Why Rooney changed his mind

So after a week headlines dominated by the drama, twists and turns of the Wayne Rooney saga, we're, err, in basically the same position as this time last week.

Another proud moment for the 24h news media!

And thus marks the end of three very dad and bizarre days in football. Meanwhile back in the real world....

Er sad days, um.

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i know what i would have done if i was ferguson. make him stay for the whole of his contract but not pick him for any games. its time we all said enough is enough, utd fans he'll be taking YOUR money.

It all boils down to financial gain for Mr.Rooney. Although that's my only explanation to this whole saga if his motives were actually about his concerns for the future of Manchester United then I believe he bottled it due to the death threats received. No backbone at all.

Money, plain and simple. It can be dressed up as you like but he has made his position clear and only the huge sums of money on offer have kept him there. Quite how the other players will feel after his damning comments is another thing entirely. Don't be surprised to see him sold soon now they have him on a long contract and no other club can wait for his contract to run down and get him on the cheap.

You give the appearance of having something of an inside track here and are quoting figures that are not quite as stratospheric as the tabloids.
Whatever, Fergie's set himself up for quite a queue at his door over the coming weeks and months, especially if the team continue having to carry Rooney as they have been. It's not just the fans he's going to have to win back over, though the quicker he starts that the better.

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Why Rooney changed his mind? I can think of 250 thousand reasons!

BBC, PLEASE stop doing this! I AM NOT A NEW MEMBER!!!!!!

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Rooney any different to the likes of Tevez or Ronaldo...?

Is he British media?

The most likely explanation is this:

1. Utd want Rooney on long-term contract so they can sell him for a huge fee if sell him they must.
2. Rooney gets a fat new contract so he either earns megabucks at Utd or is sold to where he wants to go anyway.

It's in all parties' interests, in other words........

article title: 'why rooney changed his mind' yet no answers provided

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The thing I get annoyed with is that Rooney dismissed the talents of his team mates in a petulant display that seemed to me to be a demand to have silverware as though he has a right to it. He must play his part in the team to achieve silverware, it is a team game not about the individual.

Are you telling us what happened or why Rooney changed his mind? Maybe you should change the title of the article in that respect.

Just to speculate somewhat on a clearly manipulated situation. I may stand alone in my opinion with this conspiracy, but.. would it be beyond the realms of believability that this entire saga was an agreement between SAF, David Gill, Paul Stretford and Wayne Rooney to gain the best deal for WR AND the necessary players United deserve and desire?

It is clear for all to see, including the Glazers, that Rooney is by far and away their most marketable asset, he really is the face (as ugly as it is) of Manchester United, as Gerrard is for Liverpool, Fabrigas for Arsenal, Tevez for $ity.

The Glazers would know if they were to lose WR then their "aggressive marketing strategies" may start to unravel as I personally can't see another centre piece to put in his place, should he have decided to leave.

SAF isn't daft enough to directly challenge his employers vigorously; given his 12 month rolling contract, at his age, (regardless of his previous success), about the availability of the alleged £135 million available for signings (all of which, one would envisage is credit against the club anyway). SAF as well as Malcolm et al will be more than aware that a certain "Special One" is waiting in the wings at Madrid to step in as soon as his services are required, a genius SAF may be, irreplaceable he aint..

Ergo, SAF, DG, PS & WR got their heads together, SAF et al says to Rooney et al, "Reject your next contract, tell the senior management it's because we're not making enough signings, they'll know they can't lose you therefore are more likely to listen to the Golden Goose than the replaceable boss.. We'll give you £150k per week, your agent gets a nice cut, you'll look a bit bad in the fans eyes for a while Wayne, but they're fickle and will forgive you as soon as your knocking in 30 a season again, the guys upstairs will have to agree to let me spend the money so they can keep you, they say I can spend, we get the squad and everyone's a winner baby, that's the truth".

The cycle of life if complete... Sir Alex wins, again.

Surprisingly i'm not a United fan, but I don't think I have to be to give the above as an idea...

I think SAF needs 3 relatively decent signings to achieve that exclusive next 4 year cycle, not that I can see these signings happening BUT... (and i'm sure real Utd fans will lambaste me for this..) Shay Given, Wez Sneijder and Craig Bellamy. For me these would give them;

1. Value for Money
2. Players with (all respect intended) that last little bit to prove some people wrong
3. An edge that they may be lacking slightly at the moment.

As Fabrigas is doing with Wilshere at Arsenal (i.e. bringing the best out of him and helping him learn), I think Sneijder would do the same with some of the talent at MU, as well as being a total class act. Bellamy is, in my opinion, just a goal machine who I cannot believe $ity have disregarded and Shay has at least 7 years left to give by United Goal Keepers lifelines.

Being that I don't comment too often, I hope 1, this isn't too much drivel and 2, if some of the other BBC writers can include as many facts in their Bloggs then my "theory" should be in good standing for one of their next articles... maybe.

