Wayne Rooney’s infidelity in the past week – no, not the one with the £1,200-a-night hooker – may be forgiven the next time the 24-year-old striker scores but it will not come easy to Manchester United’s supporters. Rooney’s hardball tactics won an offensively lavish new contract but it came at the expense of the striker’s reputation and credibility.
In truth Rooney can never truly regain the respect and love United fans have shown the Scouser in six years at Old Trafford. This autumn’s events have damaged the relationship between player and fan and no amount of goals – or indeed badge kissing – will change the fact Rooney willingly courted a transfer to Manchester City for the past four months until United came up with a contract offer large enough.
Love, they say is blind, but then so is the hurt caused when somebody you love betrays you. Emotive words perhaps but then there is nothing rational about fandom. Rationally, there’s nothing wrong with an employee seeking the best deal possible, especially in a career which is short but there’s that irrationality of football fandom again.
After all, the mess of the past week is almost entirely the fault of Rooney and his agent. History and reputation dictates that fans should blame Paul Stretford but Rooney put his name to the negotiating tactics employed by the former vacuum cleaner salesman.
Rooney has shown disrespect to his manager, players, fans and the club and its entirely unacceptable. The apology, which Sir Alex Ferguson promised is forthcoming, should be forthright and totally unconditional.
However, Rooney’s antics did at least highlight once again the mess that is the Glazer ownership, even if some supporters would rather sell their souls to the devil than admit the damage the American carpetbaggers have done to a 125-year-old institution.
Rooney lost the public relations battle because Ferguson superbly tugged on the fans’ heart strings, painting Rooney as a greedy mercenary; the scourge of the modern game. But, objectively, Rooney is right that United has lacked the ‘ambition’ – read money – to compete with Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona over the past five years. The black and white facts show that the club has spent less in the transfer market and pays less in wages than the aforementioned quartet.
Under-spending will factor into the club’s success – in fact United is successful despite the economics of the club in recent years.
The cynic might suggest short-term spending to placate the protest movement is likely. In truth the heavy spending next summer predicted by many media outlets only pushes back financial problems to another date. Unless Payment-in-Kind (PIK) debt is paid down or bond debt bought back, United will need to pay back, directly or via its parent company, £1.1 billion in 2017. There’s no getting around that stark truth.
More realistically United must refinance in the medium term, with the Glazer family showing no desire to deleverage soon, if ever. In the short-term player sales are inevitable if the family is to enable Ferguson to freshen up the squad while paying down PIK debt.
Indeed, it would be no surprise if Rooney moved on late next summer, with the close season providing shelter for the Glazer family from protest and the damaging financial effect of further season ticket boycotts. Some critics believe that the next three years represent Rooney’s best years in any case. That off-the-field distractions and the player’s lifestyle will lead to an early peak and inevitable decline.
In that scenario United’s best strategy might be to sweat the asset for all its worth now and then sell Rooney to the highest bidder before 2013. Cynical perhaps but then that is the very same game Rooney has played with the club in the past week. Finances might dictate it happens sooner.
Perhaps the best estimate: United will spend around £60 million in the summer 2011 transfer window on a replacement goalkeeper and an experienced central midfielder, plus perhaps one or two younger squad players. This budget will include player sales: Michael Carrick, Wes Brown, Park Ji-Sung, Tomasz Kuszczak and hopefully Darron Gibson.
It is not spending comparable to United’s place in the world but it will placate those fans happy to be bought off by spin and some shiny new players.
Fundamentally, the economics of spending more do not stack up. That PIK debt is growing by the day is beyond doubt; the only calculation the Glazers will make is what spending is required to keep United in the top four and ensure supporters sign on the dotted line when season ticket renewal comes round next summer.
In that regard Rooney’s signature is a welcome relief for the Glazer regime, backed to the hilt by Ferguson. Fans though must look beyond the superficial and remember the long-term problems ahead.
Read United Rant and other bloggers on Rooney at the Republik of Mancunia.
