Article by Frank Cowan

The recent media storm surrounding Wayne Rooney and his lack of desire to continue to pull on a Manchester United Shirt have brought renewed focus on to the Club and brings back memories of other players in the recent past who have failed to appreciate that the club and its global brand are much greater than any individual player, no matter how gifted he may be. Sir Alex Ferguson has no doubt was to who should win when it comes to Club v Player and I am sure this can be testified to by Roy Keane, David Beckham, Jaap Stam and Ruud van Nistelrooy who have all left the club after spats with Sir Alex and they never pulled on a Man Utd shirt again. No one other than the player and the manager can know what the real reason behind the current news stories but there is no doubt that the real reason will only be revealed once a successful deal is concluded to sell the player. The current reason for the rift is reported to be Manchester United are no longer capable of attracting the top players that Rooney wishes to play alongside. There is no doubt that as the once wealthy club is now saddled with the Glazer debt they will find it hard to spend the kind of money needed to attract the very top names but there is no doubt that they have many young players coming through who will become great players of the future as Rooney did himself and maybe by staying at the club and helping them to develop as a team by offering support & mentoring would help Rooney achieve the success he says he continues to strive for. If he was to return to top form and allow a team to be built around him he may find that he is able to achieve real greatness by remaining in the red Manchester United Shirt especially if Sir Alex remains in charge for a few more years.There is no doubt that when a player loses the desire to play for a club that he will find it increasingly difficult to perform at the level of ability he is capable of and in the case in point this has arguably been so for some months now as the football media have been quick to point out. If we consider the recent newspaper reports on Wayne Rooney’s private life alongside the reports from the weekend football matches it is often the case that great skill on the football field does not go hand in hand with a settled private life as many sporting stars have proved in the past. I am sure that this will be brought to a conclusion sooner rather than later and it will be interesting to see how much playing time Rooney is given between now and January next year, at which time he is likely to move on to another club, but there is little doubt that he has many more years of great football left to play, but no longer at Old Trafford unless he is in opposition to his old club.

About the Author

Frank Cowan is a football fan who, now runs a number of online forums & businesses including Manchester United Football Shirts at http://www.manchesterutdfootballshirts.com