For his latest initiative, he’s created a new football pitch for his old primary school so the next generation can follow in his footsteps.

Marcus Rashford is going back to where it first started. The Manchester United baller has made his impact and influence felt on a national scale over the past two years – with his food poverty and literacy campaigns unprecedentedly changing lives for millions of young people – but with his latest initiative, Rashford is giving something back to the school that made him.

Button Lane Primary School’s love for Rashford is evident everywhere you look. Hand-drawn portraits adorn the entrance gates, displays hang proudly in the corridors, and a new mural inspiring students to dream – with Marcus at its centre – brings colour and vibrancy to the playground on an otherwise grey autumn day.

And Button Lane’s love for Rashford goes both ways. Celebrating his 24th birthday and the start of a new multi-year partnership with Nike, MR10 is back on his old turf to unveil a brand new football pitch for the school – giving students a better chance than ever before to follow in his footsteps.

It feels like a full circle moment for an individual that’s inspired by community spirit. On the day that Wythenshawe’s favourite son came home, we spoke exclusively to ‘the people’s PM’ about his new partnership with Nike, why access to football is so important for young people, and how his vision for a better world was first sparked as a 10-year-old boy.

VERSUS: We’ve just seen you unveil a new football pitch here at your old primary school. How did the idea for this project on Button Lane come to existence?

Marcus Rashford: A lot of this was an idea I’ve always had and I’ve just been waiting for the right time to do it. We have so many different ideas and visions of what we want the future to look like, but you have to take your time and do it one step at a time. Today, it’s a great feeling to be able to give the kids this facility and hopefully it’s something they’ll always enjoy.

How important were football pitches like this to you as a kid, and what can they do for kids just like you in this part of the world?

For any kid who loves football, it means everything for you to have a nice facility to go and play on. You would never turn down the opportunity to go and play on a nice pitch. I remember when I was a kid I’d go and play football anywhere, on any surface, and there were a few places that had nice pitches – but you couldn’t always use them. Access was always a bit questionable, that’s been a problem for a while, so I wanted to create something that kids could use during school without any restrictions.

I think kids from this area that dream of becoming footballers or an athlete now have a person to use as a template. Growing up I was fortunate to be in United’s academy and that was the difference for me…I was able to be surrounded by other players that had done it, and I could watch them every single day. They give me an idea of what it took to get to the very top.

Before I went full-time, you’re just purely playing for the love of the game, but when you are in an academy you get to see up close people that were in your position and worked their way up. You follow in their footsteps and hopefully the kids at this school can now follow in mine.

Photography by Elliot Simpson for VERSUS.