Feb 19
Ferguson well positioned to finally avenge a demon?
October 2010, Wayne Rooney does the unthinkable, he flirts with the enemy. We all know the story, we all know the outcome, many were also surprised that, for whatever reason, Sir Alex chose NOT to dish out the kind of treatment he’s become synonymous with when players cross the line.
Stam felt it, Keane felt it, Kanchelskis, Hughes and Ince felt it, so too Beckham.
Sir Alex has always been ruthless when dealing with players who get a bit too big for their boots to the detriment of the club or, more importantly, to his dressing room.
With the hype and bandwagon gathering pace on Lewandowski’s arrival at Old Trafford in the summer; has Sir Alex finally positioned himself to settle a score?
It could be argued Rooney really was irreplaceable at the time and I’m sure many will. If indeed Sir Alex was of that opinion then credit to him for having the stomach to pander to Wayne and ease him into ‘making the right decision’ and publicly apologising to his team mates and fans alike while continuing to perform at his best for the club (albeit on a now hugely inflated salary thanks to the stunt).
Ferguson needed Rooney then, but does he need him now?
His striking options alongside Rooney back then were an ageing Mickey ‘two-games a season’ Owen, a misfiring young Italian by the name of Macheda who has has since failed to reach the heights required, a brand new Mexican centre forward with potential but an entirely different game to Wayne, and a Bulgarian luxury who simply stopped ‘fitting in’ to Sir Alex’s plans (much to my and many others disdain).
Who would fill the massive void left by Rooney if Sir Alex were to lose him in 2010? How would United have coped or found a replacement in the January transfer window? Could a replacement be found at all?
Yes van Persie is entering the final seasons at the highest level BUT, his injury hit past means he’s actually not played as many games in his career as you might imagine, 281 to be precise, with 71 National caps at the age of 29. A Micheal Owen burn out scenario is not to be found here.
At age 27, Rooney has already amassed 326 club appearances and 79 International caps. Van Persie, if looked after, could have 2 to 3 more seasons at his very best with United.
With Welbeck showing signs of improvement and a similar tenacious appetite for the game as Rooney himself, it’s hard to believe he’s on any shortlist earmarked for departure, especially at just 22. With experience, hard work and twice daily shooting practice, Welbeck could forge himself a very prosperous career at United.
The Little Mexican Pea (who only arrived shortly before Rooney’s aberration) is now flourishing as the alternative solution where necessary. He appears content with that, he appears very much the way Solksjaer did, he appears comfortable dealing with that role and it certainly didn’t do Solksjaer any harm did it.
What do you think? Will Rooney be the man to make way for any new striking arrival in the summer or is there an alternative? Rooney into midfield perhaps? Do you think Ferguson does feel aggrieved by Rooney’s behaviour back in 2010 or did he truly forgive Wayne for his moment of madness? Could Hernandez, Welbeck or RvP be on their way or is it possible he’ll attempt to satisfy five of them?
Personally, I can’t see Rooney at United after Ferguson, he’ll possibly be shown the door this summer….but then I said that last year! I just don’t believe for a minute Sir Alex has it in him to allow a petulant little millionaire from Toxteth get one over him after all he did for him. One day he’ll settle the scores, I’m sure of it, it’s just a matter of time, but the question may be….who would buy him?!
Related items from Red Rants:
Tags: Manchester United Players · Opinion Piece · Transfer Rumours
The_Philosopher (408)
Redrich (225)
Opti (210)
Stephen (152)
Moscow (147)
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OK. Let me allow myself this one ;
WTF are you on man?
Who told you that a new striker is coming in? Daily Mirror?
And even if that’s the case, why should we allow Rooney -our most consistent player the laste 5-6 years along with Evra, Vidic, Carrick- leave instead of loaning out Danny.
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I understand your argument, it is a bold one and you have used the other players who crossed Fergie to highlight the possibility of Rooney leaving. I agree that it is therefore a possible scenario.
I just can’t see it though, Rio asked for more and got it and he is still here. I know Roo said he was leaving but at the moment he is still the best English forward so there’s no need to let him go.
Can see him becoming our record scorer if he stays in the next 3/4 seasons.
