Out of loyalty to the club.
Rooney in 2010 wanting to leave
- Thread starter TheNewEra
- Start date
Yep, his reasoning wasn't that wrong but that wasn't his target to be totally honest, the contract was.
I remember all I used to see on this forum up until the day he left was that Wayne Rooney isn't a Manchester United legend which is absolutely laughable.
What makes me wonder though is that interview from Sir Alex. He looked almost heart broken. The contract convinced him to stay, but in retrospect I can see how City's proposal for a project must have appealed when going into training to face the likes of Obertan and Owen after losing Ronaldo.
Everyone seems to have skipped past this post but this is absolutely bang on.
And then we signed Young and Jones the following summer! (in fairness along with DDG)
Jones I remember thinking ok, young and promising. Young was a real surprise. Took a while to really come to terms with it.
Yes he was right
Should have been sold then and replaced by Aguero
Rooney held the club to ransom and from there the player power crept in and spread to what it is today.
Rooney was right.
Personally think it was part that and a large part his own culpability in their ownership as a result of the rock of Gibraltar affair
People still use the 2010 saga to judge Rooneys legacy. The same people worship the ground de gea walks on who has tried to feck off to Spain (and was a broken fax line away from almost getting it) just about every year since SAF left.
We probably would have gotten away with selling him at that time if we're honest.
I remember how gutted SAF was. He did an interview that night and looked heart broken, I was so fecking angry with Rooney then within a few hours he signed a new contract...
Ah yes, that mad week... I'm pretty sure Sir Alex had marked Rooney's card after that and that he was doomed to be ejected from the club the moment his performance dropped.
Luckily for Rooney, Sir Alex retired and Moyes failed to follow through with the setting up of that move.
Luckily for Rooney, Sir Alex retired and Moyes failed to follow through with the setting up of that move.
Of course he was right. So long Tevez and Ronaldo. Hello Valencia, Obertan, Diouf and Michael fecking Owen. 
If you could ask opposition fans to create their own "United summer window from hell", it wouldn't look any different to what we did in reality. It didn't even get better the next year... Bebe.
If I were Rooney i'd have kicked up an almighty stink as well. Difference is with me it would have been intentional.
If you could ask opposition fans to create their own "United summer window from hell", it wouldn't look any different to what we did in reality. It didn't even get better the next year... Bebe.
If I were Rooney i'd have kicked up an almighty stink as well. Difference is with me it would have been intentional.
I personally don't believe in 'luck' in general, especially with regards to a managerial stint over 26 years. As @FujiVice said, the class of 92 were managed correctly. You Can be talented but if you aren't managed by someone who understands your personality and how to get the best out of you then you can easily become a wasted talent. Fergie was in a position where he could determine who we signed, who played, who was sold, who he trusted - his man management was his greatest attribute.
I'd love to hear Fergie response to someone asking if he was lucky for the class of 92. You'd probably hear some home truths. If anything they were lucky to have him.
The reason why we are fecked right now is because we have lost the greatest manager ever who got the best out his players (of all abilities) and was such an imposing figure. Should he have had more consideration for the club after he departed? Maybe - but I always expected us to decline the moment he left. You could quote me from threads made the day he left stating that we would go downhill after his tenure. It was a no brainer for me. Nothing lasts forever. Football is a cyclical sport. What makes matters worse is we've actually spent a shit load of money on players/managers/wages since Fergie left and we've got nothing to show for it right now.
He won the league that season and won one more after that. Look at contracts he signed and how his performances dropped fairly soon after. If anything we were wrong in keeping him although he had maybe his best season the year after.
I do not think Rooney was right but, he was saying what a lot of fans were saying at the time. Heck you guys still complain about the 2009 summer transfer window.
I really despise this narrative that Rooney was a "mercenary" or that he is anything less than one of the very top legends of the game that Manchester United had to offer. The man was a literal slave to the club. Yet he is/was criticised constantly by the fans, and more often than not criticised with extreme double standards (in regards to other players) too. Few people in the club's history have invested as much time and effort as Wazza. Nor produced even half the results either. And for someone who won everything under the sun for us, I find the discontent and displeasure mostly unacceptable - it really unfortunately is one area that occasionally makes me believe our fanbase lives up to its "plastic" reputation.