I'm afraid nobody wins in this whole sorry debacle.

Rooney has come out looking very unprofessional and selfish either way; if it's success he wants, he's completely insulted his team mates and the entire institution (which, by the way, has just come off the back of three back-to-back premier league titles and a second-place finish by one point; any 'decline' he might have percieved was surely misconcieved, or purely fabricated - as I suspect - by Stretford), and if it's money, whilst it wouldn't be surprising, it's certainly not done him any favours in the eyes of anybody, least of all the United faithful that idolised him.

United have come out looking slightly desperate in my opinion; the fact that they have come across as so eager to keep a player when usually they snub player power speaks volumes, and potentially confirms Rooney's apparent concerns.

The media have come out looking very, very foolish. Correct in their reports they may have been, but if this whole thing was simply a ploy by Rooney and his agent to wrangle more money, the whole media, the BBC included, have made a complete drama out of a non-story. The football world is FULL of people wanting to earn more money: that's today's climate. In journalist's assertions that Rooney was 100% going to leave United, and going as far as to guess (because that's all it was) Rooney's future club, his contract and everything else, you were all made to look complete fools when - surprise surprise - Rooney and Stretford walked away from Old Trafford with a hefty pay cheque, and perhaps just as importantly, the whole world forgetting the former's private life.

24 hour media strikes again.

If ever a day in football showed the greed awash in the game yesterday had to be it. Rooney blackmailing his club to earn an extra two million a year and two multi-millionaires playing blackjack with Portsmouth football club over an amount of money that is half of Rooney's annual salary. This is such a sad day for football and somehow the game has to be regulated better. The fit and proper persons test is not working Liverpool and Man Utd were and are carrying excessive debts and clubs are being bought without the buyers investing any of their own money while drawing large salaries. Footballers are becoming too powerful for the clubs to control and are now demanding that they must invest in more and better players for their loyalty and but it is just a smoke screen to leverage an extra million to their contract while attempting to keep the fans onside. Football is sick and needs a rapid overhaul.

He's earning so much like every other PL player. then look at the despair portsmouth are in why dont all of them donate a weeks wages

Personally Sir Alex has performed a master stroke. He has got the owners to cough up more cash and got Rooney to make the case and in doing so put pressure on himself too, to up his game. Machiavelli would be proud.

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2 months to wait till WR + 5-year contract
can be offered for sale to the highest bidder.
Goodbye, Good luck.

#22 - what's so different from Portsmouth's situation to the other lower division clubs going into admin every month?

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Wayne Rooney's tips to earn more money:
1.Announce departure from a club on the basis that it 'lacks
ambition'.
2.Raise media and public hype.
3.Then take a shocking U-turn and go back since the club offers
a bigger chocolate...

And so an overrated footballer doubles his already inflated
salary.
Ever fancied a career in finance, Wayne?

No offence but Dan Roan clearly wasn't there at the time. Information like this could only be made up or come from a ManU/Rooney insider, surpringly enough then it displays exactly what ManU/Rooney would like us to think, "Rooney has a change of heart" (not financially based) and "ManU still ambitious".

I don't have the inside track but I am aware that at the start of the week it appeared Rooney wouldn't sign a new contract and was apparantly looking for about 180/200 K a week anywhere. It now appears ManU caved and finally offered him what he wanted QED.

People who continue to bang on about the need for proof of "ambition" both in the Rooney case and the Terry one before are being foolish is they are taking the word at face value. Every club has the ambition to win every game and therefore eventually the prem. and CL. What Rooney and Terry refer to is "ambition" the ability to pay the top wages at Man City and Real Madrid, ie. to them. The assurances papers always claim they have been shown is just that, their huge wage increases, or do you think ferguson went in and promised to buy a big £30 M player in the summer just to appease Rooney, yeah right. Since Terrys assuarances of Chelseas continued "ambition" all they've really done is sign Ramires and let Ballack and Deco go, the sort of transfer policy they'd been pursuing for years since the end of the first big spending days.

Looks like No 25 nails it. Ferguson won't forgive or forget and now he can sell Rooney in january, probably to Spain as he won't want him playing in the prem.

#27 - spot on.

I'm afraid as time goes on, football is turning in to an institution we can only become less and less proud of.

May I offer my heartfelt thanks to the BBC, Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney for making this such a fun-packed week.

To watch the supposed master of the mind games brought to his knees by this oaf has honestly been a joy to follow.

I think my favourite part has been viewing the desperate flip-flopping of Utd 'fans' who loved Rooney one day, despised him the next then back to square one come day three - hypocrisy unfolding before your very eyes is rarely so enjoyable.

Get ready to open your wallets a little wider, Utd supporters, Wayne wants his big cheques and his big names.

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"Wayne Rooney's remarkable decision to change his mind and stay at Manchester United hung on a phone call with co-owner Joel Glazer....
.......and it saw Rooney finally receive the assurances he required over future investment in the club's squad"

Dan Roan is either the most naive man in reporting or he is a man u fan trying to put a favourable spin on a tawdry incident that shames utd's highest profile player.

