WHY SAY ANYTHING?

(Wayne Rooney looks over his shoulder only to find that the manager insists on him playing!)

Recently, one or two football players have remarked that they have “nothing to prove”. They say this as though they have reached a pinnacle and will never drop their standards below this optimum level.

Marouane Fellaini was one of the ones to speak out and that, frankly, was laughable. Now it’s the turn of Wayne Rooney again. Yes, again! It seems that Wayne likes to tell everybody how good he really is on a fairly regular basis.

The problem with this “I have nothing to prove” attitude is that it is extremely arrogant. Not only that but it also assumes that the paying public, who have every right to their opinion, are moronic and stupid. Whilst I am sure that there are many for whom the cap will fit, there are certainly many, many more for whom it doesn’t.

Rooney was never going to find it easy to be accepted in Manchester. In fact, had he been brought through the ranks at Liverpool rather than Everton he would never have become a Manchester United player. He had to win over the fans and he started off on exactly the right foot by scoring a hat-trick on his debut, which just happened to be in the Champion’s League.

His cause was helped over the years by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez who both proved that it helps to have great players around you if you want to look good. The problem for Rooney is that, although Tevez and Ronaldo were definitely world class, Rooney never made the step up from just being very good. He never fulfilled the potential he supposedly possessed according to the experts at the time.

He also managed to turn the fans against him on a couple of occasions. This is not the done thing when you are already on thin ice by being from Liverpool!

Both of these childish and petulant tantrums were rewarded with a pay rise and a new contract which is much more the fault of Manchester United than of Rooney. The easiest and correct course of action would have been to sell him the first time the toys came out of the pram, not pick them up for him and replace them with new, more expensive ones.

He has managed to see off two managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and, in truth he hasn’t had a decent run of form since then either. He was given one of his new contracts by Moyes and he was made captain “with privileges” by van Gaal. Amazing really when you consider that, by this time, he wasn’t even one of United’s better players.

José Mourinho, who tried to buy Rooney while in charge of Chelsea, has now inherited the problem. Oh how he must wish that Moyes or van Gaal had had the guts to put him on the transfer list.

Now all that remains is for Mourinho to drop Rooney. The team has not played well during the three consecutive losses but it has not all been the fault of Rooney. He has been, however, the worst player on the pitch in the two games in which he has featured. This alone should get him the axe. Take into account his dismal form for the last three years and you do begin to wonder what hold he has over the club!

According to him though, he has nothing to prove. He listens to his coaches and his team mates and nobody else. Well, Wayne, here’s something you may wish to consider. Your coaches and your team mates do not pay your wages. Listening to them has turned you into a far worse player now than you were three years ago. Maybe you are listening to the wrong people or, more to the point, maybe they are.

Every time you step onto a football pitch to represent Manchester United you have something to prove. You have to prove you are good enough to wear the shirt which, at present, you are not. You have to prove that you have the temperament to deal with adversity as well as triumph and, at present, you do not.

Wayne Rooney, whatever his achievements, will never go down as one of the great Manchester United players. He isn’t in the same bracket as Cantona, Keane, Scholes, Robson or Giggs and he will certainly never get close to Best, Law and Charlton. His time will pass eventually and he will be remembered, if he isn’t careful, as the scouser who always thought he was better than he actually was and, consequently, didn’t know when to quit.

That, although he will have brought it upon himself, is not the way he should be remembered.