Cahill’s red was really a collective, cumulative team red - bolton get a lot of them. Kevin Cyril Davies will put 3 or 4 borderline tackles through someone, putting the ref under pressure. Next one in from Cahill and the ref feels he has to do something, even though the challenge itself was not all that bad.
That would explain a yellow, but not a straight red. This was compounded by teh fact play should have been stopped at the other end when CYL was brought down.
Oh well, such is football.
So Rooney wants out of Old Trafford. I can’t figure out why. He’s paid well, he’s the focus of the team, and he’s been defended/protected with the personal life stuff of late. On the one hand, I’m pretty disappointed (especially for Sir Alex), but on the other hand, this will give motivation to SAF to want to build yet another great squad. Some money will need to be spent to do it, or the youth players will truly have to step up, but I’d have to say that, if he does it again, it’d be even more impressive than the '06/09 run. He’s sold players before, but never before has he let 3 players in the class of Ronaldo, Rooney, and Tevez go. Giggs and Scholes are nearing the end, so the next title team is probably going to look so much different than the double winners of 2 years ago.
The other thing here is that Rooney apparently wants to go to City. SAF never sells quality players to other EPL teams, and probably doesn’t want to now. An override here from the Glazers for financial reasons could actually precipitate a SAF resignation. Depends how serious City are. If their bid is substantially higher than Real Madrid’s, things could get interesting.
If that were to happen, who among Tevez, Rooney, and Balotelli doesn’t start? I’d be shocked to see Adebayor to stick around to be 4th choice. Or would City go 4-3-3? In that case, who among Silva, Johnson, Yaya Toure, Barry, DeJong, and others doesn’t start? This is why I’ve never felt too bothered by City’s spending (or expected future spending). There are still only 11 places to play for, so you could have the top 3 gks in the world, and the 5 best strikers in England, but there’s but one ball and a maximum of about 60 games if deep runs are made into Europe, the FA Cup, and the Carling Cup. Money’s nice, but in the end, I think it’s true, athletes just want a chance to play.
The rumour mill has Tevez wanting to leave England, so in that scenario, he probably leaves for another country.
Oh, I hadn’t heard that. I know he’s made some comments about wanting to go back to Argentina before he retires and things like that, but I’ve missed anything indicating something to change for him in the near term.
Re: Rooney, if he went to City and Tevez left, assuming United used the funds to improve the midfield, I’d actually be ok with it. We’ve got young strikers, but the Scholes/Giggs problem isn’t going away. The styles of Berbatov and Rooney simply haven’t meshed in 2+ years for whatever reason. The best I’ve seen of Berbatov is with Chicharito. My dream signing would be Thomas Mueller from Bayern Munich, but that’s probably as likely as Iniesta leaving Barca.
I’m not currently able to express my feelings about Wayne Rooney in as measured a way as you have managed, mkecane - like you, though, I can’t believe it. I’m not sure if this is just classic “supporter turning against former favourite as soon as he leaves”, but I have never felt this way before - not about Hughes, Ince, Beckham, or any of them. As I alluded to at the start of this thread, the way things are shaping up Chelsea are going to run away with it this year, perhaps we can use this season to rebuild, maybe win the FA Cup if we’re lucky.
Alex Ferguson will not be building another great squad. He’s 69 this December and has stated he will not be Utd manager when he’s 70. Given the mediocrity of the current team relative to previous years, it’s looking like he’s not going to go out at the top.
It’s interesting to speculate whether Rooney wants to leave because he sees the decline of Utd himself, ie football reasons, or if it’s down to personal problems, or wages. Rooney has the cerebral capacity of a bucket of pish, so it’s hard to see him really thinking things through either way.
Have to say it would be very funny if Rooney went to Citeh. If only to hear the ‘he wasn’t that good anyway, our kid’ revisionism from the knowledgeable Utd support (this is already underway).
