Nick from the excellent Man United Youth website turned his focus to first team matters, and Wayne Rooney’s statement confirming he wants to leave Manchester United. Read on for his blunt opinion of our fallen hero’s poorly chosen words.
So Wayne Rooney’s had his say (or has put his name to what Paul Stretford has had to say…). He wants out of Manchester United because he hasn’t been given the required assurances about the club’s ability to attract big-name players in the future. Consider me unconvinced.
Don’t get me wrong – Rooney obviously has something of a point regarding the future of the squad. Replacing Giggs, Scholes, van der Sar, Hargreaves and perhaps even Ferdinand (and arguably Ronaldo/Tevez) is a serious concern moving forward, especially with the obvious financial constraints the club is operating under thanks to the disastrous ownership of the Glazer family. I can understand some frustration on that score, and many of us share the same concerns. In other circumstances Rooney would perhaps be applauded for speaking out and bringing the club’s financial plight into clear focus (and if there’s anything good that’s come of all this, it’s that), but it all just seems a little too convenient right now. There was nothing else he could have said in today’s statement (alas, he was hardly just going to admit that he fancied the extra £100k a week), so regardless of how much of a point he has, it’s hard to find any real sincerity in his words.
It’s even harder still when you remember Rooney’s complaints originated in August. Three months previously United had finished second in the Premier League by a point. A month before that we’d exited the Champions League to the eventual runners-up on away goals and in fairly unfortunate fashion. While the squad wasn’t strengthened with big names in the summer, the same could arguably be said of all of our domestic rivals, with the obvious exception and anomaly that is Manchester City. In Rooney’s statement, he lavishes praise on Sir Alex Ferguson and proclaims him to be ‘a genius’.
Taking all that into consideration, it’s hard to have much sympathy with Rooney’s position – is one season without the league title too much for you to bear Wayne? If Sir Alex is – in your own words – ‘a genius’, why are you bailing out without even giving him a chance to show how competitive this group of players can be, or how he can bring on young players like Hernández, just as he did with you six years ago? It’s not like we’re talking about Fernando Torres or Cesc Fabregas here, starved of league titles and trophies for a number of years. It’s not like you haven’t won medals galore over the past few years. You’re 24, you can’t give us at least another year after everything the manager and the club have done for you (as you yourself acknowledge)?
You have to laugh at Rooney’s declaration that he has ‘complete respect for Manchester United’. Effectively dismissing his teammates as not good enough in public, playing like an absolute drain once his heart was set on a move, publicly rebutting the manager’s attempts (despite everything) to defend that woeful run of form, releasing this statement two hours before the team play a Champions League game… respect eh, bloody hell! If, as seems increasingly likely, Rooney already has his sights set on a move across Manchester, any declaration of respect for MUFC is disingenuous to say the least. Loathsome might be more accurate.
It remains to be seen how this all pans out over the coming weeks and months, but it now seems likely that Wayne Rooney has played his last game for Manchester United. He could have been a legend at one of the most illustrious clubs in world football, talked about alongside some of the greatest ever to play the game – a big fish in the biggest of ponds. Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time goalscoring record would surely have fallen. Ryan Giggs’ still-increasing appearance tally may even have come under threat. If he has spurned all that in order to move to the Council House, it’s to be hoped for his sake that an extra hundred grand in his pay-packet every week, legend status alongside Shaun Goater and Georgi Kinkladze and the prospect of the hollowest of success is worth it.
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Excellent blog. Sums up how I believe most of us feel. Before the Rooney/Stretford statement I had thought Rooney might have a change of heart, take some time to cool down and talk things through with Fergie. January is still a way off and clubs don’t tend to spend big during that transfer window.
But after this, I can’t see any way back for him. Personally I don’t think he should even get a place in our reserve side now, we should just let him rot on gardening leave.
To think I once thought he was future United captain material, how wrong I was.
I believe that Rooney has already an offer on the table. Why else would he all but sever all ties with Utd and the fans. I say sell him to city, but only for 80 million and lets see will they come up with the money. If not leave him on the side lines for a year and a half and see how good will he be when he starts playing again. Man Utd is bigger than any one player. Man Utd will continue to be the biggest football club in the world with or as it looks increasingly more likely without Wayne Rooney. Man Utd for ever.
It is also very unfair to compare a whore to wayne. At least the whores are upfront that they are doing it for the money, wayne doesn’t even have the balls to admit that.
Perfecly put. Rooney is plainly and simply a person who thinks about nothing but himself has no respect for the club that picked him up (everton) or club that made him (utd) no respect for one of the greatest managers and clubs of all time, and no respect for us fans. No class at all. Doesnt think about his wife or unborn child while having a ten minute threesome so why would he think about anyone else? Sort your self out Wayne.