The revelation is made by René Meulensteen, United's first-team coach, writing a column in the quarterly magazine of the Dutch Mancunian supporters' group. Meulensteen is the first senior employee at Old Trafford to speak openly about the widely held suspicion behind the scenes that a deal was being put in place to take Rooney to Eastlands, reflecting on it being "a matter for the manager to protect the value of the player for the club and to ensure he would not join City".
Meulensteen refers to the night when a mob of 30 United fans turned up outside Rooney's house to warn him of dire consequences if he followed Carlos Tevez across Manchester. Meulensteen jokes that "all of us – staff, coaches, masseurs, groundsmen etc – put on our balaclavas and went over to Rooney's home to explain to him that going to City was not done."
It had been a "scary" experience for Rooney, he writes. "Shortly after that Wazza made a U-turn. Rooney stayed, extended his contract and got a nice salary increase. However, the real winner is the great Alex Ferguson."
Rooney's "visitors" had made their way to his house on the night after he released a statement confirming that he had submitted a transfer request because of his concerns about the club's spending plans. They were carrying a banner saying "If you join City you're dead" and Rooney, speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, admitted he had feared for his safety.
"I looked out and saw 30 blokes with their hoods up," the player said in an interview on MUTV. "I wasn't going to invite them in for tea. I understand some of the fans were disappointed and felt let down. It was just a bit intimidating to look out and see them all there."
Anxious to repair the damage to his relationship with the club's supporters, Rooney admitted he had been "wrong" to question United's ambitions during the dispute that ended with him signing a new five-year contract.
"I went to see the manager and [the chief executive] David Gill and explained [my reasons for wanting to leave] and basically asked them for answers. I now realise it had nothing to do with me. I got the answers in the end but, looking back, it was probably wrong of me to do that. I just wanted to make sure that signing was the right thing to do and I got the answers in the end."
Yet Rooney maintains that no deal had been arranged with City. "I didn't even think about where I was going to go. People say I was odds on to go to Manchester City but that was never the case. There was no way I would have gone to Manchester City and there was more chance of me going to City than Liverpool."
Rooney went on to say his long-term ambition was to be a manager. "You see the players who have played for Sir Alex and gone on to be good managers. I am hoping to do that one day. But I wouldn't like to follow the manager here, or start at an Everton or United. I want to learn something about the lower leagues and build a reputation that way rather than just jumping into a big club."
Of greater immediacy, he said he was not overly concerned by his poor scoring form. "I know I'll start scoring goals again, I've no worries about that." He has managed only two goals this season, both penalties, going into today's game at West Bromwich Albion.
"Wayne does need a goal," Ferguson said. "It's not an unusual situation where a striker goes a length of time without scoring and it becomes a confidence thing. I see it often. When they score they don't think they're going to miss and when they're not scoring they don't think they're ever going to score. A goal will come his way. He just needs to keep the belief that it will happen."
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment