Wayne Rooney proves football still has the power to shock... and Sir Alex Ferguson feels the heat

SO British football has not lost the ability to confound. To shock. To discombobulate. One look at Sir Alex Ferguson’s face during Tuesday’s monumental Wayne Rooney press conference proved that much.

The greatest manager on earth has seen it all in 53 years as a rugged centre-forward and no-nonsense boss. But he’s never seen a 24-year-old turn his back on the best-known club on earth.

And just to prove how shocking all this is, the 68-year-old Scot growled: “The door is not closed. We are still prepared to offer Wayne a contract that can’t be bettered elsewhere.”

Incredible. Hardened Fleet Street football writers chewed on their lap-tops. This was a whole new ball game. Sir Alex does the discarding. Nobody puts Fergie in a corner, least of all a lad who is a long way from the finished article, who struggles to keep his nose clean.

Rooney was born just a year after Sir Alex took over at Manchester United in 1986. But he has left the Premier League's most successful manager “dumbfounded” and “bemused”. Those aren’t just words. Fergie meant every unfamiliar syllable yesterday as he attempted to provide some kind of lucid explanation for his striker’s bizarre course of behaviour.

Sure, Arsenal were crushing Shakhtar Donestsk 5-1 to break Real Madrid’s record of scoring 12 goals in their first three Champions League games of the season. Chelsea dismantled Spartak Moscow 2-0 on the plastic in Russia, Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid shrugged off AC Milan by the same score. Great Champions League tales.

But all anyone can talk about is Pain Loony. Forget United's clash with Turks Bursaspor. Rooney won't be playing because of his mysteriously injured ankle - but he’s on the front of every British tabloid today. Did he really tell his England team-mates during the World Cup that he was sick of "carrying" Manchester United? Is it true his agent Paul Stretford told United chief executive David Gill he wanted away back in August? Did this dastardly plot really stay hushed up for two months?

Surely it must have something to do with Rooney’s appalling World Cup display, when he was playing under the shadow of prostitute allegations? Did his angry wife Colleen have something to do with his need to get away? Did he resent the sale of his mate Cristiano Ronaldo or the arrival of his old rival Michael Owen?

Does he honestly want to cross the divide and play for Sheikh Mansoor’s Manchester City? Or jump ship to Chelsea or Barcelona now Real Madrid have said they don’t want him?

Of course he does. This is all about money. Rooney is on less than Rio Ferdinand’s £140,000-a-week at United. His agent Stretford, one of the sharpest in the game, knows FIFA and UEFA want to crack down on wages like that. This may be Rooney’s last chance to escape on the cheap and demand a world-record £250,000-a-week, dwarfing the reputed £180,000 supposedly swilling around for his old pal Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid and the little genius Lionel Messi at Barcelona.

On current form, Rooney is a long way behind those two right now. He's managed a single goal all season so far. But under the so-called Webster ruling, FIFA’s article 17, Rooney can leave next summer for around £5million. Because he’s under 28 and has served three years of his contract, any club can come along, pay off his final year’s salary and a small compensation fee, and claim the ugly little fellow who goes under the tag of England’s finest. Andy Webster of Hearts in Scotland was the first to choose this route, hence the name.

The more likely option? Chelsea could offer £25m during the January transfer window and end this madness. Word is Colleen Rooney doesn’t want Wayne to leave England as her adopted sister Rosy has life-threatening Red Syndrome and she doesn’t want to leave.

Turmoil. Utter confusion. But wait, here’s Sir Alex, with one of several incredible passages from Tuesday’s searing, from-the-heart revelations. He says: "We have done nothing but help Wayne since he came to this club. That's another mystery for us. I don't know how many times we have helped him in terms of his private life and other matters.

"It's part of your job here to look after your players and that creates a tremendous loyalty.

"We're as bemused as anyone can be because we can't quite understand why he would want to leave.

"We've won 40 major trophies, been in countless cup finals, have a fantastic history, a great stadium and great training arrangements.

"It's a platform for anyone to take up a challenge here. There's incredible romance and we don't understand it.

"I can't answer the question of why he's doing it."

Then the revelation that this whole sorry saga had been going on behind the scenes for weeks: "I was in my office on August 14 and David (Gill, the United chief exec) phoned and said, 'I'm coming over, I have some bad news for you'. Wayne's agent had intimated he wouldn't be signing a new contract and wanted away.

"I couldn't believe it. I was just dumbfounded. I couldn't understand it at all - because only months before he was saying he was at the greatest club in the world and how he wanted to stay for life.

"So we just don't know what's changed the boy's mind. I asked to have a meeting with Wayne and he reiterated what his agent had said - he wanted to go.

"I did say to him, and David also intimated, there was an offer there if he wanted to accept it.

"It's an offer that never got into discussions, money wise. But David was prepared to offer him a contract that couldn't be bettered elsewhere. That's what you do with top players. There's no big problem with that."

And what about the ankle injury Rooney said he never had? Here's Fergie's take: "The area which created a lot of mystery as far as we are concerned, is the issue about his injury.

"He got an ankle injury and confirmed it himself in an interview. My planning, based on the fact he wasn't playing that well, was to leave him out of the Sunderland game and make sure his ankle was properly repaired for the next game.

"We would give him 10 days' rest and recovery, so he could play for England. My hope was that by playing for England at Wembley, he could recapture his form and kick on. But that created the next stage we've had to deal with, in terms of Wayne saying he wasn't injured.

"That was disappointing because we knew fine well he was carrying an injury.

"We sent him for a scan and the scan showed a minor defect in terms of the ankle injury. Nothing serious - but it needed treatment and he had treatment.

"There has been no argument. But we've got to a stage now where I feel we still have to keep the door open for him because he is such a good player."

So he could stay? Apparently not: "You can speculate and have opinions but it won't matter a dickiebird because the player is adamant in saying he wants to leave.

"We will deal with the next part of that as best we can in terms of that request.

"But we can do no more than we have done or said at the moment because in my mind we still have the door open - and who knows?

"When I had the meeting with Wayne I said to him, 'just remember one thing - respect this club. I don't want any nonsense from you, just respect the club'.

"I don't know if he's done that. I have my doubts about that because, what with reading all these things about him falling out with me and all that nonsense, it's disappointing.

"We've done everything we possibly can to help Wayne Rooney. We were honouring that request from Wayne to stay at the club he loved.

"He said the best thing he'd ever done was sign for us, so David was prepared through all the discussions and negotiations to offer Wayne the best contract any player could have in the country.

"Since the minute he's come to the club, we've always been a harbour for him. Any time he's been in trouble we've done nothing but help him.

"This is a club which bases all its history, loyalty and foundation on the trust between player, manager and club and has done for many years, well before me. Since the days of Sir Matt Busby, that's what it's founded on.

"So I'm disappointed, very disappointed."

And so say all of us.

Champions League preview: It's Rooney tunes

ONE name will dominate this week’s Champions League return around Europe. Here’s a clue. It rhymes, some would say aptly, with Pained Loony.

Wayne Rooney’s representatives have spent the last 24 hours letting it be known their money making machine will not sign an extension to his current contract, due to expire in the summer of 2012.

So all the talk before Wednesday’s Group C clash against Turkey’s Bursaspor at Old Trafford will be of the man affectionately known as Shrek.

Will he play? Will he cross Manchester to City in January – or perhaps Barcelona or Chelsea will snap him up for a world record £80 million? Look, this isn’t just supposition any more. The 24-year-old has scored a single goal for United this season after last winter’s 34-goal spree.

Since allegations surrounding his private life emerged – it was claimed with some relish that he had slept with a prostitute while his wife Colleen was pregnant with their son Kai – Rooney has been a peripheral figure at United. Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted his striker has had an ankle injury ever since - but after his mediocre performance in England’s 0-0 draw with Montenegro a week ago, Rooney insisted he has been fit throughout the turmoil following the News of the World’s revelations.

Rooney said: “I have been fit all season. No ankle injury. I haven’t missed a training session.”

Which of course set him on an instant collision course with his manager, with Rooney playing the crash test dummy. Nobody makes rock-hard Glaswegian Fergie, the son of a dockyard worker, look stupid.

And under the Webster ruling (Article 17 of Fifa's transfer regulations, named after the former Hearts player Andy Webster), Rooney could pay off the final year of his current annual salary and buy out his contract for a small compensation fee. That means he could go for £5.5m at the end of the season.

