Manchester United clinch title 19...Wayne Rooney shaves his chest hair.

You can put this  under the What the F!@$k file. Manchester United got the draw they needed to secure their record breaking 19th English league title. It will put them one up on bitter rivals Liverpool and will serve to be one of manager Alex Ferguson's greatest achievements.

It'll also be a massive achievement for one Wayne Rooney. Considering how poorly the the last half of 2010 went for him, this is a god send. So what does a footballer who makes £200,000 a week do when he helps his side clinch another domestic title?

Shave his chest hair into the number of titles they club has won of course!

It should be noted that Rooney grew up in Liverpool, and grew up an Everton supporter so he has no love loss for Pool's tumble from the England summit. But this is....well I have no words for this. Make of this what you want, but this is half funny and half plain weird.

Wazza strikes again!

Cheers,

Mike

Moments like these are why I watch!

I haven't posted in a while, but I had to take a moment a provide another reason as to why I love this game. Forget the fact that this moment was provided by my favorite club or that the goal was against a bitter rival. Even remove the fact that I had to work that Saturday and posted an illegal Internet feed of the game on my work T.V's.

Just remember that Wayne Rooney's over head bicycle kick goal to win the Manchester derby was a true moment of sheer class...world class! Let`s face it, United didn`t look as if they were going to take all 3 points. City had gotten a fortuitous equalizer in the 65th minute and were in the ascendancy up until that bit of magic.

Rooney has not played well this season, no one quite knows why other than Rooney, and maybe his Mrs depending on who you believe. Whatever the case maybe he has failed to be as effective as he had been last season. So when he pulled off that audacious goal one had to be quite shocked, but when the wow factor wears off your realize how special he is and remember that he has the gift to pull it off.

These kind of goals and moments in a game make football such a great game. The fact that a game can be completely boring or slow, lacking pace or energy and then....sheer magic! This is why I watch...this is why I get up at ungodly hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings to watch games.
Cheers,
Mike

Well...I feel used!

So three days of uncertainty, speculation, anger and hurt feelings have led to this...

I can't say I'm not happy that Rooney has changed his mind about leaving United and signing a new 5 year deal, however this last week has left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth for the player and the business of modern football. The posturing by Wazza and his agent Paul Stretford was clearly a ploy for more money, this had very little to do about ambition or a change of scenery. I don't know how much of this was orchestrated by the player though I believe this was on the advice of Stretford. Whatever the case my be I don't know how much respect Rooney will be able to win back not only with the supporters, but with his own team mates who he called out in his statement as simply not good enough to win anything. Some of his team mates came out saying more or less they were not happy with the star.

I personally have never been a huge fan of Wayne Rooney the man, I respect the skills he has on the pitch but his decision making outside of it is questionable at best. I know that it is hard to judge a man who lives his life in the media fish bowl of English tabloid press, but Sir Alex has made it a point to root out those who live their personal lives in a way that is unacceptable. I really am dying to know what the vets like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville thought of all this.

As for the modern day business of football, I can only show disdain for the way players, owners and governing bodies are sullying the game with money. I'm not saying that a club has no right to spend money on players, but the astronomical amounts being spent are starting to become a bigger issue than the results on the pitch. UFEA's financial fair play rule will be the first small step in curbing this problem, but there has to be a concentrated effort to help bring this runaway train under control.

Cheers,

Mike

Wayne Rooney is leaving Man United...now what?



Guessing on where Rooney is going has gripped the English press

 So I've been off the grid for a while but I'm back and a bit perplexed by some of the events of the past few weeks in the world of Football. From the unexpected purchase of Liverpool by NESV (New England Sports Ventures) owners of baseballs Boston Red Sox, and the subsequent legal battle. To Wayne Rooney's demand to leave Manchester United, there is no shortage of taking points, though for now I'll stick to the ongoing Rooney saga.

Someone today asked me the three most burning questions every Man United supporter (which I am one) Why does he want to leave?  where will he go? and how does this effect United going forward?

The second question is the easiest and most straight forward to answer so I'll start there. In my opinion and as far as I've seen most football pundits agree there are only 4 solid  and maybe 5 clubs in the world that would have the money to buy him and pay his salary demands, which most experts are saying is close to the 200,000 pounds a week level. Those clubs are Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Barcelona, the 5th club could be Inter Milan but I'll explain why there are a distance 5th in a moment.