MY ACCOUNT
Harry Maguire says he will continue to take criticism on the chin, but the Manchester United captain notes a line was crossed when he received a bomb threat in April.
Cheshire Police carried out a search of the England defender’s home, where he lives with his fiancee and two young children after he was reportedly threatened in an email.
Maguire said: “I’m big enough to accept people getting on my back and saying I can improve.
“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 an older age, they could see things and go to school and people are speaking about it. That is when it affects you a little bit more.”
Maguire was left out of the United team in the aftermath of the incident, having been singled out for criticism during another disappointing campaign for the Red Devils, but the centre-back is ready to put that behind him in a new era under Erik ten Hag.
“Yes, it’s been a tough season – no hiding away from that,” he said.
“I’m my biggest critic. Although there are a lot of critics out there, I’m actually still my biggest.
“But every day I’m trying to improve. Obviously, this season has been a challenging part of my career. But during a career of 10 or 15 years, if you want to play at the top, you’re going to have ups and downs.”
As Maguire prepares for England’s Nations League showdown with Hungary on Saturday, the 29-year-old is not dwelling on being booed by a small section of fans during the team’s 3-0 win over Ivory Coast in a friendly in March.
“I am not going to let the minority – I don’t know how many it was, 10-20 people – doing that in the Ivory Coast game to affect my relationship with the England fans, no.” he said.