I cannot fathom a captain/veteran of another top team being booted out so unjustly at the end of such an illustrious career the way that Rooney was. But people will arc up about his transfer request, or his wage increases, regardless of how much he gave to the club... and regardless of how many other players have acted out worse and escaped a similar scathing response from the fans. The Herrera comparisons in this thread are very apt! It really is a sad affair, as you can even still see how much the bloke adores United.
I struggle to think of even one outfield player who was as instrumental to the team and gave as much as Rooney for as long as Rooney did - bar Giggsy and Scholes.
There are perhaps no players that resemble Rooney's mould left - he really was the last of the old guard in my opinion. Hopefully give it a few more years, he'll be remembered more fondly (and fairly!). And more sorely missed season by season in hindsight, I'm sure.
I cannot fathom a captain/veteran of another top team being booted out so unjustly at the end of such an illustrious career the way that Rooney was. But people will arc up about his transfer request, or his wage increases, regardless of how much he gave to the club... and regardless of how many other players have acted out worse and escaped a similar scathing response from the fans. The Herrera comparisons in this thread are very apt! It really is a sad affair, as you can even still see how much the bloke adores United.
I struggle to think of even one outfield player who was as instrumental to the team and gave as much as Rooney for as long as Rooney did - bar Giggsy and Scholes.
There are perhaps no players that resemble Rooney's mould left - he really was the last of the old guard in my opinion. Hopefully give it a few more years, he'll be remembered more fondly (and fairly!). And more sorely missed season by season in hindsight, I'm sure.
In 2010,
Money was part of the factor but it wasn’t big or main factor. We lost Tevez & Ronaldo but we replaced them with no similar in quality, obviously there is no reason for him to believe that United is capable to win trophies anymore especially after losing the league in 2009/2010. This is similar to RVN’s case. The difference is that we were able to convince him to stay by giving him massive money.
In 2013,
Money clearly the main reason of him wanted to leave. He learnt from 2010 that he could push the club for more money if he asked to leave. His little mistake is that he did it when we had RVP & Sir Alex was in charge. You don’t piss off the boss by using the same way, but he’s lucky that Sir Alex retired and was replaced by Moyes, otherwise he would never get the money and already be sold in 2013.
The Rooney’s case isn’t the main reason why our players are influenced with money. Money always make we human crazy, it’s tradition. There are players outside the club have done the same thing. Rooney is still the club legend & always give 100% for the club and he was miles miles better than Lukaku, Martial, Sanchez, Lingard, Rashford & Mata.
Money was part of the factor but it wasn’t big or main factor. We lost Tevez & Ronaldo but we replaced them with no similar in quality, obviously there is no reason for him to believe that United is capable to win trophies anymore especially after losing the league in 2009/2010. This is similar to RVN’s case. The difference is that we were able to convince him to stay by giving him massive money.
In 2013,
Money clearly the main reason of him wanted to leave. He learnt from 2010 that he could push the club for more money if he asked to leave. His little mistake is that he did it when we had RVP & Sir Alex was in charge. You don’t piss off the boss by using the same way, but he’s lucky that Sir Alex retired and was replaced by Moyes, otherwise he would never get the money and already be sold in 2013.
The Rooney’s case isn’t the main reason why our players are influenced with money. Money always make we human crazy, it’s tradition. There are players outside the club have done the same thing. Rooney is still the club legend & always give 100% for the club and he was miles miles better than Lukaku, Martial, Sanchez, Lingard, Rashford & Mata.
100% this.
All it takes is a 300k contract.
Fletcher already spoke about it quite a while ago.
Basically the day after he pulled that stunt with ‘no ambition’ thing and got his big fat contract, he went into the dressing room and apologized to everyone and said it was a negotiating tactic.