Wayne Rooney wanted more MONEY.

Full stop.

End of discussion.

A ridiculous amount of money for an overated player. His performance in the World Cup was dire. I'm surprised at Fergie, he should have called Rooneys bluff, there's no way he'd move to another club. Salaries like Rooneys just stick two fingers up at all of us who have to make cut backs, it's obscene.

This is a deal that plays to the best interests of all concerned. The extended contract means that Man Utd stand to get a lot more when they sell Rooney, which is surely inevitable. In the intervening period, Rooney gets paid a lot more.

He is bound to leave now. He can hardly play on in a squad that he has derided, even if his criticisms are valid. United cannot really afford this wage settlement, and they need the money from selling him anyway.

Wayne Rooney seems to have made two points, both of which seem accurate. First, he is underpaid - which he is, by the ludicruous standards of sums paid to lesser players.

Second, that United are in decline, simply because this great club is manacled to well over £700m of debt. This means that United simply cannot compete in the transfer market at the highest levels. Some of their best players have been sold, and many of the others are ageing.

I'm not a United fan, but I feel sorry for them. They must be incensed about what these owners have done to a great club.

I'm the RED the whole my LIFE. We have always supported him during good and bad times. Now I have to admit and demand something.
As Rooney said we're not an ambitious club. It really hurts. Da Silva brothers, Macheda, Obertan, Nani, Anderson, Fletcher, Smalling, Bebe, Chicharito, Tom Cleverly etc... They're all going to be BIG stars, some of them already have been.
Please SELL ROONEY. It's great that he has signed 5 year contract, the first mission is accomplished and we have to take the BIDS from other clubs for him, and sell him.
Please Sir Alex, just sell him. We don't Need HIM! We have got Owen,Berba,Macheda,Diouf,Welbeck, Chicharito and Bebe!!!!!!
Please SELL HIM!
We DON'T need the betrayers. We Are UNITED.
Please... hate to see him smiling in his interview for the new contract, instead of telling the truth how much now he can earn and excuse for his behave.
Hate it. Vidic is a Red, Ferdinand is a Red, Scholes, Giggsy, O'Shea, Fletcher, Nani... but NOT players like Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez and so on..
Glory Glory Man United!

33. At 10:23am on 23 Oct 2010, CoalitionOfTheWilting wrote:
May I offer my heartfelt thanks to the BBC, Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney for making this such a fun-packed week.

To watch the supposed master of the mind games brought to his knees by this oaf has honestly been a joy to follow.

I think my favourite part has been viewing the desperate flip-flopping of Utd 'fans' who loved Rooney one day, despised him the next then back to square one come day three - hypocrisy unfolding before your very eyes is rarely so enjoyable.

Get ready to open your wallets a little wider, Utd supporters, Wayne wants his big cheques and his big names.
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Couldn't have put it better!

Rooney has actually done Ferguson a huge favour here by highlighting the current financial limitations on the club. I suspect Ferguson is privately grateful. (Did he engineer it all?)

I personally think this had been planned between SAF and Rooney. After hearing SAF interview after the match the other night when he was saying this would be put to bed the next day, i was thinking to myself then, is this just a ploy to get the Glaziers to commit some money for investment into the squad?

Two days later and Rooney has done an amazing u-turn and signed a new deal, wow, didnt see that coming!! Fergie has also been promised 60m for the next transfer window alone, didnt see that coming either ??

Insightful. Does this article actually answer its headline?

Incredibly bizarre scenario. Seems that his agent has pulled the wool over his and manu's eyes to get massive cash but leaves WR high and dry with fans and team mates. Cash may be king but some things are more important. Hopefully City will win everything for a couple of years and Rooney wins nothing.

Cloughie would have locked him out of the club's premises and sold him off at January at any price, like he did to Justin Fashenu. It's called having a pair. Evidently Lord Wrigley has lost his.

You sound a tad frustrated liberalbedwetter - were you voicing similar sentiments when Gerrard received similar threats on at least one of the numerous times he was thinking of leaving your club?

If you are more concerned with the effects of the coalition's spending review I'm surprised you're posting on here

How can a player who will never reach the levels of Zidane, Messi, Ronaldo de Lima, etc... have so much media attention? Only in England is this possible

He is overrated and overpaid for what he has done. He can't produce result (can't even beat the USA) in the world cup and therefore he isn't really that good. Get rid of him quickly and find someone younger, inexperience, but more ambitious and energetic. If England want to win another world cup, they need to get more fresh ones.

