10 Controversies & Scandals That Rocked Man Utd

Kung-fu kicks and flying boots. Here are Man Utd's 10 biggest controversies.

Manchester United football club have been rocked by a string of controversies and scandals over the years. As one of the world's biggest and most successful clubs, it isn€™t often that they€™re not splashed over the back pages of tabloids or on television. Having won every domestic honour in the English game - as well as achieving successes abroad €“ coupled with their entertaining and attacking style of play, the Red Devils are the most supported and most talked about club in the footballing world. However, they haven€™t always kept a cleaner than white public image. For all the positive headlines for their performances on the pitch, there have been negative ones for the controversies and scandals off it, with flying boots, kung-fu kicks and a career-ending tackle earning them just as much criticism as praise. Here, What Culture! takes a look at 10 controversies and scandals that rocked Man Utd.

10. The Paul Pogba 'Tapping Up' Storm

In 2009, Manchester United were at the heart of a 'tapping up' storm when they signed Paul Pogba from Le Havre. The French club accused United of paying "very large sums" to the midfielder's parents in order to lure him to Old Trafford. Pogba, then aged 16, was at the time contracted to Le Havre but club officials claimed the player's parents refused to keep their arrangements so they could instead push through the transfer of their son to Old Trafford. United reacted furiously to the allegations, threatening to sue the French side and insisting that everything was above board and conducted within Uefa guidelines. The dispute was eventually settled by a Fifa-appointed judge who cleared the Red Devils of any wrongdoing and ruled that Le Havre could not have got an agreement for Pogba to sign a professional contract as they had claimed. Pogba would go on to play for United for three years but struggled to break into the first team and was sold to Juventus in 2012, where he has become one of Europe's best young footballers.
Contributor
Contributor

Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.