With United denying they will sell him (“nonsense” is how they describe the current reports) and Real Madrid insisting they had no plans to fork out another £80m for Cristiano Ronaldo’s ugly step-brother, it’s tempting to think this will all blow over, like it did for John Terry and Peter Crouch after allegations over their private lives.

Both are happily back playing for club and country. Surely Rooney, who went into the World Cup as “the best striker in the world” will patch it up with his boss (like he appears to have done with his wife, he even took the mum-in-law shopping over the weekend) and they’ll all live happily ever after? But no, this one won’t go away. Sleeping with a prostitute is one thing. Contradicting Sir Alex Ferguson in public is another.

Fergie has made his decision, Rooney is standing firm. Like so many before him – David Beckham, Jaap Stam, Bryan Robson, Paul McGrath, Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel, Nicky Butt and Ruud van Nistelrooy among them – Rooney is about to find out that no player is bigger than Manchester United. And no star shines brighter than Sir Alex Ferguson in the red half of Manchester. Fergie is the master of knowing when a player should go.

No matter how talented, no matter how many replica shirts he may shift, the sell-by date is set by the gaffer. On the sidelines you’ve got former United boss Tommy “Rent-a-gob” Docherty insisting: “Ferguson must go, not Rooney”.

Clearly the man is deluded.

There can be only one winner here and it isn’t Shrek. United survived the departure of all those stars listed above – some apparently at the peak of their powers - and have managed quite nicely, thank you.

While we wait to find out whether Rooney will start against the Turks on Wednesday, some may stwitch their to Rafa Benitez. Since leaving Liverpool four months ago (and what a perfectly timed move that was!) Benitez has been under scrutiny at Internazionale.

Signed to replace Real-bound Jose Mourinho by the European champions, Benitez has struggled to convince at the San Siro.

Wednesday night’s visit of Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham, handily placed in both Group A and the Premier League, could be decisive for Benitez if he is to convince the Italians he is a worthy successor to Mourinho. After a squeaky 1-0 win over Cagliari over the weekend, Benitez said he was considering buying reinforcements in January and he said of the Spurs clash: "It will be a difficult encounter, they’re strong. And fast."

But first, on Tuesday night, Chelsea go to Spartak Moscow in Group F while Arsenal have got Ukraine’s not-to-be-sneezed-at Shakhtar Donetzk at the Emirates Stadium in Group H.

Chelsea remain clear front-runners in the Premier League despite Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Aston Villa, but they won’t relish a return to Moscow, where John Terry famously allowed Manchester United to lift the European Cup in the 2008 penalty shoot-out on that notoriously plastic pitch. This week Terry must deal with Brazilian Ari on the Astroturf.

He’s a strapping six-footer who has scored seven goals in 17 starts for Spartak, currently fourth in the Russian league. And I’m being told to back Ari.

Bayern Munich, trailing a massive 1-0 points behind surprise Bundesliga leaders Mainz and Borrusia Dortmund, have got Cluj Napoca at home while Roma are waiting to snatch top spot in Group E by beating Basel. Bayern need Miroslav Klose, internationally sublime, to score a couple of goals for his Bayern paymasters.

Otherwise terms like crisis may be needed for the side currently ”doing a Liverpool” in Germany, where they are languishing in 10th spot.

Real Madrid take on AC Milan at the Bernebeu in what could be the game of the week in Group G where Ajax and Auxerre appear to be battling it out for third spot and a play in the Europa League.

Barcelona should be far too good for Copenhagen at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night which should open up Group D nicely for Panathinaikos or Russians Rubin Kazan, who meet in Greece.

Werder Bremen’s trip to Dutch champions FC Twente could have significant impact in Group A, where both teams currently trail joint-leaders Spurs and Inter by three points.

In Group B, clear leaders Lyon entertain Portguese giants Benfica while Schalke 04 should be too much for Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv. Rangers, currently second in Group C behind United, will do well to take a point off Spain’s Valencia at Ibrox and cling on to second place.

Rooney Debate: You Call That Punishment? He Was Given a Day Off!

Those great mind-readers, the tabloid football writers, claim Wayne Rooney's withdrawal from the Manchester Untied squad held 3-3 at Everton on Saturday was a cruel punishment at the hands of the old headmaster, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Andy Dunn, my Evertonian mate on the News of the World, led the way. He assured us Rooney hadn't been dropped to avoid having his ears-bashed by Goodison fans. It was Fergie cracking down after those "£1,200-a-night prostitute" allegations in his own Sunday newspaper a week before.