I cannot recall any institution exposing itself to so much ridicule; the events unfolded like a tragicomic farce and everyone I know, other than the embarrassed United fans, has laughed themselves to the point of tears. In the opening act, the angry, wayward son contradicts his father - "I have no ankle injury!", he barks. The father speaks his innermost feelings to the world, portraying himself as the betrayed, innocent victim - his little eyes are 'glazed' with tears and the audience are aghast at the son's impiety. Next, a shocking spectacle as youths wearing balaclavas utter death threats outside Rooney Mansions. Is that an Escort parked in the drive? Is the son really so poor? The audience wavers. Then the father's majestic soliloquy that makes Hamlet look like one of the Famous Five : "There's a cow in a field, y'understand?" The audience and the protagonists did understand and the way was open for a glorious reconciliation between father and son. They go off into the park to feed the ducks together and even though the son is hobbling a little, we know the denouement will be happy because of the intervention of two wicked American uncles who undergo a moral conversion and step in to relieve the son's poverty and restore him to the fold. Wayney's silent supporter, a kindly man ( revealed by his name to be the organiser of the balaclaved youths who were only pretending to be nasty) remains in the shadows, like a true guardian angel.
Priceless, the most brilliant ( and coherently structured) farce ever played out on the British stage. Thank you so much, thank you, United.

17. At 10:03am on 23 Oct 2010, wildUtd08 wrote:
The thing I get annoyed with is that Rooney dismissed the talents of his team mates in a petulant display that seemed to me to be a demand to have silverware as though he has a right to it. He must play his part in the team to achieve silverware, it is a team game not about the individual.

--------------

Absolutely. Rooney may feel that he "carrried" the team but didn't they get more goals witohut Tevez and Ronaldo than with them? Didn't players like Valencia and Nani set Rooney up to score regularly? didn't BErbatov get carried for a period? Didn't Berbatov later dig united out against Liverpool? Isn't Rooney being carried now? After all despite his poor form Man U are still unbeaten.

its all down to the team - individuals will not always be on form or fully fit.

Please ManU fans stop trying to paint this as a victory for the brilliant SAF. Rooney stayed for becuase his wages were doubled, thats not impressive and its not an achievement.

I'd be intrested to see whether the manc fans will have the balls to treat Rooney like we treated Adebayor after he flirted about and extracted inflated wages off us, we made it clear that we no longer liked hime and hated his attitude. He was surprised that the fans who pay his wages were angry at his getting too much, showing his disconection to the reallity where it's our hard earned ticket prices and Sky subscriptions that pay his wages not a rich billionare, and we've got every right to be p*ssed if we feel short changed.

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I never really rated Rooney as an individual, he dosen't look the brightest. I tolerated him for his footballing skills. I'm no longer prepared to now however good he is. No one/thing is bigger than
1. Football. 2. MUFC. 3. hard earned cash fans put into football.
Who the hell does Rooney think he is. If I was Man U player, I'd have no respect for him. As a fan I don't. He seems to have forgotten that he plays for the biggest club with most supporters in the world. If I was ManU/England Mgr, I'd never play you again. you might earn £1m-a-month, but except money you've got no morals. Shame on you Rooney.

I noticed that good old 'Motty' when asked on 5live this week just cut through everything and said 'He will stay'. The man has more knowledge about what used to be called The Beautiful Game than any 24-hour meeja reporter or financial journalist. These people live in the real world and follow real rules, wheras John Motson knows football doesn't follow real rules.

My sympathies lie with the poor sods in the USA trailer parks that the Glaziers own who are being squeezed ever more for rent monies to keep the Glazier family (and ultimately Munes and Rooney) in the state to which they have become accustomed.

Although I don't agree with the money Rooney gets(Should be one team same wages). He his the the player that made a his views against the Glazers public and might now make them think about bringing some more quality to the United set up when needed if they are committed to bringing the club back to where the manager/fans/players ambitions and passions required to keep the club the best in the world.
p.s Good point about John Terry (Rooney not the first player to reverse his decision and he probably won't be the last.Who knows what goes on behind closed doors, stories the press once again make up and exaggerate to sell papers.

Dan Roan is either the most naive man in reporting or he is a man u fan trying to put a favourable spin on a tawdry incident that shames utd's highest profile player.

Wayne Rooney wanted more MONEY.

Full stop.

End of discussion.

This. There was never the slightest doubt what this was all about....pure and simple greed on behalf of both Rooney and his agent.

So at a time when thousands will be losing their jobs we get to watch a player hike his wages to an obscene level that even some bankers would not recognise. Hard times ahead..but not for players in the EPL it seems.

And the BBC in blog after blog indulge in this EPL soap opera circus.

Joseshiver @ 9.38 and 9.40

Dad and sad. Perhaps it should have read bad.

People here are talking money Rooney probably earns more from sponsorship deals and other things than he is paid by Man Utd, if this was a ploy then imo it would probably have led to Utd offering him less money or at least a take it or leave it final offer. If Rooney had wanted more money then he would have left or at least let it drag on to strengthen his position. A frustrated figure Rooney has looked on the pitch were he is most comfortable so we can only guess how his mind is off the pitch. Rooney still looks uncomfortable under the media spotlight and a lot of the time speaks without thinking so the frenzy this week could not have come at a worse time. Rooney imo did not put any thought into how it would be taken by Utd or Ferguson especially as there was still a lot of time on his previous contract.

