United Views

Sometimes it’s hard to crystallise your own thoughts on something as emotive as the strange incident with Wayne Rooney. I exchanged emails with JW on the subject and I think the exchange said more that I could have come up with in isolation…

JW:
 
Have spent much of the evening reading stuff on Guardian and BBC websites re Rooney saga. Lots of people have a very bitter taste in their mouth and I can’t say I blame them.

No matter that he’ll be pulling on a red shirt again and we’ll find ourselves cheering him on, Rooney’s general behaviour over the past couple of months has been thoroughly appalling – prostitutes, p**sing in the street, and now holding his club to ransom.

Yet Fergie held the door open to him, and now he is staying.

Fergie’s made exceptions before for the exceptionally talented – he went the extra mile to keep Cantona on board, and indulged Giggs much more than he was prepared to indulge Lee Sharpe. But I keep thinking about what you said about Fergie acting in United’s interest first and foremost.

As he said at Tuesday’s press conference, he was disappointed with Rooney’s stance on the club’s ambitions, etc. I think privately he will still be utterly appalled at Rooney’s behaviour, even if publicly he is making conciliatory noises about how big it was of Rooney to say sorry, and how young people make mistakes.

By getting Rooney to sign a new deal, Fergie (and the Glazers) have given themselves more options, and again taken back control. I think Fergie will now, privately, have Rooney’s future under review, on his terms, not Rooney’s. If Rooney pulls his socks up over the remainder of the season, he may see out his contract. If he doesn’t, United can sell him in the much more liquid and lucrative August transfer market (when he won’t be Champions League cup-tied, as he would have been in January), and know they can get a full valuation for him, as he will have four years not one left on his contract.

UV:

When the news of Rooney’s idiocy with the prostitute hit the headlines I consoled myself with the thought that it had been some time since I’d believed that sporting heroes had to be people I might like in real life. Giggs’ transgressions were very minor adolescent stuff and I like to believe that the Ryan Giggs of today is a decent bloke. If, however, a tabloid were to splash a story on the various unpleasant and depraved ways that a member of the United squad is betraying his family I might be disappointed but I wouldn’t be shocked because we can’t really know the truth about these people one way or another.

What I do know is that Giggs has never failed (in SAF’s words) to ‘respect the club’. There has never been a hint from Giggs that he believes his own value to be greater than that of the club.The same goes for Scholes, for Neville, for Solskjaer, even Beckham in his own strange way.

Frankly, what Rooney gets up to with ladies of the night is a problem for him and his family. For me, however, what he and Stretford did last week has undermined his standing more than anything he could have done, short of completing the move to City. I have little doubt that the move to Eastlands was agreed in principle and that it was only the severity of Mancunian reaction (including the disturbing presence of the MEC at his gates) that persuaded him to talk again to United. At that point it was the doubling of his salary and the promise of new recruits to the millionaire’s club that persuaded him that he “cares for the club” enough to stay there.

Presumably his desire to see such players as can deliver the crosses and trophies to sate his ambition does not extend to the prospect of a putative galactico being paid more than him?

Henry Winter wrote on Saturday about how Rooney now needs to demonstrate contrition in order to win back the fans and specifically about how he needs to put community work ahead of commercial dealings. He cites as his exemplar Rio Ferdinand:

“Rooney needs to talk to Rio Ferdinand. When people think of Ferdinand off the pitch they think of his campaigns against knife crime, his work with underprivileged children in Nigeria, as well as owning restaurants and making films. Ferdinand enjoys a respect that Rooney doesn’t.”

Maybe that really is how non-United fans think of Rio. I think of Rio in classically split ways: on the pitch, as one of Europe’s finest central defenders and, on his day, the very finest; and off the pitch, as the guy who had himself videotaped enjoying a roasting session with Kieron Dyer and Frank Lampard, who organised the orgiastic Christmas party that ended up with Johnny Evans being accused of rape, and who refused to sign a contract for 16 months after the club had paid him throughout his self-inflicted absence for failing to attend a drugs test. So actually maybe Rio is the last person Rooney should be talking to and he should talk to Gary Neville instead.

I’m glad we held on to Rooney. He’s a great player and his departure would have sent all the wrong signal to better players we want to stay at United and those we wish to attract. Right now though, in all honesty, I’d far rather that young Javier Hernandez keeps finding the back of the net (with the back of the head!) than that Wayne gets an early chance to re-build his image (rights). Of course, one goal in the derby game and I dare say my attitude will begin to shift.

JW:

Sentiments I very much share, mate.

Every club has its tossers, I suppose (he said philosophically) and we have had our down the years. Ronaldo disrespected the club by talking about wanting to move to Madrid all the time, but he never got the same stick as Rooney is now getting. I guess he wasn’t saying that he was bigger than United, just that Madrid were.

Read the second and concluding part of ‘Respect the club’ here.