To say that October 19, 2010 shocked the football world would be an understatement. In fact, it was a mixture of emotions that gripped millions of football fans, coaches, and journalists around the world. October 19, 2010 will be remembered as the day Sir Alex Ferguson announced that Manchester United’s talisman, Wayne Mark Rooney, wanted to leave the club.
Ferguson did not quite understand why Rooney wanted to leave especially since the player himself had expressed his desire to stay at the club for life several times, including as recent as March of this year. However, on October 20, Rooney issued a statement in which he gave his reasons for wanting to abandon the club.
Rooney claimed that Manchester United lacked ambition. He felt that they could no longer compete with the top clubs in the world when it came to attracting the best players. There was a feeling from Rooney’s statement that he no longer felt confident in United’s ability to win trophies.
Thursday was spent in emergency meetings between the manager, David Gill, the Glazers and Rooney’s representatives. But there was nothing concrete that came out of these meetings until October 21, when it was announced that Rooney had signed a new five-year contract.
So, what changed Rooney’s mind?
There are a number of theories about what actually happened. But let’s get something straight. First of all, there were flaws in Rooney’s initial statement where he outlined his reasons to leave the club. Manchester United are a club that are driven on ambition. In the past four seasons, they have won three Premier League titles, reached the Champions League final on two occasions, including winning one, and have also won the FIFA Club World Cup as well as two consecutive League Cups. If winning 8 major trophies in 4 years shows lack of ambition, then there is no club in the world that can top that. How Rooney deduced lack of ambition, I have no idea.
Contracts such as those similar to Wayne Rooney’s take weeks to discuss, analyze and eventually sign. The fact that Rooney signed his within 24 hours shows a very telling story. Rooney knows how important he is to the club. So important that they will do everything in their power to keep him at the club, giving him whatever sums of money he would demand.
But, could it all have been money?
Rooney is no stranger to death threats. He probably faced quite a few when he moved to United from rivals Everton. But this is a different era and a different fan following. Rooney knew that moving to rivals Manchester City would not sit well with United fans. He probably knew too that these death threats could be more than just threats, as was evidenced by the tens of fans protesting outside his mansion on Thursday night. Moving to Man City would mean facing the wrath of approximately 6% of the world population. Perhaps this also influenced his decision.
Upon signing his new deal, Rooney claimed that everyone associated with the club had assured him that United were the best club for him. Did they not try and assure him of this back in August when contract talks had broken down? If Rooney did not get the squad assurances he wanted back in August, how concrete are the assurances that he was given now?
Another theory that is being talked about is that the whole saga was part of a bigger plan to force the Glazers to spend some money on buying new players. There is talk that both Ferguson and Rooney were in on the plan and Rooney was used as bait. However, judging from Sir Alex Ferguson’s emotional and open press conference on Tuesday, I am not buying into this. I don’t believe Ferguson was misleading anyone, because otherwise it was an Emmy winning performance.
We will never know what exactly went on behind the scenes. We will never know what Wayne Rooney was actually thinking when he decided to take this giant step. But what we do know is that the relationship between Rooney and the United fans will never be the same again. Rooney has no option but to give 110% on the pitch and work on winning back the trust of the Old Trafford faithful.
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