Has this all been staged by more than one of the parties?

No interest in Utd, but there is something instructive in this modern morality tale in illustrating the extent to which top-flight football is now basically a branch of showbusiness. Against the backdrop of severe economic austerity, there is certainly something truly obscene about the role that money and personal acquisitiveness have played in the carnival that has unfolded before us. The essence of a morality tale is that it reminds us that we have responsibility. It invites us to pause and remember that it is our society that chooses to circulate wealth in this irrational way while our schools and hospitals have to find annual 'efficiency savings' equivalent to a month of Mr Rooney's salary. We're all in this together.

The other ethical dimension is less morality play and more farce: the skilful fashion in which Mr Rooney's media managers have misdirected public attention from the alleged Brian Rix-style escapades of his personal life (which have made him look callow and ignominious) to his apparently dignified concern for the investment plans of his football club. So a selfless Wayne Rooney emerges as a noble figure responsible for a wake-up call to the club's complacent and unpopular owners.

Whatever Mr Rooney's talents as a football player, the true artists of this episode have been his agents and spin doctors.

This contract conveniently takes Wayne to cross the Testimonial threshold - just - another moneyspinner. Why has no-one noticed this?

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Dan,

Was the deal Rooney agreed to the same as the one Gill proposed in August, as it sounds from your article that it was?

I'm still confused by it all... none of it seems to add up and the people on here citing simplistic explanations are just embarrassing themselves.

It clearly wasn't about Rooney wanting more money. I'm sure it was part of it, but if he was really so motivated by financial gain he would have moved to City. They are a team which focuses almost entirely on 'getting one over' on Manchester United and Rooney would be seen as a massive coup. Somewhere between 200-300 thousand a week probably wouldn't be a silly prediction for what he cold have earned, never mind the transfer fee.

And surely Gill / Ferguson / The Glazers have the same mind set now as in August, regarding the future of the club, investment and 'ambition'. So what has changed? Is this all down to the torrid 6 months Rooney has had and has finally come to his senses? Everyone in football knew Rooneys importance to the club BEFORE this week, so I don't understand why all this couldn't have been sorted behind closed doors in August.

Personally I thought his desire to move to City was borne out of the media-villain figure he became (largely his own fault but not entirely) over the summer and saw Eastlands as a sort of haven for mercenaries who sought protection and kindred spirits. I do think that Rooney has become somewhat 'hardened' by the events of this year and perhaps felt betrayed. Unfortunately the only people hurt by this incident are the ones who stuck by him - the club and United fans. Maybe he has realised this.

Whatever the case, he needs to prove a lot to the fans who have always stuck by him now....

Whilst football supporters continue to support "clubs" as though they are Gods, those in football will continue to take the p!!!!!!!!!!!! out of football.

Someone said after this affair has died down, a couple of goals and Rooney will be back in the fold.

That statement alone confirms why football will always survive,.

Monday night kick off's, early kick off's - you moan but still go

Replica shirts every 5 mins - you moan but still buy

Pay Tv Subscriptions - You moan but you still pay up

Obscene salaries - You condemn but by going, you subsidise

National Letdowns - You know the national team is a soiled product, the warning sign is there, and yet when the product does exactly what it says on the label, you whinge having travelled halfway around the world.

OTT Press - if the press had to report everyday on the life of Paul Scholes, they would be adding to the 500,000 who will be losing their jobs soon, there is no copy in his behaviour. You want a bit of reality back into football but you still buy into the OTT press, or watch 24hr sports news (breaking news - the grass at OT grew 0.00001mm last night due to heavy rain). You support these platforms that tell us how great our league is, what superstars we have and that only encourages even more the Agents in this world, to you the players are "Gods".

There is nothing wrong with Rooney, or anyone else in football in the current enviroment, whats wrong is supporters who have every right to support but cant see when they are being taken for a ride.

The Rooney story will be chip paper stuff in a couple of weeks when the next saga of Premiership Footballers hits the air. Torres to United ?

And who will buy into it ? You, the supporter, and therein is why football does not and will not change.

I personally don't think its all money realted, though a good proportion of it probably is. If Dan Roan's estimations are correct (and I believe Dan's more than what the Sun or Mail say) he could of easily gone to City and earn an extra 80k-90k per week.

Rooney said at the end of last season the he feels the United need a extra 2 "world class" players to challenge again. I think he has been given assurances that these players will be signed next summer. I think De Gea (Atletico Madrid GK) and Sneijder will be top of the list.

The other reason is, as it has been pointed out is the fans. The move from everton would pale in comparison to the grief he woould of got if he moved to Man City, and once it became apparant to him that the only move possible if he were to stay in England would be to Man City, then it wasn't going to happen in his eyes

This has been the most bizarre few days I've seen in football for many years.
It could have been just Man U being sick of Liverpool getting all the headlines and orchestrated a massive public relations stunt.