Dead Cat, to be honest, I’m still holding onto a slight hope that he’ll re-sign. But if he goes, you have to look ahead. But for being 32 years old, I really shouldn’t be feeling sad about this. Life goes on, of course. I’m not mad, just disappointed. He was going to be the star that would actually stay forever! He’d be the Bobby Charlton of the millenium. Of those who’ve left since I started following, the only one for whom I had a bit of venom was Heinze. I don’t like Tevez a ton, but he always gave everything, and didn’t run once someone better came along (Heinze did when Evra took over).
Busy Scissors, I don’t think SAF has said anything about leaving by 70 since he was probably in his early 60s. Maybe he’ll leave, but I’ve seen no indication he’ll leave after this year. I think he’s one of those people who stays young by being around young people. Time will tell, of course.
That’ll be your problem though. Rather than a new midfield it will be a nice bonus for the Glazers…
He wouldn’t be the first dictator to stay on longer than the initial terms of his tenure, certainly. He stated that he would be gone by 70 after the CL win of 08, but has since vacillated on this commitment.
This time round I think the rebuilding job will be too big for a 70 yo and the club will look for his successor.
Apparently Everton get 25% of any Rooner sale worth more than 27 mill (25% of the excess that is).
Ferguson has now revealed that Rooney definitely wants to leave. It’s on the BBC
I think Ferguson wishes he had left after the double, and to be honest I’m surprised he didn’t - hell, I was surprised he didn’t leave after the treble in 1999! But what a good choice that turned out to be. He’s definitely blown his chances of ending on a high now, but even if he leaves after a relegation that wouldn’t change his status as the best United manager of all time (probably the best “English” manager of all time, possibly best club manager ever).
Let’s just hope that if he does leave, we can avoid the post-Busby situation. I’m not seeing an obvious successor, to be honest - Steve Bruce would probably be the front-runner.
Looks like Rooney wants to go because of “concerns about future squad strength”. OK, whatever - he’s in his own little world, I think, I really hope he doesn’t turn out to be right. In fact, I almost hope he does a George Best and self-destructs, the best of his career already behind him. I wish I could explain this sudden irrational hatred, I can only assume that like a true supporter, I have been blind to his faults before now. I am disgusted with myself both for this, and for feeling the way I do now!
I saw an article where Rooney had his statement saying he still has all the respect for SAF, United, etc. It sounds to me like he’s been umimpressed with United’s purchases of late (or lack thereof), and he wants to leave the door open, but isn’t walking out yet. If that’s true, then the pressure is on the Glazers, I think.
Dead Cat, the one true successor is Mourinho. I think SAF manages this season and next, and after Jose has one 2 La Liga titles and probably a CL, he moves on to fulfill his destiny. And if I’m wrong, I think the right move is to go with a big name in the short term (someone like Hiddink), and then find someone who could be the long-term successor afterward. I think getting someone like Moyes would be good, but immediately after SAF would be too much for someone without a history of winning trophies.
Hmm, yes, Mourinho would be very interesting. Much as I hated him at Chelsea, and as an opposing manager in the Champions League, I have developed a grudging respect, even admiration, for him - something that I am not able to do with (for example) Wenger, Capello, Van Gaal etc. But can we afford him? And would he be interested? He is something of an enigma.
Well, quite. When Wilf McGuinness replaced Sir Matt Busby he had a hell of a time measuring up, was dismissed in a pretty demoralising fashion and the stress of it all culminated in him losing all his hair. Quasi-cite follows:
http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/3396/28/
Whoever replaces SAF is going to have to be a strong personality who can stand up to the comparison - not saying that Moyes isn’t, but he’s not the “big name” who could probably do with failing before someone like Moyes comes in and is allowed his own space to breathe in the role.
Rooney has signed a new 5-year contract.
/checks thread to see if I made regrettable comments
//nope
Woo!
That’s flabbergasting to be honest. Was it all just a cynical ploy to leverage his contract I wonder?
He better start working on his form - he’s put himself in a hole with the fans / club / players / you name it after all this.
I’m saying SAF en wazza set this up to get the Glazers to invest some money in january…either that or to ensure Man U get paid well for Rooney when he does decide to leave.