A former Manchester United youngster who failed to make the grade at Old Trafford was once hit with a fine after a brutal insult he dished out to a team-mate
07:00, 28 Mar 2026Updated 07:29, 28 Mar 2026
Nick Powell was once fined for a crude taunt
A Manchester United flop was once hit with a penalty for a ‘your mum’ gag aimed at one of his team-mates.
Nick Powell, who celebrated his 32nd birthday earlier this week, was earmarked for stardom at Old Trafford following a £6million transfer as a youngster in 2012. The ex-Crewe Alexandra talent even found the net on his bow in a commanding home victory over Wigan Athletic.
Nevertheless, Powell would subsequently make merely two additional Premier League outings before joining the Latics four years down the line. The forward failed to make his mark during loan stints at Leicester and Hull City.
Nick Powell playing for Wigan(Image: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
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Powell succeeded in reviving his career at Wigan and spent four campaigns in the Championship with Stoke City, before moving on to Stockport County for two campaigns in League Two and League One, before a switch to League One’s Bradford City.
Yet, it later came to light that the now-32 year old managed to land himself in hot water during his time at the DW Stadium. A photograph of the Latics penalty board from 2019 became a sensation on social media.
Powell featured among numerous culprits listed, as players faced punishment for various transgressions including ‘no GPS’ or neglecting to tidy up, reports the Mirror. However, the former United player caught attention for a peculiar instance of ‘disrespect’.
Powell was slapped with a £20 penalty after being overheard declaring ‘I tooled your mum’, though it remains unclear who the barb was aimed at.
The image went viral on social media at the time(Image: Twitter@https://twitter.com/mfemigs/status/1545092110772215808)
The former England U21s star has said his disappointing spell with the Red Devils left him disillusioned with the game.
He previously told the Manchester Evening News: “I didn’t feel like I was part of anything at the time. I was in limbo between reserves and first-team.
“I remember people trying to find me because I was late to a reserve game, reserve training, first-team training – purely because I didn’t know where I was supposed to be.
“I’d get onto one training pitch and I’d be told, ‘no, you’re over there this week’ and I’d be 10, 15 minutes late and I’d be getting fined. But nobody was talking to me, I didn’t know where I was supposed to be.”