But Rooney's personal reputation (if he had one) has been destroyed. He is King of the Big Time Charlies.

There's a feature film in there somewhere, Shrek 4?

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Rooney's reputation may not be that good, but Dan yours is equally called into question. A couple of days ago it was all about he'll be lucky to be in the reserves and he's played his last game.

You are both in the same boat - when either of you speak it should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

Shame he is staying, as I was hoping to see the back of this saga, which I am sorry to say is full of broken promises and, like a badly scratched vinyl LP, will repeat itself time and time again. Like the Liverpool sale, all I can do is yawn and wonder whatever happened to "The Beautiful Game?"

Funny isnt it how so many people have ignored what the article actually said and chosen to present their own slant (which is more informed by what most of them want to be the case).
and misinterpreted the article in order to fit it around their own predjudices.

Its very simple, Rooney seems to have been instructed by 'his people' not even to discuss a contract with united as they can get him (and them) more money by going elsewhere and if they play it right they can blame United just as becks and Tevez people did.

This strategy unravelled because the media got their hands on it at exactly the wrong time thanks to rooney shooting his mout of about his ankle injury (even though everyone can see that theres still something wrong with his ankle as hes hurt it yet again - and in training this time)

Fergie then plays the media expertly to put pressure on Rooney and his people issue a statement about United not having ambition etc which plays right into Uniteds hands as it inflames the fans and stirs up the media even more.

Now he is under pressure from all sides, pundits queuing up to tell him hes better off where he is, managers doing the same because they're scared that if he gets away with this their best players will follow suit, the angry reaction from the fans and the news papers doing their best to sensationalise the story and undermine United.

he then injures the same ankle in training that he says is fine, so sir Alex pulls him in when he comes in for treatment and rooney just doesnt have an answer.

So, he starts wavering under the pressure, Fergie then hands him over to Gill and the owners and Rooney under all this pressure caves and United dont even have to break the bank and offer him bags of money, just the same (all be it still outragious) deal that he didnt even want to look at in August.

Rooney caves and instructs his people to make the agreement with United

So Dan gave us both the reasons and the story, because thety are one and the same, Sir Alex played the circumstances masterfully, used them to pressurise the lad and the responses of the media, the fans and the ABUs all fitted in perfectly with Sir Alexes tactics and added to the pressure (thats what happened) and is also the reason, because of all that pressure Rooney either realised his mistake or bottled depending on your perspective and backed down.

Sir Alex also won another battle in the process, he got almost public promises that he had the money he needs to buy the players he wants - I bet he has always had them privately but the management have got out of keeping the promises by saying we cant let you buy so and so this time round as the price is over inflated. After this it will be vary hard to make that argument.

Ohh and BTW, some United fans were taken in by his staements because they were saying the same thing anyway, so they never turned on him and almost supported him in this,
others will forgive but not forget, others are still angry and expect him to make the promised appology and make up for his behaviour on the pitch, but no one will change the impression of him that they took in the last few days just because he changed his mind

If Wayne Rooney has indeed signed EXACTLY the same contract that was on the table last August then, although I do not agree with his actions, it does put a different perspective on the whole affair.

If Wayne Rooney is so dedicated to the Club he say he loves so much, then why doesn't he, together with some of the other over paid Players, agree to cut back on their remuneration.

After all this is one of the main issues that is bringing not just Man Utd, but other great football clubs to their knees.

I say this because of course his 'love' for this great club, was by all accounts increased by a substantial hike in his remuneration.

Come on Wayne, and of course the other greedy folks, do the right thing.

Sorry Dan, but after reading this article I am still waiting for the reason Rooney changed his mid. You don't give it. You just say what happened. Do you want to add to this the thought that Rooney changed his mind because real life intervened and forced him, for the first time in his life, to consider the consequence of his actions?

And once again, SAF - who is an intelligent and calculating man - is shown up for the unpleasant and cynical maqnipulator that he is. Rooney to Spain in 2011-12 for over £50m

Boy, has Wayne Rooney gotta prove himself all over again now!
No ankle excuses.
No private-life excuses.
No money excuses.
No 'club expectation' excuses.
Goal-a-game from now on.

People keep talking on about money in this blog and Wayne's stance on it. Apparently, he could get 250K a week at other clubs.
I am a hard core Man U supporter and a season ticket holder. Can I really blame him for leaving if 100K a week is involved - would anyone of us not think twice about it? It is very easy to be honourable when you know you will never be in the position - ask the Liberal Democrats!!
Against Bursapor, OT was strange - never been as deflated. We havent had a good time lately - with worries about our ownwership, some poor results, not playing as Utd teams should and the worry that SAF, Giggs and Scholes are reaching the end of their time. Rooney was our only talisman - "go to" man - to sing from the terraces as he epitomised the fighting spirit of us Mancunians. Suddenly there was a vaccum and I am glad he is back. You know he will always give more than a 100%. Hopefully, he does not overdo it and injure himself to try and prove anything to us - as he probably will.