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ok..rooney did do a mistake back in 2010. He scored the winner against City at old trafford that season and we won the title, not to mention he has worked his ass off for united. the whole team looks up to him, the fans sing for him and while he did piss off SAF, SAF is a manager, i can guarantee you the incident is long gone from his mind. He is not a 5 year old holding a grudge, he is the greatest manager + man on earth :p. And united are not going to get another striker this summer, when is the last time united bought strikers in back to back transfer seasons. not to mention we signed Henrique as well last season. this summer SAF will probably got for a winger (Zaha) a defender (hopefully hummels) and a midfielder (isco hopefully).
I love united and i love watching rooney play. Not to mention RVP + Rooney combo is looking more and more dangerous especially with the linking between kagawa, welbeck or hernandez. No manager in his right mind would break this partnership up. So chill the hate man.
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Didn’t Rooney say that he expects to see out his career at Old Trafford in his biography? I think he admitted that it was stupidity in his part and the issue was buried.
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Rooney’s work ethic and leadership by example on the field represent the Man United’s “Will to Win” culture better than anybody. It’ll be crazy to trade him. Wellbeck is the most over rated. Works hard, no skills, aweful first touch, lacks confidence to score or shoot on net (contrast with Nani) He’s clumsy. See his scoring record and watch his awkward break away yesterday and many more brodcast and thus missed passes, Why is he ahead of Chicarito I’ll never know. Send him on loan to season up.
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People always want to knock Rooney, he made a massive mistake but we do need to move on. He has admitted that what he said was wrong and stupid and was fantastic last season. He was criticised last week for his performance against Real, but how may strikers in Europe would have been asked to play wide right or wide left? Hardly any, the real disappointment was Kagawa, who was playing in Rooney’s natural position and was awful, like he has been most of the season. he simply has struggled with the face and physicality of the league, but hopefully will adapt better next season.
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@Stephen: I’m not knocking him, I just judge Fergie to be a proper hard faced bastard who doesn’t let his players make a mug of him.
Rooney made a mug of him but he needed him too much to lose him.
The questions are: has he forgiven him or will he somehow/someday settle the score
If there IS a score to settle, has Fergie positioned himself to act this summer?
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@Ian: I think Ferguson is mature enough to burry the hatchet.
I don’t see him seeking some kind of revenge or retribution againt Rooney for something done years ago.
That would be so juvenile.
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@The_Philosopher: Grown and powerful men can be quite juvenile… how did the Horse-racing go for Fergie?
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@Ian: Fergie doesn’t forgive or forget. I see his relationship with Rooney as purely business. If he sees Rooney as surplus he will move him on. Lets not forget Ronaldo’s constant yearning for Madrid and they seem still on good terms?!
Rooney was an idiot when questioned the clubs ambition, at the time Rooney wasn’t the only one doing so. I do see believe there is friction between the two, Fergie used to talk if Rooney in a fatherly way, this is no longer the case.
It niggles me somewhat what Rooney did, but he gets too much stick from the know it all journalists and ill educated supporters. He gives 100% to the cause, he gets pulled from pillar to post, especially when Kagawa was selected abovet him, in his best position against Real. Even Welbeck seems to be the new chosen one, even with 2 goals in 29 games, which is awful. Rooney deserves a bit of respect and using his comments a couple of seasons ago is just an excuse to bash him, if we sell him, good luck in replacing him as no one would or could do what he does.
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@Stephen: 50 million and 250K/week seems like good long-term business even if he cannot be replaced in short-term. Rooney is 26/27 now hitting his peak. If we can cash in on him and strengthen midfield, I would only cry for one week
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You’re making the same mistake others are imo. You’re looking at this from a footballing perspective lol. I on the other hand see Sir Alex potentially settling a score before he leaves United which then means it’s a matter of timing. It all depends on one simple question really…..
Does Sir Alex hold a grudge enough to want revenge?
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Ian you’re stirring up controversy.
Ferguson doesn’t have an axe to grind with Rooney.
Buying Lewandowski does seem to suggest that one of the four “strikers” is gonna have to shift over.
What Ferguson needs to do is find a solution to the left wing issue. Ashley Young isn’t it. And neither is Danny Welbeck. (Gareth Bale on the other hand. . .)
Ryan Giggs is our clubs best left winger. Is it just me or is that a problem. I’m just asking.
Nani and Zaha have got the right wing covered.
