The Fan

The Rooney-Eriksson-Ferguson dispute

The Editor — Fri, June 9th 2006

United manager isolated in injury row

As more allegations on the Wayne Rooney metatarsal injury saga appear, it has become clear that the relationship between Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and England coach Sven Goran Eriksson has deteriorated beyond repair. The fear for Rooney is, that so has his relationship with his club manager.

The Guardian reports:

Eriksson was informed at an early stage that Rooney would make it and there is deep-rooted scepticism within England’s camp about the reasons for United releasing a statement 10 days ago stating it was a double fracture close to the joint of his foot, making it “an injury which takes longer to heal”. The suggestion is that that claim was highly dubious.

 

During the interval between scans Manchester’s doctor Mike Stone was sacked, allegedly by Ferguson against the club’s wishes, for reasons that have not become known and will not due to a £1/4 million pound pay out to Stone.

The heavy handed legal representation at Thursday’s scan may have been the final straw for Eriksson who no longer needs to appease Ferguson as he leaves his England post after the World Cup.

Eriksson now seems intent to fully use the rules FIFA provide that allow international managers full control. Eriksson is likely to ignore the advice of orthopaedic surgen Angus Wallace who attended the last scan as an independant advisor, and rely solely on his own team of medical staff.

The suggestion that Ferguson tried to personally persuade Rooney to withdraw is likely to have angered the England set up further, and probably even Rooney himself. Ferguson has a fearsome reputation for discarding players that have angered him from Beckham to the current dispute with Van Nistelrooy.

Ferguson, it emerges, wanted the 20-year-old to put club before country and withdraw of his own accord. United’s manager expressed his feelings in the strongest possible terms, breaking off from holidaying in the south of France to warn his player of where his priorities should lie.

 

Rooney’s priorities lie, I think, to himself. Ferguson may be right to be protective of his prize asset, and he may be proved right that playing in this summer’s World Cup may cause further injury. No-one wants to see a young player get injured, but for Ferguson to pretend that his priorities are Rooney’s and not Manchester United’s are disingenuous.

To deny Rooney a chance to star at the highest possible level, if it is safe and he feels fit enough, would be wrong.

Listed in: Competitions, World Cup, Teams, Man Utd, Countries, England

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