Ferguson Confirms Rooney Wants To Leave

When I first heard all this speculation on Wayne Rooney not wanting to play for Manchester United anymore I honestly thought it was rubbish. I remember from last year Rooney wanting to sign a contract with Manchester United which would of kept him at the club for the rest of his career so I took it all as being crap.

Today Sir Alex Ferguson held a press conference and confirmed that Wayne Rooney wants to leave Manchester United. Now the first thing I thought about was, where is he going to go? When Real Madrid manager José Mourinho was asked would he be interested in buying Wayne Rooney about a week ago he said no and he didn’t think Rooney would leave Manchester United in the first place.

Manchester City and Chelsea at the moment are favourites to get Rooney in January but where would you rather see him go? You probably don’t care at this stage and still in shock that our number 10 wants to leave but if he’s leaving you won’t want him playing against us too often. Some where foreign I think would be best but would Coleen consider moving elsewhere when she has all her family in England and probably wants Kai growing up there too.

Against West Brom last Saturday when he was about the be introduced, all the Manchester United fans where on his side chanting “ROONEY ROONEY” showing their support for a man who’s going though a hard time, would he get a reception like that from the Manchester City or Chelsea fans if he was playing with them? I doubt it because Manchester City find it hard to fill their stadium ever week and you never really hear the Chelsea fans.

Another thing that makes me more mad is that everything we did for Wayne Rooney. He wouldn’t of won all those honours if it wasn’t for Manchester United. So before he comes out himself I hope he has a real think about this, I don’t re-call many players that left Old Trafford and improved their careers.

Sir Alex Ferguson said: “David Gill in the early part of the summer had opened talks with his agent and that was to be continued after the World Cup. I was in the office on 14 August and David phoned me to say he wasn’t signing a contract. I was dumbfounded. Only months before he was saying he was at the greatest club in the world. I asked to have a meeting with the boy.”

“He reiterated what his agent said, that he wanted to go. We’ve not had any argument, You have to understand the mechanics of these situations when someone wants to leave the club. It’s an easy one to say you’ve fallen out with the manager. He was injured. I said that in a TV interview some weeks ago.”

“We sent him for a scan but there was no doubt that although he’s able to train he’s still carrying traces of that injury.VWhy he came out and said that you can only guess yourself. It was disappointing he said that. When it came to the Sunderland game, I gave him a complete break hoping he would get his form back. Why he’s come out and said that I have no idea. It was a shock. I couldn’t believe it.”

“In early discussions – in March I think – we had discussions with him, he intimated he wanted to stay, that he wanted a life contract with the club, that he was at the best club in the world. It was terribly disappointing to get the news. We couldn’t understand it.”

“I had a meeting with him, and he intimated to me, in his own way, that he wanted to leave. We had a discussion about the whole situation. I said ‘the only thing I want from you Wayne is to respect and honour the club’s position and its traditions and behave like a proper professional and we will try and see it through.”

“I did say to him, as David Gill intimated, that there was an offer there if he was prepared to accept it. It was an offer that never got to any financial discussions. I know that David was prepared to offer him a contract that would be difficult to better elsewhere.”

“That is what you do with top players. There is no big problem with that. We have been doing this kind of thing for quite a while now. Contract issues, over the last 10 years, have accelerated to a degree where they are quite phenomenal.”

“I must tell you, I have never had an argument with Wayne Rooney at any time. He got an ankle injury in the Rangers game. He was seen clearly hobbling at half-time. He confirmed it himself in an interview with Sky. My idea, based on the fact he wasn’t playing that well, was to leave him out of the Sunderland game, make sure his ankle is properly prepared for the next game, and give him a 10 day recovery so he could play for England.”

“My hope was that by playing for England at Wembley he could recapture his form and we could kick on. His entry into the mixed zone at Wembley has created that next stage that we have had to deal with, ie that he wasn’t injured. I was disappointed because we know he was carrying an injury.”

‘We sent him for a scan, which showed a minor defect with an ankle injury, nothing serious, but he needed treatment, which he has had. There is no argument with that. We have to keep the door open for him, simply because he is such a good player. We have done nothing but help him since he came to the club. That is another mystery.”

“I don’t know how many times we have helped him in terms of his private life and other matters. He is not the only one who gets that privilege because Manchester United is that type of club. We do that for all players, it doesn’t matter who it is. It is part of your job here. You look after your players. That creates a tremendous loyalty. It has always been a good foundation of our club.”

“We cannot quite understand why he would want to leave. No-one can deny this club is one of the most successful in British football. We had won 40 major trophies, countless cup finals, a fantastic history, great stadium, great training arrangements. The platform for anyone to take up a challenge is here, without a doubt.”

‘We don’t understand it. I can’t answer any questions about why he is doing it. We can speculate. We can have opinions. It won’t matter a dickie-bird, simply because the player is adamant he wants to leave. We have to deal with the next part of that, which we will do, as best we can, in relation to this request.”

“I can do no more than I have said at the moment because we still, to my mind, have the door open.”