The England striker is still keen on an Old Trafford
exit, while Gareth Bale is playing catch-up in
Madrid and Roy Hodgson faces a defining night on
Tuesday
COMMENT
By Greg Stobart
Sir Alex Ferguson used to follow the simple rule that no
player is ever bigger than the club - and Manchester
United should take their former boss' lead as the next
Wayne Rooney saga threatens to unfold.
Goal revealed on Friday that Rooney had refused to
open talks over a new United contract - his current deal
expires in 2014 - before we reported on Friday that
Arsenal have been encouraged to bid for the striker.
Rooney has been in outstanding form this season but
how much longer can he be allowed to take United for
a ride?
Ed Woodward and David Moyes made their point in the
summer by refusing to sell the 27-year-old to Chelsea
but now they must start planning for the star's
departure.
Rooney has already sought a move away from Old
Trafford twice and, by refusing to even talk about a new
deal, is backing United into a corner.
In the long term, they would be better off without him
and the increasingly disruptive influence of his agent,
Paul Stretford, a former vacuum cleaner salesman
whose relationship with United is strained, to say the
least.
Rooney is eager for a new challenge at an established
Champions League club and his ego requires that he is
afforded the status of the team's principal centre
forward, having played second fiddle to Robin van
Persie since the Dutchman's arrival in 2012.
Stretford, for his part, wants his own payday and Jose
Mourinho strongly suggested that the agent had been
in touch with Chelsea over the summer to encourage
the Londoners to bid for his client.
Rooney has scored five goals in seven appearances this
season and his outstanding form prompted United's
attempts to engage in contract talks, with 18 months
left on his £250,000-a-week (€295,000) deal, but they
should now stop indulging both Rooney and Stretford
and move on. Roy Keane, David Beckham, Cristiano
Ronaldo and many others have left United in the past
and the Premier League titles kept rolling in.
Whether it is in January or next summer, United will be
better off without Rooney and his baggage.
Ferguson was fed up of the forward's lack of
professionalism and believed that the former Everton
man only had a couple of years left at the top, in any
case.
The Scot made his fare share of big calls during 26
years in charge at Old Trafford and very few were
wrong. United should follow his example, forget about
offering Rooney a new contract and cut their losses as
soon as possible.
BALE PLAYING CATCH-UP AT MADRID
Gareth Bale took a leaf out of Luka Modric's book in the
summer by refusing to take part in Tottenham's pre-
season in order to force through a transfer to Real
Madrid.
Like the Croatia international, the 24-year-old got his
wish but the consequence is that he has been
unprepared for the season, playing just 132 minutes of
action so far for his new club and struggling with thigh
and chronic back injuries.
Modric, too, effectively went on strike to force his
move to Madrid in 2012 and, by the end of the year,
was being voted the worst signing of the year by
Spanish football fans.
The 28-year-old playmaker has subsequently settled at
the Santiago Bernabeu and become a regular starter for
the club, but the enormity of Bale's price tag means
that he may not be afforded the same patience by
supporters.
The Welshman's lack of pre-season means that he has
been playing catch-up from the minute that he pulled
on a Madrid shirt, when he was rushed into his
goalscoring debut against Villarreal in September.
Los Blancos released a statement in response to
reports in Marca about the forward's back troubles,
denying that he could require surgery, but the fact that
they are already being so defensive about the Galactico
signing highlights the fact that Bale is playing catch-up -
both in terms of his fitness and his public relations
perception.
HODGSON FACES CRUNCH QUALIFIER
The warnings to Roy Hodgson have been fired from
multiple angles in the last week or so, but most
pertinent would be the words of former England
manager Graham Taylor.
When England failed, 20 years ago, to reach World Cup
1994, Taylor was vilified, a good guy plastered across
the newspapers as a turnip, his reputation in tatters and
his life changed forever.
"If England win it's thanks to the players; if they don't
it's the manager's fault," reflected Taylor last week. "I
knew that so there was nothing for me to do but take
responsibility and resign. If he doesn't qualify, Roy will
have to handle a lot of stuff coming in his direction.
What I experienced taught me a lot about life and
human nature."
As England prepare for their must-win final World Cup
qualifier against Poland at Wembley on Tuesday,
Hodgson's own future is on the line. His job and his
reputation now rest on this one game.
It has been a long slog of a campaign, stretching from
Chisinau to Podgorica to Warsaw and it took until the
penultimate game - Friday's thumping 4-1 win over
Montenegro - for England to produce a performance of
any note and to beat a team of any quality.
Yet they are nearly over the line and will surely finish
the job if they can produce a performance of similar
cohesiveness, balance and attacking ambition in front
of 90,000 people - including the best part of 20,000
Poles - at Wembley.
For once, the English public seem to have found the
happy medium between despair and wild optimism
when it comes to the national side.
England are comfortably good enough to play at the
World Cup; they are far from good enough to win it.
The new FA chairman, Greg Dyke, has made it evident
that no-one within the governing body expect anything
better than a quarter-final exit in Brazil next summer.
But England have to be there. The consequence for
Hodgson should they fail would surely be the loss of his
job.
The manager answered his critics in style with his bold,
ambitious team selection against Montenegro and
Andros Townsend represents the effervescent, fearless
breed of attacking players coming through at
international level.
If the 66-year-old can get it right again, he can forget
about the Graham Taylor treatment, banish the pre-
match talk about 1973 and 1993, and re-align
expectations of the England team.
EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE SET TO FALL FLAT
The buzz at the Leaders in Football conference last
week was all about a potential European super league
after Galatasaray chairman Unal Aysal claimed that the
concept will become a reality in the next five years.
Really, though, this is just a pipe dream. The European
Club Association will renew its understanding with Uefa
after the current memorandum expires in 2018 - and
why not?
While clubs like Galatasaray are upset over the
distribution of television money, it is 15 years too late
for a super league. The Champions League is too big
and too successful to now mess with the system.
What the clubs - and Uefa - should really be looking at
is improving the attraction and quality of the Europa
League, possibly through redistribution of Champions
League cash.
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