Football fans, and most sports fans, for that matter, like to pretend that the players they support have an unwavering loyalty to the clubs they play for. Players who jump from club to club, like striker Nicolas Anelka, are often labeled as mercenaries. Players who decide to play for a more profitable, more ambitious, or more successful rival club are often branded as Judas.
When Wayne Rooney Departs, Manchester United Should Go On
Getty Images
For years, despite his arguably immature and disloyal behavior in the build-up to his transfer from Everton to Manchester United, Manchester United's fans convinced themselves that Wayne Rooney was a Red Devil for life. Every time he celebrated a goal by kissing the badge on his shirt, it re-affirmed the fans' belief that Rooney was different from a perceived majority of professional athletes whose top objectives are fame and fortune. Until this summer, Wayne Rooney was a Red Devil for life. Between this June and around a week ago, Rooney's loyalties were questioned, but he was generally given the benefit of the doubt regarding his refusal to sign a new contract. Today, Wayne Rooney is just another Judas.
A lot of people are wondering why Wayne Rooney would ever want to leave Manchester United. It’s a difficult question to answer. They’re a perennial contender for the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League. They have one of the best managers in the world. He’s surrounded by spectacular teammates. By all accounts, he’s been offered a healthy raise. He’s the club’s biggest star and until a few weeks ago, he was almost universally adored by the fans of one of the biggest clubs in the world.
One journalist at ESPN believes that money, not any other factor is the driving force behind Rooney’s request to leave Man United. He suggests that Rooney would be offered more than $300,000 per week if he made a move to the blue side of Manchester. Another possible suitor, Real Madrid, would certainly be able to offer him more than his current $140,000 per week salary as well. However, as the article states, Alex Ferguson said himself that he believed United’s offer would be difficult to beat. It’s hard to believe that money is Rooney’s biggest driving factor in his transfer request.
It seems like ambition might be a more plausible reason for Rooney’s decision to leave the Red Devils, although he could just be saying that to save face and avoid coming off as just another greedy footballer. Rooney claims that Manchester United chairman David Gill refused to assure him that the squad would be strengthened, and he is leaving because the current setup at Manchester United isn’t conducive to winning trophies. Sorry, Wayne, but this is difficult to buy.
A journalist at Reuters UK asked today whether Rooney's departure would signal the downfall of Manchester United. The writer cites the high profile departures of Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and David Beckham as past examples of major departures and ends by stating that turning the side around after the loss of Rooney will be more difficult than recovering from the loss of those players. It's difficult to see why this situation is any different, or why the sale of Rooney would signal the downfall of Man United.
The aging of the talent around Rooney as well as the quality of the young talent behind Rooney are serious points of interest that have to be looked at. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are mortal, unfortunately. Anderson hasn't performed as advertised and Nani, while talented, is not Giggs. This isn't the fault of Rooney or the owners.
Additionally, the likes of Federico Macheda, Javier Hernandez, and the out on loan Danny Welbeck all appear to be bright young talents. They should be able to collectively replace Rooney's output. Hell, any member of the SBNation writing team could replace Rooney's current output.
So, what if these points are just false. What if Scholes and Giggs could have been adequately replaced if it weren’t for the Glazers? What if Chicharito, Macheda, and Welbeck will never be good enough to replace Rooney, even collectively? What if Manchester United is heading down the toilet and Wayne Rooney’s departure is part of that process?
If this is the narrative that is being constructed - that the decline of Manchester United is imminent - it certainly started a long time ago. Rooney’s sale will hardly be the catalyst for a complete meltdown. If the decline of Manchester United is imminent, Rooney’s sale is just another plot event. He’s about the fourth rising action in the formulaic story that would be the collapse of the great Manchester United empire.
In this formulaic narrative, the exposition would consist of a description of the grand history of Manchester United. The team had some dark days in the 1970's and 80's when Liverpool were the kings of England, but a Scot with a red nose came along and brought back the glory days. After more than 20 years at the club, Alex Ferguson is starting to age, and so are some of the superstars that he cultivated in his early days at the club.
Our first rising action in the climb towards the climax of doom is the Glazer family's takeover of the club and subsequent refinancing in 2006, leveraging hundreds of millions of pounds of debt against the club's assets. The creation of FC United of Manchester, the club's initial commercial and on-field success, the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, the second debt re-financing through a bond issue, and the resulting protests with green and gold scarfs are further rising actions leading up to the sale of Wayne Rooney. This isn't the signal of the doom to come, if doom is indeed imminent. This is one more rising action closer to this story's climax where the Glazers default on their loans, Alex Ferguson retires, and Manchester United finish outside of the top four for the first time in years.
So, there are a couple of possible outcomes to the sale of Wayne Rooney. Outcome number one is that the team moves on just like they did when Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy, David Beckham, and Cristiano Ronaldo moved on for various reasons. The other possibility is that Manchester United’s troubles started circa 2006 and that they have been in steep decline since they made the decision that they were willing to sell Cristiano Ronaldo. Rooney’s sale is just another one of the plot points leading up to United’s inevitable downfall.
If this is the case, what will become of Manchester United? It's hard to believe that a team of their stature and with their revenues could stay down for very long. Those who want to argue that Manchester United are doomed to virtual obscurity will cite the cases of Leeds United and Portsmouth FC, but those are different cases for a variety of different reasons. For one, neither club was as big as United is now when they went down, and Portsmouth certainly wasn't even in the same ballpark. Leeds is a more reasonable comparison because of their massive support, but the world has changed significantly in the short time since Leeds got relegated. Manchester United is a global brand who sells merchandise and television rights all over the globe. Their revenues dwarf those of Leeds, even adjusting for inflation. There's no precedent in football for how messed up things would have to be for Manchester United to get relegated.
Even in an absolute worst case scenario where Rooney goes to Manchester City, the Glazers default on all of their loans, and the club goes into administration, they won't get relegated. The administrators will quickly sell the team to an ambitious businessperson or group of businesspeople who will invest in the team. When Liverpool received the slightest threat that they might go into administration, they were quickly snatched up by John Henry, one of the best owners in all of sports. This is for a club with, apologies to Liverpool fans, a fraction of the match day revenue and global reach of Manchester United. They won't stay down in the dumps. It's almost impossible.
Don’t overreact to the impending departure of Wayne Rooney. It doesn’t matter what his motivations for leaving are, United will recover from his departure, and they will do it rather quickly. Even in the worst case scenario, they won’t get relegated and they’re unlikely to stay below the elite teams for more than a couple of seasons. This is Manchester United. Like it or not, they are too big to fail. Wayne Rooney might be a big fish, but he’s completely oblivious to the sheer size of the pond he’s swimming in. Apparently, he’s not the only one.
See More:
