Rooney in 2010 wanting to leave

[TheNewEra]

Source for those interested: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/oct/20/wayne-rooney-manchester-united

In 2010 Rooney handed in a transfer request which I remember around the time he was branded a mercenary, many weren't happy with him. He was unhappy at Cristiano and Tevez leaving and the fact the club wasn't ambitious enough in their replacements.

Has much changed in 9 years? in the early days of SAF he would routinely break transfer records to bring in the likes of Andy Cole, Veron, Ferdinand (setting the record for a defender at the time was absurd money) now you see Liverpool doing it with Van Dijk, City doing it with De Bruyne, but then you begin to see the gulf in quality between other squads (Bailly, Jones, Smalling).

The question is, was Rooney right in 2010?

I kind of feel in some ways SAF got lucky with the players he had initially, the class of '92 was a fluke and to have a core of players in Scholes, Giggs, the Neville brothers, Beckham and Butt, when you have a core of loyal players (Giggs and Scholes) to play with these players you have to come to United if you want to play with them, same goes for Maldini at Milan, you end up with players like Nesta, Pirlo. At the same time SAF is probably the greatest manager of all time, and he transformed the club entirely.

Barca you have Iniestia, Xavi, Busquets, Messi, to play with those players you have to go to Barca, which lead to MSN.

United post Scholes and Giggs you can't replace those players, but the club hasn't gone to break the bank to sign the players that have done that (besides Pogba) the question is was Rooney right even in 2010 to see the club wasn't replacing them?

SAF was SAF, he could win a league with Cleverley, Hernandez, Fletcher, Anderson, did the transfer policy lead to what happened to today or is it purely on Woodward and the Glazers?

 

[Classical Mechanic]

He was right that the club was underinvesting sure.

Interesting that he was panned for handing in a transfer request but it means you waive your bonuses. Many players won’t do that.

 

[Tomuś]

Fergie had his hands tied by Glazers. Not his fault he stopped signing superstars for mega money. Unless you believe he wouldn't have wanted them instead of Obertans.

 

[Saffron]

did the transfer policy lead to what happened to today or is it purely on Woodward and the Glazers?

There is no contradiction here. Glazers/Woodward are responsible for the transfer policy since they used the club’s cash to pay off debt.

Please stop trying to blame SAF for the austerity after 2005 since it’s clear as day what was really behind it. He was just trying to deflect blame away from them with his ”no value in the market” quote.

 

[TheNewEra]

There is no contradiction here. Glazers/Woodward are responsible for the transfer policy since they used the club’s cash to pay off debt.

Please stop trying to blame SAF for the austerity after 2005 since it’s clear as day what was really behind it. He was just trying to deflect blame away from them with his ”no value in the market” quote.

Just so you know I'm not blaming SAF, SAF managed to win leagues where no other manager would have, and he would have gone in the market with a blank cheque if he was given the chance I'm sure, I'm talking about the clubs failures to not do so, not SAF or David Gill.

Just like I wouldn't blame Hamilton for not winning a race of Mercedes decided to not hire the best engineers.

Without SAF the club wouldn't be the most lucrative club in the world. The Glazers would have been buying another club instead if the timeline was different.

 

[stepic]

Looking back, Rooney was clearly unfairly criticised.

 

[predator]

You say Fergie got lucky but he is probably the best manager of all time?

He managed us so well in all departments and could have done things differently with the class of 92 but he didn't - he got the best out of them. Could another manager have done the same?

 

[TheNewEra]

You say Fergie got lucky but he is probably the best manager of all time?

He managed us so well in all departments and could have done things differently with the class of 92 but he didn't - he got the best out of them. Could another manager have done the same?

There is an element of luck, but he is the best manager of all time yes, the class of 92 was a stroke of luck, and it if it wasn't then we'd see more youth academies having that, a golden generation doesn't happen often.

Just like Barcelona got lucky with Xavi, Iniesta, Busquest and Messi coming through at the same time, I doubt Guadiola would have the confidence he does now without it, if it failed at Barca he might not have tried it elsewhere. He would still be a world class manager.

SAF did have elements of luck, but he also had the balls to invest in youth, to get rid of some players when he needed too, to move on Sharpe, to buy Cantona, I don't think any other manager would be as ruthless as he was, or change an entire culture at a club, not to go off topic though!