Sure, Owen and Valencia+Obertan was a bad summer, but people forgot that a bad 2010 season for us back then was finished 1 point behind the league champions and went out on away goals in CL quarter to an eventual finalist. Our squad still had our 2008 core except Ronaldo+Tevez, the same core that would give us 2 more PL titles and another CL final, which was more than the mighty ambitious Madrid with Ronaldo in the side managed in the same period. So in the end, he copped the flacks for talking shit.
Our real demise started the summer after when SAF put faith in Cleverley, Welbeck and Anderson plus Young to ‘bridge the gap to Barca’, while City signed Aguero for a mere 40m, and lost Hazard to Chelsea the summer after that over 6m agent fee. We were running on fumes due to his reluctance to come to terms with the new market.
Basically the day after he pulled that stunt with ‘no ambition’ thing and got his big fat contract, he went into the dressing room and apologized to everyone and said it was a negotiating tactic.
Sure, Owen and Valencia+Obertan was a bad summer, but people forgot that a bad 2010 season for us back then was finished 1 point behind the league champions and went out on away goals in CL quarter to an eventual finalist. Our squad still had our 2008 core except Ronaldo+Tevez, the same core that would give us 2 more PL titles and another CL final, which was more than the mighty ambitious Madrid with Ronaldo in the side managed in the same period. So in the end, he copped the flacks for talking shit.
Our real demise started the summer after when SAF put faith in Cleverley, Welbeck and Anderson plus Young to ‘bridge the gap to Barca’, while City signed Aguero for a mere 40m, and lost Hazard to Chelsea the summer after that over 6m agent fee. We were running on fumes due to his reluctance to come to terms with the new market.
Rooney was right about this
I think most of our downhill come from David Gills, we have gotten worse off pitches in 2008 or so but he kept ignoring that our scout networking, academy, training facilities and other stuff that is in need of upgrade necessary.
We've signed 18 players from 2008 to 2013, we spent around 210m pounds at that time, only De Gea and RVP proved to be world class for us and delivered consistent performance for the season, that's the awful rate for a big club like United who demands top players to perform better. It was too obvious that our scouting network is in need of an upgrade, Gill ignored that issue and left it to Woodward who overhauled our scouting network in 2016
David Gills seem struggling to get world class players to come to play for us even with SAF at the helm, If he had any desire to spend more money on agent fee, we would have Hazard, Aguero, Silva right now. If he was still around, I am sure everyone would be calling for his head.
It takes a miracle for SAF to get best out from squad to win the league, it overshadowed Gill's works. David Gill doesn't give a feck about situation United were in at the time, he is taking it for the grant because we were winning a lot of trophies despite underperforming off pitches where Gills ignored for years. SAF is basically DoF for us, he gave SAF too much power which he shouldn't have done but he's fecking lazy as if he doesn't care about the club.
David Gills was CEO in the first place and he was supposed to prevent this from happening when we collapsed down in 2013. He started this mess. Woodward is trying to fix it but hasn't gotten out of the mess successfully.
I don't like Woodward but I'd prefer him over David Gills. Woodward seems to learn more about United situation when something is not working out, he'd try to fix it. he learnt that our scouting network is really bad and outdated, he overhauled it and upgraded it with 50 scouting around worldwide in 2016, shortly before Jose's appointment. He learnt that our academy is not producing so well compared to other clubs like City and Chelsea, he gave a bigger budget to Nicky Butt to improve academy stuff. He learnt that bring United back to top club need the top players which he did. But it seemed it wasn't working out, maybe the player is shit, maybe they made the top player look so bad or down to bad coaching but we don't know for obvious reasons. He believed that we should back our manager and give them a budget to get any players they want, it suits our tradition United way, he followed that policy with Moye, LVG and Jose until end of the 2nd season, he stopped backing Jose because all of Jose's targets are shortly fixed so he prefers long term like Varane. He learnt that backing manager blindly is not sustainable and recognize that we need to change our structure and our approach in the transfer market.
The only negative is Woodward's hiring managers like LVG and Jose but at one point, everyone was happy when we appointed them, we didn't expect them to turn out so badly eventually, it is similar to Sanchez's case.
I think most of our downhill come from David Gills, we have gotten worse off pitches in 2008 or so but he kept ignoring that our scout networking, academy, training facilities and other stuff that is in need of upgrade necessary.
We've signed 18 players from 2008 to 2013, we spent around 210m pounds at that time, only De Gea and RVP proved to be world class for us and delivered consistent performance for the season, that's the awful rate for a big club like United who demands top players to perform better. It was too obvious that our scouting network is in need of an upgrade, Gill ignored that issue and left it to Woodward who overhauled our scouting network in 2016
David Gills seem struggling to get world class players to come to play for us even with SAF at the helm, If he had any desire to spend more money on agent fee, we would have Hazard, Aguero, Silva right now. If he was still around, I am sure everyone would be calling for his head.
It takes a miracle for SAF to get best out from squad to win the league, it overshadowed Gill's works. David Gill doesn't give a feck about situation United were in at the time, he is taking it for the grant because we were winning a lot of trophies despite underperforming off pitches where Gills ignored for years. SAF is basically DoF for us, he gave SAF too much power which he shouldn't have done but he's fecking lazy as if he doesn't care about the club.
David Gills was CEO in the first place and he was supposed to prevent this from happening when we collapsed down in 2013. He started this mess. Woodward is trying to fix it but hasn't gotten out of the mess successfully.
I don't like Woodward but I'd prefer him over David Gills. Woodward seems to learn more about United situation when something is not working out, he'd try to fix it. he learnt that our scouting network is really bad and outdated, he overhauled it and upgraded it with 50 scouting around worldwide in 2016, shortly before Jose's appointment. He learnt that our academy is not producing so well compared to other clubs like City and Chelsea, he gave a bigger budget to Nicky Butt to improve academy stuff. He learnt that bring United back to top club need the top players which he did. But it seemed it wasn't working out, maybe the player is shit, maybe they made the top player look so bad or down to bad coaching but we don't know for obvious reasons. He believed that we should back our manager and give them a budget to get any players they want, it suits our tradition United way, he followed that policy with Moye, LVG and Jose until end of the 2nd season, he stopped backing Jose because all of Jose's targets are shortly fixed so he prefers long term like Varane. He learnt that backing manager blindly is not sustainable and recognize that we need to change our structure and our approach in the transfer market.
The only negative is Woodward's hiring managers like LVG and Jose but at one point, everyone was happy when we appointed them, we didn't expect them to turn out so badly eventually, it is similar to Sanchez's case.
It's been reported by multiple sources that he told his team mates it was all about the money,
Rooney was not a literal slave in any way shape or form. He was paid for his services and could leave should he want to, so not a slave in any meaning of the world let alone literally.
He was in his hump. As a senior player he criticised his own teammates in public and he was such a moral crusader that it all got resolved when he was handed a massive new contract.
He deserved every criticism he got. The most telling part about all of it was his insistence that the club sign quality players and then he complained when they signed one who was better than him in his preferred position!
Making him captain of the club was a horrible decision.
@ all the people saying Rooney was right, when at the time he was absolutely vilified by nearly every fan, and most on here.Rooney did it for money, greed and was ill-informed; and should have been sold immediately.
Well obviously nobody is literally a slave in the premier league... That's just absurd. But surely you understand that terms like these are used colloquially all the time, no? "Servant to the club"... "slaved away on the pitch"... I suppose I shouldn't have used the word "literally" to emphasise my point, but I was hoping that someone would actually respond to what my post was about not call me up halfheartedly on my grammar.
Also - to respond to what I believe you were trying to say in your post - I think Fletch actually recounted at the time that he apologised to the entire dressing room after getting his new contract. I doubt it was entirely a ploy for money considering handing in a transfer request waives most of the bonuses and add ons that players receive. SAF also said that he had been offered a lucrative contract before handing in the request, so I find it unlikely that it was solely a financial issue. There seemed to be a lot of emotions involved between him and SAF, in general, that continued through the rest of their years together.
All in all though, Wayne Rooney has been one of the most magnificent players in what is a very, very grand pedigree at Manchester United. Are you really going to argue that he didn't deserve to be one of the top earners during his time there? Especially when the other superstar talents were all leaving abroad?
To say it was all about the money, just honestly is not an accurate depiction of his situation. I genuinely think you would have to be mad to not believe that Rooney always valued the club in extremely high regard. He's a rare example of a world class premiere league player that remained at one club for almost the entirety of his career. The fact that the club was a near unstoppable force to be reckoned with during most of that time only makes that all the more impressive, if you ask me. I even remember press conferences where he said he wanted to, and was most likely going to, retire at United. He still talks about United all the time despite being in the United States. How can you possibly believe that he is a "mercenary"?
He's not is the answer. That's why in my previous post I used the word "narrative". At least that sentence was grammatically sound
He had every right to expect to be one of the top earners, I just don't like bullshitters, come out and say pay me what I'm worth it I'm off, not a problem with that, but don't throw your teammates under the bus by claiming they aren't good enough and your only thinking if the club when all you care about is your pocket.Well obviously nobody is literally a slave in the premier league... That's just absurd. But surely you understand that terms like these are used colloquially all the time, no? "Servant to the club"... "slaved away on the pitch"... I suppose I shouldn't have used the word "literally" to emphasise my point, but I was hoping that someone would actually respond to what my post was about not call me up halfheartedly on my grammar.
Also - to respond to what I believe you were trying to say in your post - I think Fletch actually recounted at the time that he apologised to the entire dressing room after getting his new contract. I doubt it was entirely a ploy for money considering handing in a transfer request waives most of the bonuses and add ons that players receive. SAF also said that he had been offered a lucrative contract before handing in the request, so I find it unlikely that it was solely a financial issue. There seemed to be a lot of emotions involved between him and SAF, in general, that continued through the rest of their years together.
All in all though, Wayne Rooney has been one of the most magnificent players in what is a very, very grand pedigree at Manchester United. Are you really going to argue that he didn't deserve to be one of the top earners during his time there? Especially when the other superstar talents were all leaving abroad?
To say it was all about the money, just honestly is not an accurate depiction of his situation. I genuinely think you would have to be mad to not believe that Rooney always valued the club in extremely high regard. He's a rare example of a world class premiere league player that remained at one club for almost the entirety of his career. The fact that the club was a near unstoppable force to be reckoned with during most of that time only makes that all the more impressive, if you ask me. I even remember press conferences where he said he wanted to, and was most likely going to, retire at United. He still talks about United all the time despite being in the United States. How can you possibly believe that he is a "mercenary"?
He's not is the answer. That's why in my previous post I used the word "narrative". At least that sentence was grammatically sound
Funniest part was when we listened to him bought rvp and and stopped using him as a strikerOf course he was right. So long Tevez and Ronaldo. Hello Valencia, Obertan, Diouf and Michael fecking Owen.
If you could ask opposition fans to create their own "United summer window from hell", it wouldn't look any different to what we did in reality. It didn't even get better the next year... Bebe.
If I were Rooney i'd have kicked up an almighty stink as well. Difference is with me it would have been intentional.
Looking back, what a weird time that was. Most United fans were completely fed up with Ronaldo, and quite a few with Tevez as well. Him wanting to go to City was truly a body blow. He was many United fans favorite player at the time, and there was a creeping feeling that if he went to City, it would be the final domino that would establish and “legitimize” the City project and the power shift across Manchester.
To be completely honest, Rooney was always held to a higher standard than Ronaldo and Tevez. It’s certainly not that I think we can credit Rooney with the foresight to see where we are now in relation to City. It is a valid data point though, I’m not sure exactly what the inflection point was in this depressing fall from grace. What followed though, was some criminally poor decision making, coupled with some outstandingly bad luck in transfers, no doubt about it.
Was this the point?