Football makes a lot of revenue as an business, it is rare for the workers (Rooney) to take home most of the proceeds, the alternative is for the money to go to the already rich owners. Fans on the whole are customers not business stakeholders.
As a businessman its great to see the guys with the talent, most of us dont possess, making the most financial gain out of their skills.
Rooney may not be everyones cup of tea but you have to admire his commercial team.

This blog just reads as a press release from Rooney PLC, the deal rested on money from Rooney's perspective, nothing more, nothing less. He isnt capable of thinking beyond that, as Stretford does his thinking for him.

Ferguson as usual demonstrates a total lack of moral compass, he will do ANYTHING to seek an advantage in football, including making Rooney feel and appear bigger than the club just to keep him, and just helps to push football in general more towards the gutter.

So it had nothing to do with getting more money did it? Basically he made some sounds when they didn't give him the money he wanted then he got the contract he wanted. Anyone who thinks there is anything deeper is being naive in my opinion.

I agree with number 7, he will be sold soon, SAF does not take kindly to these kind of threats.

We call Ashley Cole, Cashley, but now Wayne seems to have taken that particular mantle..........150k to 180k sterling for his services, really, after he accused Utd of 'lack of ambition'.

Still, he had to be man enough to realize he has made a huge error, but with the prospect of nowhere else to go he did not need much persuasion.

Welcome back Wayne....for as long as SAF will have you, your days are numbered!!

Does the contract extention in fact mean that Rooney's selling price has immediately increased 4-5 fold to over 90 m. to whatever that means to the value of the club and the ability to raise cash? More or less the same happened with Ronaldo who signed abt. a year and a half before being sold to enable rescheduling(?)of the huge debts. Sound managerial skills exhibited by Gill and of course Sir Alex on the condition that Rooney stays. Otherwise the club will no doubt fall back.

These damn foreigners...all they want is money. Rooney should be ashamed...

oh he isn't foreign ...

I rather think his change of heart was more to do with the footballing worlds response to his statement on Wednesday rather than any talk with a Glazer of any description.

As Thursday went on, it became obvious the whole footballing world was backing Ferguson and looking at Rooney as a mercenary idiot, and given that image rights and sponsorship are as lucrative as any megadeal from a club he gets for actually playing football, I suspect a competent accountant would probably start to advise the loss in income from such a fall in image standing(remember, Fifa soccer launched 3 weeks ago with him on the cover in a Man Utd shirt) would outweigh the extra 100k or so he would get from the likely already discussed deal with Man City in the longer term.

I think his agent got it all very, very wrong this time.

Blaming the media for this is insane, Both Alx McTaggert and Rooney stated publicly that Rooney was leaving. However Rooney used the media to get what he really wanted - more money!! Ferguson gets to laud the fact that in his last year - retirment at the end of this season - he persuaded the fatboy to stay.

At the moment in his form it's a big wage for a dud.

Who gives a !*%&

Premiership footballers overpaid, underworked, overhyped....thank heavens there's rugby league

Its now being reported that Ferguson has been promised £60m to spend before the start of next season.
Is ths spending spree United fans were hoping for? I mean that wouldn’t get them Messi's leg, it may get them Gareth Bale and Ashley Young but that’s it.

What it wont do is get them a new keeper they desperately need or replacements for Giggs and Scholes.

Don’t get me wrong, the idea of losing Rooney to City had United club and fans having kittens.

The new deal means he can't walk for free, although i feel the Rooney damage will be hard to repair the £250,000 a week is money well spent if it means ant potential suitor and be realistic that is only City, will be asked to pay a staggering amount which they wont i.e. City are not in the business of paying United's debt down for them.

Rooney cannot carry United and wont patch up their leaky defence or replace their erratic goalkeeper.

We are really at first base, Ferguson cannot last for ever, this is the beginning of the end.

Good to know that the burden of all the cuts in the economy is being fairly shared and shouldered.

I think that its disgraceful the way Rooney, the spoilt brat, has been allowed to spit his dummy out of the cot this week in public, to finally be given, I expect, a rather large pay rise, when everyone else will have to put up with these financial cuts, Changes to pensions and an increases in the working life, the government have also announced this week.

Who the hell does he think he is. He need a good, swift, kick up the rear end, and his train set taken away. Does he not realise that there are thousands of people living on the bread line, who cannot afford just the simple things, and there he goes bleating that he does not want to play for Man U any more or was it a vailed scheme to get more money and also get the press of his back regarding his personal life, when all he needed to do was to keep it in his pocket. So what. Who cares. Get a job in “Toys R us” then, if you cannot take the hassle, that’s if you have the qualification.

If I was Alex Ferguson, I would make him honour his contract, even if it means that he sits on the bench every week. I’m not a Man U supporter, but nobody is bigger than any club and there’s no “I” in team. If he doesn’t like it, then tough, get a life.

