Part-1 Special Feature: Wayne Rooney set to part ways with Sir Alex Ferguson for better or worse
19th of October, 2010 will be remembered as an important day for English football, not because a legend passed away or the English national team won the World Cup again but because one of the biggest scandals of the passing decade surfaced. In
an interview to Manchester United’s official T.V channel, Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed that his star striker and United’s talismanic forward, Wayne Rooney requested the club for a move away from Old Trafford on August the 14th, 2010.
It was a shocking revelation by the scot who has brought up Rooney as a son when he was in his late teens. Rooney made his move to Manchester United from Everton in the summer of 2004, back then Chelsea were dominating and United were playing second fiddle
to the Roman’s club but gradually things changed and United won three league titles from 2006-2009. Not only that they also won the Carling Cup twice during that period and also won the UEFA Champions League final in 2008. Add to that another Champions League
final appearance in 2009. Thus, Manchester United were the team to beat in club football.
In 2009-10 season, Rooney was Manchester United’s top scorer with 34 goals but this time, the Red Devils failed to make it far in the UEFA Champions League as they were knocked out in the quarter final stage by Bayern Munich. In the same season’s English
Premier League title race, United ended up as runners up to Chelsea. Rooney’s sudden request on the 14th of August to stall his contract negotiations with Manchester United came as a surprise to Sir Alex Ferguson. But there are many reasons as to
why the young Englishman might have taken this decision.
Firstly, Rooney has had a terrible past six months in England. He hasn't scored from open play for his club since March 2010. Secondly, his abysmal form has been compounded by the fact that in early September, the English media broke the news regarding Wayne’s
extra marital affairs with several vice girls.
This news hurt Wayne’s private life as he had just become a father in March of 2010. Not only this, in the summer at the World Cup with England, Rooney had the pressure of a whole nation’s expectation on his shoulders. Under this pressure, Wayne collapsed
and failed to perform up to the levels that were expected of him. Such turbulent period in his personal and professional life has left Rooney disillusioned; reports have thus surfaced which are now confirmed that he wants to leave the Theatre of dreams.
If this is indeed correct and if Sir Alex Ferguson’s statement to MUTV holds any water, then dark times loom ahead for both United and Rooney. Manchester United have been on a steady decline since their loss to Barcelona in the 2009 UEFA Champions League
final at Rome. After failing to secure Tevez on a permanent signature and allowing Ronaldo to join Real Madrid for 80 million pounds in the summer of 2009, United parted ways with two of their best players from the class of 2006-2008.
The most hurtful fact for the Red Devils' fans has been that their club hasn’t reinvested the fee that was gained by selling off Cristiano Ronaldo. Thus, the squad that Ferguson now possesses is hardly above average and if Rooney does leave for greener shores,
then Ferguson may as well prepare his boys to battle it out for the fourth or third place spot as the likes of City and Chelsea go from strength to strength. But, which club will Rooney opt for if he leaves United? Will he go to an Italian club or to a Spanish
one? It still remains to be seen whether such a move will actually be beneficial for Wayne.
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