggest,” he admits, with deliberate, disarming self-deprecation.
Maguire is fully aware of the criticism that has been aimed towards him this season. It is to be expected when Manchester United finish with their lowest points tally in 22 years and you are the captain. He accepts it, to a point. “It was a very disappointing season individually but also for me personally and collectively as a group. As captain of the team, it was somewhere we were nowhere near good enough throughout the season.”
Yet the criticism Maguire has faced has not only come from the usual sources of social media, column inches and the television punditry sofa, meaning he cannot simply turn his phone off, put the newspaper down or reach for the remote. It has occasionally come from his own supporters, at both club and international level, such as on his last England appearance in March when he was booed by the Wembley crowd in the first few minutes of the friendly win over the Ivory Coast.
Sitting down at St George’s Park, during the first international meet-up since, he speaks publicly about that experience for the first time and is keen to stress how his relationship with England supporters has always been strong. “I am not going to let the minority – I don’t know how many it was, 10 to 20 people – doing that in the Ivory Coast game affect my relationship with the England fans, no. I am not going to let that affect my relationship at all.”
Maguire is not only an England player but an England fan himself. He was pictured with friends at the European Championship in 2016 in Marseille, a year before making his debut. The supporters he was standing with would be singing his name at the World Cup in Russia, his public profile grew more than that of any other player. He became not just a household name but a household nickname: “Slabhead”.
For that affection to turn to animosity was more confusing than upsetting. “I think I was more surprised rather than taking it all in, I was a bit shocked to be honest,” Maguire says. “I look at it and think there were a lot of young lads in the team that day, a lot of young people in the stands, lots of kids watching who aspire to grow up and be an England footballer so for them to hear that … it’s sad to see.”
The irony was Maguire played well against the Ivory Coast. The jeering died a quick death. His teammates and manager commended him on how he overcame it. “I think it comes through experience. If that had happened earlier on in my career, I would’ve struggled that night,” he says. “I don’t want it to happen in the future, but it might. I’ve been through ups and downs, captain of Manchester United. I know the scrutiny, I know the pressures and it’s something that I’ve learned to deal with.”
If the booing was disappointing though, the bomb threat called on his family’s home in Cheshire last month was beyond the pale. A sweep of his property revealed no suspicious items but the threat posed a serious risk to Maguire, his fiancee Fern Hawkins and their two young children. “I totally accept criticism when we concede goals or make mistakes, I’m big enough to accept people getting on my back and saying I can improve,” he says, while adding: “There is a line where we are human beings. I do have a family.
“People ask if it affects me. My mentality is that it doesn’t affect me too much, but when it comes to bomb threats, it is more about family, my fiancee Fern. I’m just happy my kids are at an age where they don’t read things and see things on the news. If my kids were older, they could see things and go to school and people are speaking about it, that is when it affects you a little bit more.”
News of that bomb threat broke on the same day that United announced the appointment of their new permanent manager. If Erik ten Hag wanted an illustration of the challenges he will face on an almost day-to-day basis at Old Trafford, he had it. Maguire is yet to speak with his new manager as he is focussing on the forthcoming Nations League commitments with England but, for the first time in a while, the sense around United is one of optimism.
“We’ve had a really low season so for a new manager to come in, I’m sure the first day of pre-season everybody will be buzzing around, doing their best to impress and everyone coming back in shape because we have a big season ahead of us for sure,” he says. “We know we are going to improve. We’ve got to improve and we’ve got to do better because last season was nowhere near good enough. The new manager will bring in a lot of positive energy and the lads will go with that.”
As for the season just gone, Maguire can only speak frankly. “I’ve never hid away from anything, I never will. I know during a career that there’s going to be so many highs and so many lows, and I’ll always speak about things open and honestly. Like I say, it’s been a difficult season, but I’m looking forward to the future and I’m sure things will get better.”
