FERGUSON WELCOMES ROONEY AWARD
Wayne Rooney, was duly rewarded for his remarkable season which has seen the wonder boy from Merseyside rise through the ranks and scored a remarkable 34 goals in all competitions for Manchester United claimed his second major award of a remarkable season on Friday when he was named Footballer of the Year for the first time by the Football Writers Association (FWA).
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson welcomed the latest awards for the star striker who has made the season his own, after last year’s number one striker Christiano Ronaldo joined Real Madrid this season.
He also told a news conference in Manchester that his squad will have to be on good form on Sunday against Sunderland -- and Fulham's success in reaching the Europa Cup final is probably one of the best British performances of all time.
Rooney, took 80 percent of the votes cast by members of the FWA. Last Sunday he was voted the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Player of the Year.
Ferguson was not surprised Rooney's double triumph "No, we expected that. I think it was a foregone conclusion. To my mind I thought that he was going to win the both awards and deservedly so because he's elevated himself to a tremendous level now.
His maturity and authority in his game, which we say when young players get to their mid-twenties it starts to show itself and that's what we're seeing now. He unfortunately has had a couple of injuries recently, but that's not what's decided it, it's been the whole season, which is terrific for the boy."
United have two Premier League games left in which to try to overhaul Chelsea, who are a point clear at the top of the table but face a tricky match at Liverpool.
Rooney currently recovering from a groin injury and defender Rio Ferdinand could be fit for United's trip to Sunderland on Sunday in what would be a huge boost to the club's title hopes.
"We've got to play Sunderland on good form. That's, you know, that's why it's such a great week. You know Sunderland will be doing their best and we've got to match up to that. It's not an easy game, you know, particularly with them hitting form at the moment. I think that Darren Bent's had a great season; young Fraizer Campbell's doing very well for them; Kenwyne Jones is a real handful in the air, we know that. We know what we're facing and they've got some young players coming into their team now," said Ferguson.
United's boss also praised the performances of Fulham and manager Roy Hodgson in getting through to the Europa League final, the London club's first European final.
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