Valencia needs to learn to pass and move into central midfield.He might have a future as a box-to-box player. Or try his hand at right back. As a right winger he has lost his pace and penetration. He cannot therefore be our first choice. (oh but what about that no.7 jersey he fought for and whined about?)
Look at Madrid. Angel Di Maria could run circles around Valencia. Madrid are our peers not our betters. BUt if we stick with another sub standard player in right wing how do we expect to keep up with the best in the world?
Unless Valencia has another reserve tank of energy that has yet to be tapped he needs to transition into a role that better suits him now. And he has an on-going hip issue. . .
Nani came on and tore that right wing position to pieces last night. Need I say more.
Lewandowski adds to a solid line up consisting of Rooney, RVP and Chicharito. Four goal scoring strikers cannot hurt our cause.
Welbeck is Ferguson’s pet project from the looks of things. I don’t think he would buy Lewandowski to replace him. So if he is buying Lewandowski it will be very interesting to see who moves over.
Rooney is an important and integral part of our squad and title challenge.
Selling him would be massive.
He is our club’s talisman.
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I’m not saying he is and I’m not stirring anything up. The way I see it mate is as I said to Stephen. SAF is brutal, IF he does have an axe to grind (you cannot catergorically tell me one way or another, only 1 man on Earth lnows the answer to that) then HE WILL grind it somehow, that’s the way SAF has operated for years, he’s ruthless.
If he doesn’t then Rooney may well be safe.
All I’m saying is this goes beyond football, it’s personal and if SAF wants to gain a bit of revenge then maybe with the purchase of another striker he COULD choose to wield the axe Rooneys way.
Granted there’s other possibilities, I mentioned ot originally “drop Rooney into midfield?”. This isn’t me saying he SHOULD merely me finding out who thinks it’s water under the bridge OR a ticking timebomb waiting to be ignited.
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@Ian: Did Rooney drop his douce-bag agent Paul Stretford? If not, then I can see revenge on the horizon… otherwise, Rooney is in the clear.
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Why should Rooney who has scored 34 goals twice in the past 4 seasons and one of the driving forces of this season leave instead of Mr 2 Goals Danny Welbeck? The only reason Rooney is knocked a lot is because we have a non-existent attacking midfield which means he has to drop deeper to cover the cracks. It would also be madness to break up the best strike partnership in the world.
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You’re not looking at it from the same angle as me Moscow. I’m not looking at it from a football point of view per se, it’s more personal than that.
If you can believe SAF DOES want to one day punish Wayne then maybe he’s in a better position now than he was in either of the last 2 seasons, if SAF believes that then he COULD be sacrificed. A lot of ifs and buts tbh but it’s not completely out of the question that the issue is 100% water under the bridge. IMO.
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@Ian: Rooney is only human and as such has made mistakes, with October 2010 being a BIG one. Don’t you think he deserves a second chance especially considering how he has performed for us ever since? I never feel sorry for footballers, least of all Rooney who makes £250k a WEEK but from a footballing point of view it would be crazy to let him go.
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By the way I’m sure a lot of you saw Wenger’s pre-match Champions League, and I know they aren’t even our rivals anymore but what a meltdown that was!!
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@Moscow: He is still better than Moyes. 8 years and counting…
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All we hear about is Real Madrid and Barca, but Bayern have been PHENOMENAL and likely the reason why Grognard is still AWOL on these boards. It is amazing:
38 games: 32 won, 4 drawn, 2 losses.
105 goals scored only 17 conceded.
Won last 11 games with 10 clean sheets.
We can say “It’s only Bundesliga, but Dortmund are not exactly a Sunday rec team… and they are 15 pts behind.
Anyone think Arsenal stand a chance tonight?
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@Opti: ‘… likely the reason why Grognard is still AWOL’
HAHA mate that cracked me up 
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I agree that Rooney is on the outs at United. It’s possible that SAF bears a grudge but it’s more likely that Rooney simply has not fulfilled his potential and the time has come to cut and run with some new blood.
I also agree that he has given us many a fine performance over the years, and when he’s good – he’s a world beater, but for me, his skills have slipped dramatically the last season and a half.
