Strange week in the world of football. This brinkmanship game seems to be catching, first it was Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney and then over the weekend Portsmouth started playing the media card in an attempt to force the sale of the club to go through.
Alexandre Gaydamak was portrayed as the villain of the piece on this occasion. His refusal to sell the club at a rock bottom price was apparently the sticking point. In the end it looks like Gaydamak accepted next to nothing, as opposed to nothing at all.
With regard to Rooney, I think – along with his agent, Paul Stretford – he has made himself look like a greedy mercenary. I am in no doubt that he was happy to go to Manchester City for his wheelbarrow full of cash.
In the end I believe he backed down as he was losing the PR battle hands down. He must have been shocked and surprised by the media and public backlash against him.
After all, it dosen’t come as any surprise that a Premier League footballer is stupid and arrogant enough to think that he could just walk away from his club without so much as a whiff of controversy. All this coming from the man who has recently slagged off England fans and has alledgedly been caught cheating on his wife with hookers again.
No public perception of how to conduct himself whatsoever, clearly his so-called friend and agent has no bother in letting him drag his image even lower. As long as the money keeps on rolling in, then who cares!
Do I believe that Paul Stretford had already told United what his client would be expecting to earn from his new contract? Yes, I do. So in that case United would have been well aware what they had to pay to keep him.
I can only assume that United’s offer would have been somewhere in the region of what Rooney was expecting, but as he knew he could get £100.000 or more per a week across the road, Rooney wouldn’t sign.
His excuse that United didn’t give him the guarantees that ‘they were as ambitious as he is,’ dosen’t wash. It was a pathetic attempt by his agent at fighting back against Alex Ferguson in the PR battle and it clearly wasn’t the words of Rooney we were listening too.
All-in-all, a totally embarrassing episode and one which makes me wonder why I bother with football.
My Weekends Betting
Not a great weekends trading on
Trading correct scores and over/under 3.5 goals I lost on Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Barcelona, Man Utd and Arsenal. Could have got out of the Chelsea, Barca and Arsenal games with a small profit, but I decided to be greedy and go for the big win. Won a few quid back on Real Madrid, Valencia, Seville and believe it or not Liverpool.
On my league winner bet, I’m still opposing Chelsea who are still heavy odds on at
Maybe Man Utd have now clicked into gear. That win at Stoke today could be the start of a good run. Hopefully Arsenal (7.2), United (6.0) and Man City (11.5) will start to really put Chelsea under some pressure now.
Real Madrid looked good again on Saturday. They now really look the part, can’t wait too see them take on Barcelona at the end of November in the Nou Camp. Madrid are favourites for the league at a shade under Evens (1.94), Barca are 2.12. Should be a great battle between the two this season, at the moment Madrid look the stronger side but that could change yet.
