WHY SAY ANYTHING?

So Wayne Rooney travelled to the ground on his own to watch the game against Sunderland. Apparently he “felt something” in training which wasn’t his wallet and either he or José Mourinho decided he wasn’t fit to play. It doesn’t really matter because United look a far better balanced team without him in it.

The major problem when he is included, apart from the fact that he isn’t good enough to merit a place, is that too many other players have to move position to accommodate him.

He can’t get into the team as a striker because he isn’t as good as a 35 year-old who had never played in the Premier League before this season.

He can’t, or rather shouldn’t, get into the team as a midfielder because he only occasionally hits a decent long ball out to the flanks whilst spending the rest of the time strolling round the pitch frequently giving the ball away. This being apart from the fact that United have several midfielders who are better than he is.

Against Sunderland United continued their weekly struggle to score a second goal but, as with their previous game, it did eventually arrive and the hope now is that they have finally put to bed this inability to score more than one goal in a game.

One of the questions now is; what next for Wayne Rooney? Is a return to Everton on the cards? It appears that they now have the money to be able to buy some decent players so why bother with Rooney? He is 31 years of age and is now an average Premier League player, not that he was ever much more than that.

His best option would appear to be to move to China or the USA, bearing in mind that, if he did either, it would only be to bank even more money than he could ever spend and he would risk the accusation that he is greedy, (which, of course, he is).

His preference would be to stay at United and even sign a new contract but I don’t think United, with Mourinho in charge, are quite that stupid that they will bow to his wishes yet again. We here at WSA are fervently hoping that he gets sold before he breaks Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record.

The problem with this piece of wishful thinking is that it is highly unlikely to happen. There are well-meaning but misguided folk in this world who would actually like to see him take the record, we are not amongst them for the following reasons:-

1. We are from Manchester, Rooney is from Liverpool. This means that, even if/when he breaks the record, he will never command the same respect as Sir Bobby.

2. He has, on at least two occasions, disrespected the club and it’s fans and for these two occasions alone he deserves to end his career with what he currently has and no more.

3. He is an Evertonian and will rarely, if ever, be seen at Old Trafford on a regular basis after he retires, unlike Sir Bobby who attends every game, whatever the weather, home and away.

4. He is such a long way from being a club legend that he simply does not deserve the honour.

We at WSA are not delusional enough to think that everybody will agree with our assessment and are prepared to receive comments from anyone who wishes to express alternative opinions.

To comment on this article it is necessary to have some knowledge of the historical rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester as this goes a long way to explaining why Rooney, whatever he achieves, will never be accepted by some fans of the club.

Any completely irrational people who actually think that Rooney is a legend, thereby displaying a knowledge of football akin to that of an American soccer club owner, are invited to comment but warned that anything they say can, and will, be totally ignored.

We thank you in anticipation of your agreement and vitriol in equal measure.