He has developed a very ugly first touch, and by-and-large, his passing has become over developed with him trying to make passes that seem beyond his skill set. He has also developed the bad habit of losing concentration, either for periods of a game, or, as was the case in the Swansea game, for the entirety of it.
Ferguson had tried to build a team around him. Knowing that he was not a typical forward, others would have to adapt their game to his and for quite a while he was considered worth it.
I wonder if that same level esteem is still there, and I wonder, if Ferguson has the opportunity to snag a bona fide goal scorer in the summer, that that itchy finger might hover over the trigger. And lets face it, the gun is already cocked.
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Who WOULD BUY HIM?
Any club in Europe.
He would walk into 99% of the worlds starting line ups.
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Maybe Ferguson will punish him by buying Lewandowski and shifting Rooney into midfield.
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Why do we have to sell him? Why not players who have under performed, Welbeck, Bebe, Anderson and Young who have not contributed half of what Rooney has?
Rooney is always the one people single out and simply forget what he has done for us.
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Ian, If Fergie wanted Rooney out, most likely he would have been sold by now. He is not afraid to cut his nose off the spite his face, eg Stam. He also sold Beckham really for peanuts, gave away Barthez for nothing.
He also would not want to hurt United, if he felt Rooney would be for the bennefit of the club, he wouldn’t sell him before he leaves.
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Yes but he openly admits selling Stam was a mistake. I think he learnt from that and bided his time with Rooney.
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@Stephen: The fact that he sells good players for peanuts just tells you that when your time is up OT you are out the door, … and pronto.
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I don’t think it’s beyond reason to let go of Rooney. If I’m to think of the world’s best attacking players he’s in the periphery. However, Lewandowski whilst not a pure striker, offers less of a creative input than him. He’s good creatively but not on the same level as Rooney. But he is clinical and presses hard from the front. So as an alternative Lewandoski is not the one. Replacing Rooney is a bit complicated in the type of player you’d want to bring in. Personally I’d go for more cultured attackers like Gotze or forwards of the Aguero-Suarez cloth. Rooney we have to admit, altered the way United play and has been THE constant in our attack for the last 8 or so years. In every style we’ve played he’s been around, adapting to and even reshaping our play. He’s like United’s less talented Messi. It’s difficult, though possible, to see a prolonged period of success in attack without him.
The thing I hate to admire about Rooney is his adaptability. In 2010 I really wanted to see him leave but I know he adapts well. So a business relationship is what I’ve also adopted with him. I’m not a big fan of his personality and even his uncultured and sometimes sloppy football,but he’s effective as far as United is concerned. He adapts quickly to new roles and has a certain intangible quality that motivates players around him. As far as Ferguson settling a score, I’m surprised many here find it offensive and out of the question. Ferguson is one of the most unpredictable and vindictive people in football. I’ll definitely not be mildly surprised if settles a score. It’s not beyond him. He can be ruthless and also very petty. He can be astute in his decision making or downright stupid. Anything is possible. I’ve of necessity geared up my psyche for anything as long as Ferguson is around. The fact that he’s been trying desperately to get rid of one of our best players for 3 or more years and dropped a top scorer for a Champions League final in favor of Owen or letting go of one of the most talented youngsters in the world for nothing or buying RvP, getting a bargain on Kagawa,coming up with puzzling selections and destructive tactics, then from nowhere, going to Madrid and coming out with a meaningful result. Anything’s possible
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Rooney out because of a sinus problem, SAF is worried he won’t be fit for the Madrid game
, and says that he needs a series of games to stay match fit.
OK, maybe Wayne needs a spell in the reserves to hone his match fit-ness and to hammer home the point that his status as team idol has been threatened, severely, by the stately presence of Lord Persie.
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As much as they try and as much as they tell us they’re trying, Liverpool seem like they need to try a lot harder.
Not that I care that they’re being swallowed up into a Football abyss. In fact that sinking feeling makes me giddy with thoughts of unsettled scores of times past and the warm glow of revenge.
They are our perfect foil. Not only the antithesis of what we’ve achieved in the last 20 years, but a demonic totem for Ferguson to aim his rage at.
And so while you scousers cry, pathetically, into a glass of beer that has to last until next season, we will look forward to a few months of expectation, excitment and wonder. Hope you all enjoy your off-season when the Rat, Suarez, jumps off the sinking ship.
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What about this?
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