Someone commented no one is a winner here..that baffles me. Firstly united have kept a player they lets b fair needed, he hasn't been sold to any rivals, if it was solely money then y didn't e go to city and earn at least 50k a week more? I'm slightly suspicious this may have been planned to make the glazers realise they need to keep him to attract more players of his quality and bring in the revenue. Saf had to be involved in that somewhere. And there is no way rooney had not spoken to mates in the team about all the rumoured comments etc u must be an idiot if u think so. its quite funny actually I feel sorry for all the red haters on here who were only a few days ago loving all this must be difficult to swallow believe me my mates have me so much stick! To round off I would much prefer a money grabbing WR at utd than a money grabbing WR anywhere else! oh one more thing, ronaldo a big loss, tevez..not FACT!

86. At 11:41am on 23 Oct 2010, bluedefence wrote:


Bitter bile spouted by a disappointed City fan desperate to get one over United by the only way they know how - billionaire investment!

£60 million wouldn't get us a keeper? What are you babbling about? Erratic goalkeeper? One mistake in five years?

I thought the Rooney saga had done a number on United fans, but it seems it has driven our noisy neighbours completely insane. XD

Dan - Come off it..... please!
Rooney and United, have made the press look silly, this has been a 'stage managed' event from start to finish and was based solely around boosting Rooney's salary. Admittedly a few demented United fans got themselves worked up and once SAF saw it had the possibility of getting out of hand, he moved quickly to end the saga.
I have doubts that there was a phone call to the owners, but if there was, it was likely to have been SAF or David Gill saying "forget what you read in the press, we have it covered". Rooney's agent (cleverly, as a negotiating stance) used the fact that many United fans feel that the manager is being held back by the Glazer/debt situation, from strengthing the team, despite SAF saying on a number of occasions there is no value in the market at the moment and he is happy with his squad.
The rest was hype!
OK perhaps at times we all wondered what if????... but only for a second or too, then when I heard someone describing SAF as "being close to tears" .....I knew it was a charade!

Masterstroke by SAF...Come on lets get the ball rolling and start our season with a win against Stoke!

I think Rooney was extremely lucky,the old fergie would have had him out on his ear,I think the BIG money he's demanding is obscene,more than some clubs can afford to pay their whole team.
If Man U have any sense they should dock him a hundred grand every game he doesn't score,which on current form means he would end up owing them,still Im only a Villa fan and I know nothin'.

In 'real' life this whole affair involving Rooney
is of no importance what-so-ever.
Why so much coverage is given to things like this just indicates what a sick society we live in. It's all pathetic.....

All this is speculation, no-one here actually has the facts surrounding his change of mind/heart.

Maybe, just maybe, the motives where nothing more than exactly what he said they were.

Sometimes when you look at a glass of water, it's just a glass of water.... (so some french bloke once said I think)

I share his belief that this squad is not good enough at the moment, although I think in a few years it will get back to that state if we keep some of the young talent we have here.

Didn't Roy Keane say a similar thing a few years back about Rooney and Ronaldo? How wrong he was but he couldn't see it and ended up fizzling out at Celtic.

At the end of the day, as united fans (most of us here is seems) we want Rooney to be back at his best and performing for the club no matter what the future holds. I'll be supporting him, booing him does not make him perform better, does not make United win trophies and does not make you a better person, he does not personally owe anyone of us anything, he owes the club his commitment and if he shows that he will always get my support.

The End.

90. At 11:47am on 23 Oct 2010, DeadRevel wrote:
86. At 11:41am on 23 Oct 2010, bluedefence wrote:


Bitter bile spouted by a disappointed City fan desperate to get one over United by the only way they know how - billionaire investment!

£60 million wouldn't get us a keeper? What are you babbling about? Erratic goalkeeper? One mistake in five years?

I thought the Rooney saga had done a number on United fans, but it seems it has driven our noisy neighbours completely insane. XD
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I don’t recall any City fans outside” Wazza's” house the other night.
We wanted him to walk on a Webster or Bosman, the last thing we wanted was to give you lot £50m to buy Torres.

Ideally we could have done with this dragging on until the summer but will settle for the obvious disruption and bad feeling it has caused.
Due to rank bad management at your club you cannot compete, City on the other hand have stewards who brought in respectable owners.

If and its a bit if “Wazza” regains form he wont be happy with those players he doesnt deem fit to grace the same field as him.

Like I said this is the beginning of the end, I just hope you enjoy paying a player who holds you in such contempt £250,000 a week.
Like Mancini said, its your problem not ours.
Enjoy!

We will never know what really goes on in these situations all we are left with is our assumptions on engineered contract hikes to baiting owners to stump more cash or other ploys of PR.

Fascinating regardless.

rooney shirt sales will rocket this week,after fans that burnt rooneys shirt in mid week will want to buy another one

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I don't think he changed his mind.

I think he knew all along he was staying.