Why should we sell Kuszczak, Park, Gibson, Brown and Carrick – because a newspaper said so, they wont be leaving. Sir Alex Ferguson is the master and straight forward the greatest manager in history. Manchester United are 132 yrs old, not 125yrs as we was formed in 1878. Rooney wont be sold at anypoint and Sir Alex has made that very clear, I hope we sign Alexis Sanchez, Steven Defour and Luis Suarez but I have heard us get linked to Sneijder and Dzeko today. Fergie will do what is right when time comes.
Why sell them? Because they are not United quality. Only two of them, Brown and Carrick, ever have been, but not now.
“Would rather sell their souls to the devil” spot on.
They wont be beating their chests so vehemently when they are witnessing more rapid decline in Uniteds fortunes.
until we get everybody on board its always going to be difficult to crack this cancer.
The ability to identify considerable squad investment is paramount and apparent even probably to a blindman.
However I think this was not for the “the black sheep” to question Sir Alex’s……..”I am happy with my current group of players”.
Also to blow wide open the whole wage structure, spells a double whammy to me.
Our current wage bill in relation to turnover approx 42% has or will potentially be goosed.
Not that the control of the Glazer’s costs are any of my concern.
To see a team that can win all competitions is my concern I will kiss Rooneys ungratefull and turncoat arse if we get anywhere near the champions league final with this group of players.
I get accused on other blogs for spreading negativity, the complete opposite is true.
I want the best for United.I do not mean buy every player that can be seen on championship manager!
Players in place to replace our soon to be departing stars.Work in progress is fine with the youth, however that is exactly what it is.
The thing for me when watching looney Rooney on MUTV he shows not the slightest bit of remorse or in fact smiling that he is still at this great club, and has been rewarded for the skullduggery of his crooked agent Stretford, a eye watering wage.
This is just a symptom of what is happening at United.
bent from the top filtering through to the players.
Only the great man in my opinion has come out of this debacle with any credability and steered the club to its only realistic option.I fear for United bigtime if the Glazer are still the “custodians”lol when Sir Alex steps down.
However again in my opinion I would sell him within two years.How can I as a team mate possibly respect him and value him if like he did discredit and rubbish me as a player.
Agreed if those robbers take the entitlement they are allowed to, our cash availiable presents a completely different picture.And “they will” as sure as god made sharks.
£60-100m has been mentioned as to what we will spend and I cant wait. I dislike the Glazers but they had apart in us keeping Rooney as did David Gill, but neither played as big a role as Sir Alex Ferguson and that is because Fergie is the best of all time. Hopefully we go for Alexis Sanchez, Luis Suarez and Steven Defour which could be around £60m at a fair price, I have heard Sneijder and Dzeko but I dont really want those 2 over my choices. Roo is on £160kpw wages but I’ll survive, time to spend.
Ouhh mr cynicism strikes again….any chance of some analysis of what is actually happening on the field?? The supposition, smoke and mirrors in this log post is astounding – love the Wes Brown line too; If he goes, it will be of his own accord given recent spat…
I think Fergie has pulled off a masterstroke in getting a 5 year deal signed. Even though the events leading up to it was nothing short of disgraceful, this deal means we can now get a sizeable transfer fee for him than we would have done had we sold him in January or the following summer. Give it two years and he will be gone – hopefully we can get around £60m for him. Rooney for me has burnt his bridges and is no longer welcome at United. I’ve always maintained that United come first and are the priority, they will always be bigger than any individual, no matter how good he is, and because of this, Rooney’s blatant disregard and disrespect to all connected with United means that he has lost any respect that I had for him. The sooner we sell him on the better.
hah i dont hate roo but i dont love more too1111 about glazre fuck them111
Rooney is a greedy wee cunt, let the shite go he is not worth keeping he has had his day the more money he has the more whores he can pay , him and the scottish wine drinker are well suited fuck fergy for keeping him
Unable to match the ambition of city, chelsea, Madrid and barca over the last five years eh?!
