Am I The Only United Fan Annoyed With Wayne Rooney’s Outburst?

Keane in Turin in 1999. Suspended for the final for a yellow card, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to play in the biggest game of his career. Did he sulk, or throw a tantrum? Did he commit another foul and get himself sent off or launch a foul-mouthed tirade at the referee and anyone else that would listen? No, what he did was produce the finest performance by any footballer I’ve ever seen. Bar none. Keane took his team mates to the Champions League final with the sort of bravado display of energetic, determined aggressive excellence that made Zinedine Zidane and the rest of the Juventus side simply crumble in a mixture of fear and awe.

While asking or even expecting Wayne Rooney to replicate those sort of performances would be both unfair and pointless – they can be used as a good measurement of how giving your all for United doesn’t always have to overflow into getting into needless trouble.

Rooney seems unable to curb the occasional lapses in control that could end up costing United dearly. The Wigan game a few weeks ago was a case in point. Rooney’s ‘elbow’ on McCarthy may not have been a sending off or it may have been, the point was, it very well could have been and was completely unnecessary.

There are those that argue Rooney’s temperament is what makes him the special player he is, the fact that he’s often angry and playing on the edge as it were. Yet this behaviour doesn’t seem to benefit him at all. In the world cup he alienated almost all the English fans by having a go at them for booing their own team. While I understood his grievance and have never booed any of my teams own players- even when watching Gareth Barry for England, it didn’t seem to do Rooney any favours. Rooney was equally as anonymous against Slovenia and Germany as he had been against the USA and Algeria.

His outburst simply alienated him from the fans and on reflection was probably a bad idea, if not a terrible one.

The sad thing is Rooney seemed to be maturing as both a player and a man, these past few seasons. I remember being impressed at Eastlands a few seasons back when Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for a rather pointless second yellow and Rooney immediately ran to Fergie for instructions. No arguing with the referee as to why the best player on the pitch was being dismissed, no throwing his arms about or running over to the linesman to shout at him and question his eyesight or parenting. Rooney saw that United were down to ten men and ran off to get the tactical orders from his manager. Mature, useful and comforting to the rest of team to see someone take the lead like that in a “let’s get on with the business of beating the bitters” way.

Then there’s been the many times I’ve actually seen Rooney, talking calmly with opposing players rather than kicking off with them following an incident. Take Craig Bellamy’s slap of the United fan who ran onto the Old Trafford pitch in the 4-3. It was Rooney who approached Bellamy and tried to “calm him down” in true Scouse fashion rather than attempting to remonstrate with him as Rio Ferdinand- albeit understandably- did.

Rooney seemed to have grown into a leader, someone who the others could look to not just for goals, and as the talisman but also as a man who wouldn’t lose his head when the going got tough. Now however, Rooney seems to be going backwards somewhat.

I understand the concept of ‘adrenaline’ ‘excitement’ and ‘passion’ but I also understand the idea of all our best players being needed for all our important games. Rooney may well escape a ban but that’s beside the point. He’s been a professional for eight years now, he should know better.

Shouting f*ck into a live camera was never going to end well for him and the excuse of “heat of the moment” may well work for most United fans but for me, it’s just another pointless headache to add to the list that Mr Rooney has occasionally given me this season.

Thanks for the hat-trick Wazza but has it come at a cost which United can ill afford?

Have I plumbed new depths criticising a hat-trick hero after he practically wins United the title? Is it time someone shouted swear words at me from a few feet away? Or do I actually have a point for arguably the first time this season? Answers on a brick through the usual window, or just comment, insult and abuse below.

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