I have no doubt in mind we did the right keeping Rooney in 2010. The funny thing is, yeah, Valencia, Obertan and Owen was shocking... But it may struggle to be in the Top 5 worst transfer windows in the last 10 years. Let that sink in.
To be completely honest, Rooney was always held to a higher standard than Ronaldo and Tevez. It’s certainly not that I think we can credit Rooney with the foresight to see where we are now in relation to City. It is a valid data point though, I’m not sure exactly what the inflection point was in this depressing fall from grace. What followed though, was some criminally poor decision making, coupled with some outstandingly bad luck in transfers, no doubt about it.
Was this the point?
I have no doubt in mind we did the right keeping Rooney in 2010. The funny thing is, yeah, Valencia, Obertan and Owen was shocking... But it may struggle to be in the Top 5 worst transfer windows in the last 10 years. Let that sink in.
Btw they did not spend the money on paying debt. United is the club with highest debts in Europe. The money has gone into the pockets.
I think it was the change in rules as to how academies could attract talent that was also a reason why it is harder to replicate the 92 class. I seem to remember the rules changed so youngsters had to be living within a certain distance so it make it harder to hoover up the best young players and get them on contracts. Hence the move to bring in young players from abroad who were not bound by the same rules - Pique and Fabregas for instance.
There was nothing wrong with taking a punt on Owen, Obertan and Valencia to replace Ronaldo. Spurs and Liverpool are showing that you don't have to make Galactico signings every summer to succeed.
Obertan had played a game for France 'B' or something, where he was like Messi compared to everyone on the pitch. Fergie signed him based on that performance. With Owen it could have been a success. We signed Van Persie with a horrible injury record and it was a huge success. Valencia looked unstoppable, and looking like a miracle signing, until that Rangers defender smashed his ankle. He was never the same player after. For every punt on an Obertan or an Owen, Fergie got it right more often than not with punts on Solskjaer, Blomqvist, Ronnie Johnson, Lee Sharpe, Cantona etc
People keep going back to 2010, the lack of ambition, as a way to blame the Glazers for the current plight.... But getting the managerial appointment right is everything, and there's been a lot of bad luck along the way, from Fergie not being aggressive enough with landing the likes of Bale, Ramsey as kids, when they were available for peanuts, to Moyes ditching Phelan which was like being stuck in a desert without a compass, to selling Zaha for peanuts, to Van Gaal flirting with Vidal and Moutinho for months only to buy Schweinsteiger Schneiderlin instead, from Mourinho ignoring the likes of N'Golo Kante, Maguire, Van Dijk when they were very gettable to deciding to opt for Matic and Bailly instead.
Obertan had played a game for France 'B' or something, where he was like Messi compared to everyone on the pitch. Fergie signed him based on that performance. With Owen it could have been a success. We signed Van Persie with a horrible injury record and it was a huge success. Valencia looked unstoppable, and looking like a miracle signing, until that Rangers defender smashed his ankle. He was never the same player after. For every punt on an Obertan or an Owen, Fergie got it right more often than not with punts on Solskjaer, Blomqvist, Ronnie Johnson, Lee Sharpe, Cantona etc
People keep going back to 2010, the lack of ambition, as a way to blame the Glazers for the current plight.... But getting the managerial appointment right is everything, and there's been a lot of bad luck along the way, from Fergie not being aggressive enough with landing the likes of Bale, Ramsey as kids, when they were available for peanuts, to Moyes ditching Phelan which was like being stuck in a desert without a compass, to selling Zaha for peanuts, to Van Gaal flirting with Vidal and Moutinho for months only to buy Schweinsteiger Schneiderlin instead, from Mourinho ignoring the likes of N'Golo Kante, Maguire, Van Dijk when they were very gettable to deciding to opt for Matic and Bailly instead.
Absolute genius. He didn't want to sell him and put all the pressure on him. When was the last time he was this open about a player to media?
SAF's finest hour, guilt-tripping Rooney into signing, and by 8 oclock the next morning the news broke that he'd signed a new contract.
He never needed too be, only ever defending his decision to sell high-profile players when questioned.