Are clubs judged on trophies or players signed? We’ve not needed serious investment until this season and all indications are that we’ll spend significantly. Quite why the club has needed to make a loss in the transfer market year in year out is beyond me. Have we not been competing? 1 point shy of the league, on top against bayern until the red card – our reliance on rooney has been addressed with hernandez has it not?
Nobody can deny the unenviable situation the glazers have put us in, money that should be invested in the team/stadium is going on debt. But this lazy, OTT rhetoric is as pointless as it is meaningless. ‘net spend’ isn’t relevant, trophies however are.
He’s a cunt
But he’s still our cunt
And when we sell him, we’ll get the right money for the cunt
The PIK debt needs to be dealt with. But that’s the Glazers’s problem. I’m not going to say we should limit our spending because of their debts. They have assets they can sell to pay it off if they really want to (e.g. that American Football team of theirs).
We don’t need to find money to pay off the bond. That’s not how it works. The bond will be paid off when the Glazers sell the club. If this happens after 2017 they will need to refinance again. No big deal, a new bond will pay off the old one.
I don’t like or approve of the Glazers but they aren’t going bust anytime soon and neither are we. You have to understand their strategy. They aren’t getting any revenue from United because all of it goes in debt interest of one sort or another and that’s not going to change. What they are in it for is capital gain. One day they sell the club on for much more than they bought it. That’s their game.
On a lighter note, apparently Cleverly was brilliant coming on from the bench for Wigan today. Hopefully we can see him in MoTD tonight.
Chris – it is United’s problem because the only asset of RFJV is United, and therefore the only income stream. The Glazers could sell the Bucs but they’re not going to when they have a cash cow in United. As for the bond, I know very well how they work and the Glazers could buy back some at any point. They won’t, as I pointed out, because “they have no plans to deleverage”. Helps if you read the article.
Yeah, but, it’s not though
I don’t know what you mean by that Sidders.
Legally the PIK debt is the Glazers’ debt. If anyone says that we shouldn’t buy players because the cash needs to be left in the club’s bank account so it’s there for when the Glazers decide to raid it to pay off the PIKs…. well I really don’t know what to say to that.
We need to spend, the cash is in the bank so let’s do it. It’s not rocket science.
Chris – legally the PIK debt is RFJV’s debt. RFJV’s income? united.
Chris – just one minor correction, which is important. Legally the PIK debt is RFJV’s. It’s non-recourse to United, as in if the debt isn’t paid the club isn’t heading into administration, but it is securitised against RFJV’s only asset – United. So if the PIK debt isn’t paid the 7 PIK owners (mostly hedge funds) own United and who knows what they’ll do to the club then. More importantly RFJV only has one income stream – United.
Ed, United aren’t a cash cow for the Glazers. All the profits generated go to paying off interest on various loans that only exist to enable the Glazers to own the club in the first place.
Buying United has made the Glazers richer but not by giving them cash. They bought the club for £800m and it’s estimated to be worth £1.3bn now. They think (perhaps wrongly) that the value will go up still further as they expand commercial activities and do more stuff over the Internet and smartphones. But they won’t see the money until they sell.
And I never suggested that they would pay off the bond early. I just said that in 2017 (if they are still around)they can, in effect, replace the bond with a new one. You seemed to be suggesting that £500m had to be saved up before then to pay it off.
Chris – no they don’t have to save anything but of course if they don’t they’re slave to the market conditions at the time.
what caravan did you fall out of?
rooney and fergy went to a whore house rooney asked fergy want do you want fergy said a blowjob so they give him a hair dryer
SAF will be crazy to buy Defour because he has cronic knee injury problems, similar to Hardgreaves and we don;t need anymore injury prone players coming to OT. All the other players you mention would be great buys. SAF has got his eye on Sneijder and Douglas Costa for midfield. He can get Stekelenburg for 7 million. Sanchez 20 million and Suarez about 20 million. So why give Rooney 250,000 a week when all this time they could not give money to buy top class players? If Rooney is getting all this money, where is the money coming from to buy the players? SAF has said he has been promised 100 million to buy world class players but he did not say when he will be buying these players. Something seems fishy here!
