 |
| Wayne Rooney apology worth £250,00 a week |
Apart, too, from the United fans that were camping outside his house issuing threats should he join United’s fierce rivals. At one point a group of 30 people turned up at his house, brandishing a banner that read: "If you join City you're dead."
If City came in with an offer of around £500,000 a week or near that, he would have gone, pure and simple. Rooney has never been one for loyalty. After all, look what he did to Everton, the club that took him in as a young boy and nurtured his talent throughout the youth system.
As soon as United came knocking he was gone.
Manchester United offered Rooney the club’s biggest deal ever in its history to retain his services. Signing a five-year contract worth a eye-watering £250,000 a week. This was right after the forward spat his dummy out of his pram, demanding a move and citing that United’s ambitions didn’t match his own.
Club Manager Alex Ferguson was interviewed where he looked like a boy who had just lost his puppy, saying Rooney’s change of heart came out of the blue and that he couldn’t understand it.
The power of player pressure from agents is rife in football in order to get the right deal for their clients, so they say. But really it’s a bigger cut that they are after and what a surprise that Paul Stretford is Rooney’s agent. He is no stranger to controversy when it comes to club/player relations.
The length of time it has taken for him to say sorry has not helped, with Ferguson publicly stating on 22 October that an apology was forthcoming. A statement was issued on Thursday, with Rooney saying, "I feel like I have apologised to the fans, but everyone keeps saying that I haven't and, if that is the case, then I apologise for my side of things.
"I have made my point clear since I signed my contract that I am committed to this club for the long term and I want to be successful with this club. I spoke with the manager and [the chief executive] David Gill and they reassured me the club was moving forward and, from that point, it took only two or three hours to negotiate my contract and sign it."
How much that contract ties Rooney in to United is anyone’s guess. It would be no surprise if Shrek’s younger, sulkier brother was to up sticks and leave the minute it didn’t suit him.
What remains a fact though is that Rooney has badly misjudged several things. First, he misjudged the nation – England is no longer in the mood to celebrate the huge salaries of footballers and his shenanigans just looked like money grabbing to the majority.
Secondly, he misjudged the mood of his fans. Having seen their once hero in a new light, it will take a long time for them to forgive and forget his antics. Rooney may just find that dropping loyalties can work both ways.
