In a variety of sports, athletes are motivated by ambition for medals, to be the best and maximize their financial return in a career that is arguably shorter than any other. With numerous headlines about different sportsmen moving on in pursuit of personal aspirations, you may wonder why Rooney’s threatened departure from Manchester United was greeted with extra fuss.
Wayne Rooney is simply England’s highest profile footballer and Manchester United has dominated the game for the last couple of decades. It is also known, United do not lose a player they want to keep! At least until they were persuaded by Real Madrid’s £80 million and the player’s pleas to accept the loss of Christiano Ronaldo last season. United now run the risk of losing Wayne Rooney who was reportedly worth at least £50million for a meager £5million! A FIFA technicality allows players to buy themselves out in the last year of their contract for the value of their annual wage.
The saga began when after the England game against Montenegro; Rooney contradicted his manager’s claims that he had missed the last couple of games with an ankle injury. In typical “my kraal is too small to hold two bulls” style, no one defies Sir Alex in his Manchester United empire and survives. The list of victims notably includes Roy Keane who like Rooney questioned the quality and application of his team mates, van Nistelrooy who challenged the boss’ decision to bench him and David Beckham who continued to attract pop star attention with his involvement in fashion.
Contrary to the fiery Scott act that we have come to be accustomed to, Ferguson surprised the football world when in a press conference before a Champions League game he confirmed Rooney’s desire to leave United in a close to tears performance. Why was Ferguson compromising an image of firmness that had brought him so much success over the years? Whether this was calculated or he was overwhelmed by emotion, Sir Alex succeeded in winning the battle for hearts.
Since Roy Keane’s departure, Ferguson had finally found in Rooney the embodiment of himself on the field and was not about to let go so easily. While Rooney does not wear the captain’s arm band, he typifies Ferguson’s unrelenting drive for success. Like Ferguson, Rooney demonstrates with his work ethic that he is in the game because it is his life and not for the money.
While Ferguson was winning the hearts, Rooney in his response through his agent, Paul Stretford, succeeded in reminding many United fans that their beloved club was now suffocating under the Glazers’ debt burden. Most United fans recognized that Rooney chose to leave his beloved Everton for United in the first place because he believed in United’s ability to consistently succeed. That Rooney now had doubts about United’s ambition was great reason for the fans to question the club’s future. Their local rivals, Manchester City were now competing at the top end of the transfer market while United had stooped to seeking bargain buys like Bebe from the third tier of Portuguese football.
Irrespective of Paul Stretford’s game plan, he must have been surprised at the reaction of the United fans. Rather than vent at the owners’ stingy transfer policy, the fans attacked Rooney’s home and angrily warned him against joining their local rivals or he would die.
Although listening to Ferguson’s complaints about the role of agents in destabilizing players sounds hollow, I agree with him that Paul Stretford caused the saga in a bid to maximize his personal paycheck. Ironically though, Stretford would for his selfish reasons yet again work to Ferguson’s gain. After all Rooney and Ferguson have a common hunger for success and the Glazers’ arm would be forced into purchasing some real quality footballers.
As the saga continued to unfold, the biggest concern was about United’s dressing room. Rooney had implicitly expressed a lack of confidence about the quality of his team mates and he was to return on a significantly higher check!
Ferguson will be pleased that the players have responded by winning all the games in which they have featured since the landmark interviews. They have also demonstrated a tremendous team spirit as they consistently fight for each other. The key question is whether they will feel Rooney is truly part of this team having questioned their quality and then evidently being treated with extreme favoritism. Their biggest gain though will be the fact that the Glazers may not allow contracts of any key players to run so close to expiration and they too may demand significantly bigger checks now that United’s pay structure has been broken.
The United fans were relieved to keep the big star that had almost single handedly fired United to glory during the previous season. While Sir Alex has shown time and again great ability to compensate for lost players, United would definitely be better off with Rooney in their ranks. Better still, Rooney will have the added incentive to win over the fans and his team mates after the implications of the remarks his agent made on his behalf.
The Glazer’s too despite having been pushed into agreeing to terms will be pleased to have avoided losing their prized asset for close to nothing. Having tied Rooney to five more years they can now make a rational decision on whether he is too big for the club or if they can sustain the club’s success despite their financial plight.
The Glazers may be kicking themselves for having yielded to Rooney’s demands so easily when they realize that he was truly not in as strong a bargaining position as they may have thought. Only a couple of clubs would truly afford to pay Rooney the kind of money he was seeking. Real Madrid would be the best alternative to United given that in Mourinho they are almost guaranteed success. With the kind of record English players have established playing overseas, Rooney would probably have been thinking that he was not guaranteed to be a hit in Madrid. I would be hard pressed to think Man City truly crossed Rooney’s mind given that he is apparently more motivated by success than money.
As long as they can keep Ferguson motivated, the Glazers will trust his ability to continue keeping United at the very least competitive with or without Rooney. After all he has unearthed a new hero in a truly grateful Chicarito and he was able to compensate for the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez in the last season. But keeping Rooney may well be the best way to motivate Ferguson given that he is not in the football business for the money. Then of course after the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez in the last season, there would be genuine concern about United’s ambition and ability to attract top quality talent if they lost arguably their last truly high profile player in his prime.
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