Something seems fishy here thats what rooney said when went down on his whore, get rid of him has brought shame on our club the greedy shite
As I thought about it more, I just can’t see how Rooney could just trash his players all over the media and then the club turn around and increase his salary from 100,000 to 250,000 a week. I cannot figure this one out. How can the players now play with him on the field of play? I’m sure player morale is low going into the game tomorrow against Stoke.
if he keeps this up very soon we will be like liverpool
he should have been kicked out if that had happen in a work place saying things about his fellow workers he would have got his p45 ohhhhhhhhhhhh and get gets a pay rise for playing footbal a days work would kill him he should have a day on the hud tending a squad of brickies
I think we need to see a positive reaction by the players tomorrow. Rooney has suggested that some of them aren’t good enough. Well if they are good enough they will respond. Performances in the last three games were disgraceful, worst I’ve seen for years. I hope last week has been a wakeup call for them. If the club is going to start spending then some of them need to start worrying about their places.
Yeah Redforever, the more I read into it, he should have been put up for sale pronto. Need to respect our players, fans and the club. If he feels certain players or certain young players are not up to par, he should just work with them, give them inspiration. Remember, they started the same way he did and in time a few of them will make a name for themselves also.
Is rooney worth 1/4 of a mill a week i dont think so a wage yes but that amount no i dont care if he is the top scorer or was the top, he shit in his own nest then the poor me started we all make mistakes and pay the price he gets a reward bull shit the rest of the players should turn their backs on him manu is his bread and butter
I dont no am I missing something here ” they bought the club for 800 million” .
I was telling this other guy that the Glazers are not stupid. They have no other choice but to put the money up to bring in world class players in order for the club to compete with Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham, Real Madrid, Barcelona and even other PL teams that are improving. They have no intention of selling the club, so they have to put up money for players. Van de Sar, Giggs and Scholes are retiring, who is going to replace these players? Amos, Cleverley and Eikrem? I don’t think so! The will get 10 minutes playing time here and there until they come up to standard. They are still very young.
There is already talks going on with United and Sneijder’s agent and Sanchez’s agent. SAF is offering 30 million for Sneijder but his agent is looking for 40 million, so we don’t know what will happen there. The goalkepeer will probably be Stekelenburg because his agent looking only for 7 million, other goalkeepers around 15 million. But there are so many goalkeepers they are looking at so you never know. Then there’s talk about Gareth Bayle, but his price tag is 35 million.
Bloody hell, there some very naive people here.
Sneijder ‘int coming
The Glazers need to keep United competitive (not necessarily winning trophy’s), but if the money isn’t there then they can’t spend it
We know there is quite a lot of money available but it would probably be better spent on the vicious PIK debt that is costing us shitloads in interest payments
He’s called Bale, not Bayle, and we should have signed him when he was young and cheap and a defender
Good win for United but no goals again from Berbatov!
No need tpo hate Rooney or the Glaziers, just love Manchester United
Who are the Glaziers?
Glazers, thanks for the correction
I dont think we will see any ‘big’ name signings because at the end of the day/end of this season the Glazers will look back at and play all of us fans for the idiots we are. Us fans have unbelievable power and we dont use it, thats where the glazers are clever because when push comes to shove they know United fans will still not give up buying the pint and pie inside the ground and all the obscene merchandise that in the shop. But I tell you all know unless the fans REALLY mount up and do something against the scumbags fromm Florida, further down the line they will come back and screw every last one of us BE WARNED
This is a really good, balanced, and detailed summary of the club’s financial situation: http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2010/10/united-we-stand-divided-we-fall.html
Nothing really new there for most of us, but it’s the best single analysis I’ve seen.