 

[FujiVice]

Rooney was in the wrong, and revisionist history is daft. He tried to leave for more money. In 2011, we made it to the Champions League final and won the league. We were unbeaten until February. He was a senior member of the squad. If he had resevations about the future of the side, he had the power to talk to the board and the manager about it, and make a decision at the end of the season. Putting in a transfer request and blindsiding the manager and the club and the fans was unprofessional, and very typical of the type of character he is.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

He was right. Rooney wanted to play with better players. He saw Chelsea and City closing the gap and the dominance. Of Real and Barca.

He shouldn't have gone public but Valencia and Owen after selling Ronaldo really was bad.

 

[FujiVice]

the class of 92 was a stroke of luck

He made Gary Neville into a right back, David Beckham into a wide player and Paul Scholes into a midfielder. They didnt come ready made. He developed these players and gave them chances. Luck doesnt come into it.

Liverpool had Fowler, McManaman, Collymore, Redknapp and James. All young lads with boat loads of potential to be their core for the next 15 years. But they werent managed well. That's the difference in luck and good man management.

 

[Canagel]

Looking back, Rooney was clearly unfairly criticised.

Not in his last years.

 

[stepic]

Not in his last years.

I mean in relation to handing in his transfer request.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Ronaldo bitched for 2 years to leave for Real. He dumped us for Real in the end still gets all the love. Rooney stayed with is till the end yet we still moan about it.

 

[El Zoido]

Looking back, Rooney was clearly unfairly criticised.

In hindsight, yes. We’ve let standards slip and are paying the price for it now.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Looking back, Rooney was clearly unfairly criticised.

Absolutely.

 

[Brwned]

Has much changed in 9 years? in the early days of SAF he would routinely break transfer records to bring in the likes of Andy Cole, Veron, Ferdinand (setting the record for a defender at the time was absurd money) now you see Liverpool doing it with Van Dijk, City doing it with De Bruyne, but then you begin to see the gulf in quality between other squads (Bailly, Jones, Smalling).

I'm not sure a lack of record signings has been the cause of United's demise. We currently have two of the 10 most expensive players of all time in our team - no club has more than that, and we're the only English team with one. They were bought in consecutive seasons in 2016 and 2017. Two years prior to that we bought a player in the top 20. While we bought 3 of the 20 most expensive players of all time over the last 5 years, Liverpool and City bought one each. There's no doubt City have spent a lot, and spent better, but Liverpool's success hasn't been driven by record signings at all. Van Dijk is just an anomaly enabled by Coutinho.

I think Rooney and Sir Alex were both right. It's a myth that the Glazer's prevented us from splashing the cash, as LvG and Mourinho happily spent a fortune on di María, Pogba and Lukaku. Sir Alex chose not to and if you're Rooney at the peak of your career, you're bound to be frustrated at that. However when you have to spend that much money to get a player like Lukaku, or you have to give an agent that much money to get Pogba, you can see why Sir Alex was so reticent to spend big and why he became so obsessed with value in the market in the end. Rooney was impatient and Sir Alex was conservative, and both made entirely understandable mistakes.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Looking back,Rooney shouldn't have gotten a hair transplant.

 

[K2K]

The fact that he changed his mind just a week later after getting a lucrative new contract shows what his real reasons that was about.

 

[stu_1992]

As far as I recall the criticism was far more about flirting with City at the time than just handing in the transfer request. He seemed to make a big show of the transfer request which was not welcome or useful in the public domain. The actual concerns themselves were shared by many fans, it was the manner of the whole thing didn't sit right with me.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

The whole narrative that he handed in transfer requests so United fans must hate him has always p’d me off.

The state of some of our fans that refuse to give a United legend his due whilst fawning over the likes of Valencia & Herrera is honestly embarrassing.

The fact that Rooney’s reason for being unhappy were actually fair makes it even worse, the club went through a period of [somewhat] dominance with a squad that had Rooney, Tevez & Ronaldo; all approaching their prime, to Michael Owen & Mame Diouf!

The man gave his all, physically & was a key force in many a title win & wanted to be paid accordingly but that makes him a mercenary where as a certain Spainiard leaves for PSG, posts a ‘heartfelt’ tweet having won 0 leagues & people on here act as if we’re losing Bobby Charlton.

[SAF wasn’t ‘lucky’ btw]

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

The fact that he changed his mind just a week later after getting a lucrative new contract shows what his real reasons that was about.

And we've seen the same methods from players ever since.

 

[Jim Beam]

It was about under investment. But, only in him as once he got that massive contract he couldn't care less about club's ambitions and never mentioned it again.

Now, many players did that and still doing it. The fact he was so open about it, wrapped it in some general concern about the club and threatened to leave to City was what bothered me.

