Wayne Rooney - Disgrace

Okay, so who is eventually going to have the balls to tell Wayne Rooney that his behavior is no longer acceptable? The Manchester United and England striker doesn’t seem to be able to work out for himself where the line between right and wrong is and no-one appears to have the guts or influence to get through to him.

His off-field exploits are regularly documented by the press and media as a whole and following last weekend’s foul mouthed outburst in front (or at) of the Sky TV cameras, the Man Utd damage limitation machine is in full swing.

Rio Ferdinand is defending him and has been reported as saying:

“We should follow him as a footballer rather than keep lynching him for a lot of the stuff that goes on. I wouldn't say he is innocent in a lot of the stuff that has happened, but sometimes because of the player he is and who he is the reaction can be over the top.

Wayne Rooney swearing on TV, as much as I don't condone it, is not front page news. There are bigger things going on in the world. I don't condone it but because it is him everyone goes over the top. I don't feel sorry for him. He thrives off the attention. But he thrives off football attention rather than the stuff on the outside. He loves playing football.

That's what he wants to be judged on and talked about."

Fair enough Rio. If that’s the case though he should stop drawing attention to himself by doing stupid things or setting himself up by taking money from, sponsors, magazines for photo shoots, etc., and just concentrate on his football.

There are hundreds of top flight players who never find themselves on the front pages and will (or are) be remembered for their ability on the pitch. Rooney is letting them down too. He’s letting good pros down Rio and I’d happily class you as one of them.

How often was Alan Shearer photographed taking a leak as he staggered home drunk from a nightclub? Gary Lineker? Thierry Henry? Paul Scholes? Ryan Giggs? The Neville brothers? There are many, many more decent footballers out there (past and present) who just get on with their jobs and are grateful that they have been lucky enough to make their fortunes doing something they love. They realise that with the money and wonderful lifestyle comes responsibility and they take it seriously.

Now Sir Alex Ferguson has dragged poor old ref Lee mason into the rumpus as well in what is presumably an attempt to deflect attention away from the player.

Ferguson said:

"Mason has now put himself in the spotlight. If he doesn't send a player off for swearing the question will be, has he got double standards?"

No Sir Alex not at all. First of all how was Mason supposed to know what Rooney said into the TV camera? He could only react after the event. Mason has said he will send a player off in future for a similar incident if he sees it happening. If he doesn’t see it, but it is brought to his attention later, he’ll follow the same process as he did with Rooney.

And has he really put himself in the spotlight Sir Alex? Or are you doing that for him to try and shift some of the glare from your player.

And then not content with that he questions Mason’s career path because of the incident – an incident (lest we forget) that started with the England striker’s inability to engage his brain before his mouth.

"It is a very difficult position the lad is in. I feel for him. I really do. I don't know where his career is going to go now. “

Well if it goes the way of Rooney’s career when he makes mistakes, he’ll probably be on £250k a week this time next year, eh Alex?

I can’t believe that fans of the most successful team in this country will ultimately hold memories of Rooney in the same affection as Best, Law, Charlton, Beckham, Cantona, Scholes, et al., once he has hung up his boots. And if Sir Alex has any sense he’ll sell him to the highest bidder this summer – which would, coincidentally, repay him for his own apparent disloyalty at the start of this season. Something the fans haven’t forgotten.

Whether he likes it or not Rooney is a role model. It comes with the big money, the endorsements and the multimillionaire lifestyle. If he doesn’t like it he should pack in the professional game and go and play park football on a Sunday morning. He’s probably made enough money to do so by now.

One of Rooney’s sponsors – Coca Cola – have reportedly decided not to use his services anymore following last Saturday’s outburst and good on them.

But what about his paymasters?

No, I don’t mean Manchester United, I mean Sky.

Sky money underwrites the English Premier League. Without it, the players wouldn’t receive a fraction of what they currently earn. Why haven’t they come out and made a bigger fuss? After all it is their subscribers who had to suffer Rooney’s foul mouthed tirade last Saturday. It was their subscribers who had to explain to their young kids why they couldn’t watch the lunchtime game anymore.

I would have thought it was in Sky’s interests to lay the law down in a way that the feeble FA cannot seem to do. If Sky penalised Manchester United by refusing to show one or two of their fixtures next season, then I suspect that they would do a little more to ensure that one of their players acted like a true professional and not a brainless yob.