English Football News – Team England’s official sponsor “Nationwide” contract renewal to be hindered, Sir Alex Ferguson denies Rooney’s injury rumours
The official sponsor of the England national team, “Nationwide”, is set to end its sponsorship contract with the FA. Their contract was set to be renewed for another four years but is expected that the talks for a renewal would be stalled.
The FA were confident that England would perform well at the World Cup, and expected to increase the sponsorship price after the World Cup. England however failed miserably, and returned home after a 4-1 thrashing from the Germans in the Round of 16.
Nationwide held a meeting and its 15 million members uttered their displeasure over the sponsorship. The members were unhappy with the sheer amount that was being pumped for the sponsorship. It is now evident that Nationwide will most probably pull the plug on the sponsorship, ending their 11 year alliance with the FA.
When the news will become official, FA will have to find a new sponsor sooner than later, in time for the friendly against Hungary on 11 August. The FA is expected to lose an expected amount of money although independent contractors, ITV, BSkyB and ESPN have reported to contact the FA. FA will now be under pressure to find a replacement soon, and with perhaps the same amount that was expected.
In other news, Sir Alex Ferguson has talked down Rooney’s injury rumours and claimed that the English striker is fully fit. Rooney had the worst World Cup imaginable, failing to score even once in four games. He had a remarkable season for his club, Manchester United, where he bagged 34 goals in all competition and enjoyed his most successful season as a player. He however was one of the many stars who failed to shine for their national sides, and it was assumed that lack of fitness was the reason behind his failure. He was injured through most of the latter half of the season, and scored his last goal against Liverpool on 21st March. He may have carried that poor fitness into South Africa, where he never looked like the quality player he is. He was mostly seen in the midfield, trying to win a ball from the opposition. He came close to scoring only once, when he failed to convert a one on one opportunity against Slovenia and hit the post.
However, his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Rooney is a 100% and it was not due to lack of fitness that he failed. Rooney is currently enjoying a holiday in Barbados and is expected to return fully fit and refreshed. Manchester United play the new promoted Newcastle in the opening match of the season. Rooney has been openly criticized by fans, owing to his inability to perform at the World Cup, and was seen as being frustrated on the pitch. Many blame Fabio Capello’s tactics of playing 4-4-2 with Rooney playing behind Heskey or Defoe. Rooney did extremely well when he was played as a sole striker in United, with midfielders feeding the ball to the striker which he finished with quality. His perfect runs, speed and lethal finishing earned him the Premier League player of the year, PFA player of the year and Critics player of the year awards, and was the mainstay in England being the top favourites of the tournament. He was rated as the top player in the player category, behind Ronaldo and Messi, and was expected to lead his country to glory. He, along with others, failed miserably. This has been the case with almost all the top players. Messi played 5 matches without a single goal, followed by Ronaldo, who managed to score just once. Others stars like Kaka and Torres have also failed to score, with Kaka’s team already eliminated.
Sir Alex Ferguson will be hoping to pull the real Wayne Rooney out in time for the next season, as without Rooney, United have failed to win many matches. Motivating Rooney after he and his team failed to perform will be the toughest and most important job Ferguson would have to face.
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