KENNY DALGLISH: Manchester United's players can't blame Rooney for having ambition
Some Manchester United players are meant to be unhappy with Wayne Rooney because he wants the club to be in the market for new signings.
The implication is that if Rooney wants new players, he doesn’t rate the ones already there. My advice to those United players is ‘Get over it’. If they think about it, they will realise what Wayne has said is no different to their own view of the world.
Most United players signed for the club from somewhere else. And why did they do that? Because they wanted success and the reality is that players at their old clubs weren’t good enough to help them achieve that.
They will have dressed it up differently, of course. They will have signed for United and excitedly gone on about how they were looking forward to playing with top players at Old Trafford.
Nobody would turn around and accuse them of disrespecting the players at their old club, so why throw those accusations at Wayne now. It is double standards. Look at the current United squad.
Patrice Evra joined from Monaco, Nemanja Vidic from Spartak Moscow, Antonio Valencia from Wigan, Edwin van der Sar from Fulham, Rio Ferdinand from Leeds, Michael Carrick from Tottenham, Nani from Sporting Lisbon.
There are many others, but you take the point: these lads arrived at United to better their careers and win trophies with top players.
People might interpret what Rooney has said or done differently to that but I don’t think he has said anything beyond what all ambitious players think and want. He joined United from his boyhood club Everton for glory.
He won’t have changed since then and those players in the United dressing room will feel the same — they expect top players around them. The only difference is when he says it, the world takes notice.
It is only because Wayne is such a great player that he has caused such a hullaballoo by saying what he did. He’ll be at the club for the next five years because Sir Alex Ferguson appreciates how good he is. And if any other United player is unhappy with that, I doubt he will be at the club as long as him.
If a United player is tempted to have a go at Rooney, he might first stop to ask himself if anyone much cares what he thinks. I can imagine the reaction if some of the others knocked on Fergie’s door and said: ‘I think I want to get off here, the club is not ambitious any more.’ Fergie would probably want to open the door for some of them!
As for Wayne, he won’t find it hard to quickly move on from here. People were predicting he and Cristiano Ronaldo would be at loggerheads after Ronaldo helped get Wayne sent off at the 2006 World Cup but they didn’t have any long-term problem.
The on-off situation with Wayne and United has made for a dramatic week, of course, and probably showed again that it is better for everyone when these things can be conducted behind closed doors. But I have to say I wasn’t surprised with the final outcome. From the outset, United didn’t want to lose him and he didn’t really want to go.
It is a shame that it had to come to that brinkmanship but I always thought there would be a satisfactory outcome. I couldn’t see Wayne going abroad to play and I couldn’t really see him going to Manchester City.
It wasn’t about money. How could it be when he has ended up staying at United rather than go to City? If one good thing has come out of the saga, it is to end the myth that all players will go to the club that pays them the most money, as fans assume. It’s not borne out by the evidence. City have reportedly been willing to break the bank for a number of world superstars like Ronaldinho, Kaka, John Terry and Rooney.
The implication is that if Rooney wants new players, he doesn’t rate the ones already there. My advice to those United players is ‘Get over it’. If they think about it, they will realise what Wayne has said is no different to their own view of the world.
Most United players signed for the club from somewhere else. And why did they do that? Because they wanted success and the reality is that players at their old clubs weren’t good enough to help them achieve that.
'Get over it': Kenny Dalglish says Rooney's team-mates would be hypocritical to hold a grudge against the striker
Nobody would turn around and accuse them of disrespecting the players at their old club, so why throw those accusations at Wayne now. It is double standards. Look at the current United squad.
Patrice Evra joined from Monaco, Nemanja Vidic from Spartak Moscow, Antonio Valencia from Wigan, Edwin van der Sar from Fulham, Rio Ferdinand from Leeds, Michael Carrick from Tottenham, Nani from Sporting Lisbon.
There are many others, but you take the point: these lads arrived at United to better their careers and win trophies with top players.
Happier times: Sir Alex and Wayne Rooney share a joke in training two years ago
He won’t have changed since then and those players in the United dressing room will feel the same — they expect top players around them. The only difference is when he says it, the world takes notice.
It is only because Wayne is such a great player that he has caused such a hullaballoo by saying what he did. He’ll be at the club for the next five years because Sir Alex Ferguson appreciates how good he is. And if any other United player is unhappy with that, I doubt he will be at the club as long as him.
If a United player is tempted to have a go at Rooney, he might first stop to ask himself if anyone much cares what he thinks. I can imagine the reaction if some of the others knocked on Fergie’s door and said: ‘I think I want to get off here, the club is not ambitious any more.’ Fergie would probably want to open the door for some of them!
Staying put: Rumours Rooney was set to join arch rivals Manchester City proved to be wide of the mark
The on-off situation with Wayne and United has made for a dramatic week, of course, and probably showed again that it is better for everyone when these things can be conducted behind closed doors. But I have to say I wasn’t surprised with the final outcome. From the outset, United didn’t want to lose him and he didn’t really want to go.
It is a shame that it had to come to that brinkmanship but I always thought there would be a satisfactory outcome. I couldn’t see Wayne going abroad to play and I couldn’t really see him going to Manchester City.
It wasn’t about money. How could it be when he has ended up staying at United rather than go to City? If one good thing has come out of the saga, it is to end the myth that all players will go to the club that pays them the most money, as fans assume. It’s not borne out by the evidence. City have reportedly been willing to break the bank for a number of world superstars like Ronaldinho, Kaka, John Terry and Rooney.
No comments:
Post a Comment