I'm not so sure. The only evidence we have is Sir Alex telling us Rooney had been axed because of the response he generally gets at his former club. And that was followed by a slightly-contradictory No2 Mike Phelan telling us: "Wayne wasn't ready to play."

Now that was a bit strange, given Rooney played and scored for England in Switzerland last Tuesday after the lurid revelations.

I had to come off at half-time in the vital Goldhill Common Vets v St Peter's Iver South Bucks Church League Division One clash to tell Sky News the opposite. I could stay on to inspire victory, their van was parked outside the house demanding some kind of explantion for the Rooney situation.

I reckoned on air Rooney had been dropped to give him breathing space. With his wife Colleen having to travel daily to Alder Hey hospital to visit her sick sister Rosie, 12, the Rooney family are having a tough time. With reconciliation in the air after the initial shock of the revelations, forgiveness was on the cards. The last thing a notoriously temperamental Rooney needed was 90 minutes of being abused by his former supporters. Punishment? No, kid-gloves.

I stand by that. Rooney would have had a tough time at Goodison, where he made his name. The man who still dresses his son Kai in Everton kit gets little in the way of fond nostalgia from Toffees supporters. They were planning, apparently, to sing a corruption of the old Bob Marley hit: "No woman no Kai" amongst other things.

And with Colleen widely reported to be insisting "I am still Mrs Rooney", a five-hour afternoon meeting at the family home is reported to have followed United's dramatic six-goal draw.

Later on Saturday night, as a guest on BBC Radio 5 live, we were at it again. A fellow panel member called Ellis Cashmore from Staffordshire University appeared to have the same mind-reading capability as Dunnie. It wasn't a withdrawal, it was the ruthless axe from Fergie, he assured us, despite my protestations.

Monday dawns. I'm convinced Rooney was rested because of the crowd and the need to get back to the missus as soon as possible. No sports writer likes dwelling on these things, but it's been the talking point of the weekend, and they're still debating it all over the place today, some even suggesting it's the end of the Rood at Old Trafford, to coin a phrase.

The proof is in the pudding of course. Rooney was back at training this morning, happy as could be. He will play in the Champions League "Battle of Britain" showdown against Rangers this week.

Rooney was not punished. Though many would argue he should have been. He is not going down the Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dwight Yorke, David Beckham, Norman Whiteside route... out of Old Trafford.

He'll be back tomorrow night, as if nothing had happened. Hopefully, with his private life a little less fraught. And, knowing the bloke, with a couple of goals under his belt.

A WOMAN'S response: Allison McDonald writes from South Africa:

It's easier, I think, for men to be tramplike than to be be virtuous. Lots of them. Not all of them. And when you marry one, you need to accept that this is the just-under-the-surface nature of the beast and the gender. I offer you Joost vd Westhuizen. Tiger Woods. Jimmy Swaggart. And those are just the famous ones I can think of off the top of my head. I could type out reams and reams of names of ordinary blokes who would make your Rooney seem positively angelic by comparisson. Thing is, these fellows can't help themselves. And the sooner we get over it, and reasses this whole marriage thing, the better.
Seriously, I have very little sympathy for the Mrs Rooneys of this world. She's a big girl. He's a big boy. This is how the wheel rolls. How on earth did she imagine that the terror and bad boy Ronney was would magically disappear on the day she married him? That's the toruble with women. Naive as the day is long. Silly twit.
And there's a terrible double standard in reporting on these stories. Journalists can be terribly holier than thou. Women get f*ucked over by men because they allow men to f*ck them over. The prostitute gets rubbished. The man gets rubbished. The wife gets sprinkled with holy water. It's all a big, hypocritical scam. That's what it is.
Prostitutes thrive because of marriage. The porn industry thrives because of married men. Strip clubs make a killing out of married men. It's a small step from www.lesbianswithbigtits.com to outraged, injured and heartbroken pregnant wife. We really need to get real about this. And believe me baby, lesbianswithbigtits.com and hookers are going nowhere. They're here to stay because the market's so damn good!
If there's a debate on this, that's my point of view.