 

[CaptainAvengers]

Rooney was inside the club and obviously knew more than this forum put together about the direction the club was heading in.. that we haven't seen for years later as it takes awhile.

 

[AJ10]

Ronaldo bitched for 2 years to leave for Real. He dumped us for Real in the end still gets all the love. Rooney stayed with is till the end yet we still moan about it.

Will never understand this, He left because he wanted to leave not that we forced him out. People still wanted him to comeback.

 

[Loublaze]

It was all about money, if he believed the situation wouldn't get better he should've left. City were ready to pounce. He did it again before Fergie left.

 

[K2K]

And we've seen the same methods from players ever since.

Worst one in recent memory being the young Milan keeper.

It's become the norm nowadays.

 

[K2K]

Ronaldo bitched for 2 years to leave for Real. He dumped us for Real in the end still gets all the love. Rooney stayed with is till the end yet we still moan about it.

I am fan of neither to be honest.

And Rooney stayed because we gave him what he wanted. Then the second time he wanted to leave we weren't willing to sell him to another English club and the continental clubs didn't really rate him anymore.

 

[Sandikan]

What is it with all these type of threads and asking was someone who was clearly wrong, right?

What's next? Was Moyes right all along?

No.

 

[GifLord]

Didn't he hand in a transfer request twice?
I remember at the end of 2012-13 season Fergie said before the bus celebration that Rooney doesn't want to stay at Man Utd

 

[DJ Jeff]

There is no contradiction here. Glazers/Woodward are responsible for the transfer policy since they used the club’s cash to pay off debt.

Please stop trying to blame SAF for the austerity after 2005 since it’s clear as day what was really behind it. He was just trying to deflect blame away from them with his ”no value in the market” quote.

Why do you think he was trying to deflect blame away from them or having a go at supporter groups criticising the glazers?

 

[Mike Smalling]

Ronaldo bitched for 2 years to leave for Real. He dumped us for Real in the end still gets all the love. Rooney stayed with is till the end yet we still moan about it.

This. I will never understand the love-in for Ronaldo among United fans. Ultimately he didn't want to be here and spent the best years of his career at a European rival. Not a legend at this club for me.

Rooney obviously had a point. In retrospect, we should have pressed our advantage in the summers of 2009 and 2010. Instead we brought in players like Owen, Valencia, Diouf, Smalling, Obertan and Hernandez, when Tevez and Ronaldo had left and players like Giggs and Scholes were getting older.

 

[AgentP]

Fergie had his hands tied by Glazers. Not his fault he stopped signing superstars for mega money. Unless you believe he wouldn't have wanted them instead of Obertans.

If Glazers had a little bit of foresight and understanding about football, we would have had a successful team for less than half what we spent after Fergie.

 

[FootballHQ]

Wasn't the criticism that he was being tapped up by Man. City and was seriously considering going there?

I never got the timing of it, mid October with window not opening again for another two and a half months. Still it all got resolved in around 3 days and he signed a new 5 year deal by the end of the weeks so either very badly advised or just wanting a lucrative new contract which happened.

 

[2cents]

He was right that we lacked ambition to stay at the very top. However he clearly stayed for the money.

 

[Red_toad]

He was right that the club was underinvesting sure.

Interesting that he was panned for handing in a transfer request but it means you waive your bonuses. Many players won’t do that.

Yeah they allow their agents to engineer a move and spout random crap when asked about their future. Rooney always wore his heart on his sleeve. Pity we didn't move him on and cashed in on him with hindsight.

 

[204Red]

Nah... Rooney was being a prick.

One of the side effects of the Ronaldo transfer was that it made him the king of the castle... and he was afraid of the responsibility.

Lets not forget that we won the league the year he handed in that transfer request... and his play for 2/3 of that season was diabolical

 

[fergiesarmy1]

His reasoning at the time was flawed, we played in 3 champion league final around that time coming up against Barca in their pomp unfortunately. He was after the money.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Yeah they allow their agents to engineer a move and spout random crap when asked about their future. Rooney always wore his heart on his sleeve. Pity we didn't move him on and cashed in on him with hindsight.

We should have got rid in 2013 when Mourinho's Chelsea offered £25m + Mata + Luiz.

 

[Red00012]

Looking back, Rooney was clearly unfairly criticised.

No he wasn’t , I wanted him out when he put in the request. But no we just do the “utd way” and keep the player and then hang on to him for 4/5 years longer than he should have been.