Wayne Rooney et deux.

Well, 24 hours on, the the Rooneygate saga takes an unexpected turn. After harping on about wanting to leave, critizing the club about lacking ambition, disrespecting his manager by putting out a statement saying he wasn't injured when Fergie said he was and disrespecting his fellow players by intimating they aren't up to his standard, he has decided to sign a new 5-year deal. Rooney might think he has managed to get what he was hoping for i.e. better wage deal, longer contract and a commitment by the club to ship out players no longer needed and replace them with new quality players. This is where I think Sir Alex and the United board have pulled off a better deal for themselves than Rooney has. I say this because Fergie is not in the habit of forgiving players who step out of line and Rooney has done that big time. United now have the upper hand. If Rooney had been allowed to go in the transfer window or in the summer, United would have got peanuts or nothing for him. Now they can put him up for sale and demand a sum equivalent to what they value him at. It would not surprise me if they did eventually sell him because like I said earlier Fergie is not the type of manager who likes to be upstaged by a player, especially  one as young and immature as Rooney. After all, Rooney's form has been very poor since he broke his foot last season and his confidence is shot at too. It would be ironical if one of the new players who eventually arrive at United in the new year displaces Rooney. You should always be wary of what you wish for Wayne, because life sometimes has a habit of coming back and bite you on the bum.

Wayne Rooney.

I think Wayne Rooney has embarked on that slippery downward spiral, which always seems to affect individuals, who on the surface have everything. He is well paid, plays at the top level for one of the biggest clubs in the world, has a loyal wife and young child, lives in a house that he could only have dreamed of owning whilst growing up in Liverpool as a child. He has a natural footballing ability, which has earned him a regular England place and praise throughout the football world and yet he is on the verge of throwing it all away. We have seen over the years sportsmen with undoubted natural ability like Rooney waste their talent. I have noticed since his move from Everton to Manchester United he appearances have not been as consistent as when he played for the Toffees. His form for England too have been very inconsistent of late, which was highlighted even more during the disappointing England performances during the last World Cup. He seemed to be at odds with everything including the English fans, who he thought had no right to show their disapproval at him or his team mates, even though they thoroughly deserved to be booed off at the time. His comments levelled at the fans at the end of the game did nothing to enhanced his reputation with them, but simply made matters worse, culminating in him issuing a begrudging apology through the appropriate official channels. The fans including myself knew there was something not quite right about Rooney, which was clearly affecting his game? Since then his reputation has been tarnished even further with revelations about him having alleged illicit affairs with prostitutes and paying for their services in hotel rooms. He was also alleged to have paid £200 for a pack of Marlboro cigarettes for one of the prostitutes. This in itself proves he has lost the value of money and he doesn’t need to work as hard with his game as he once did. Not being a fan of Manchester United, mainly because their manager thinks they have a God given right to win every game and referees should not have the audacity to penalise him or his team. Apparently Rooney told Sir Alex that he no longer wanted to stay at Old Trafford last August, his reasons being that he thought United lacked the ambition of winning trophies. Since then the saga has become more public with statements being issued by Rooney, Ferguson and United trying to put their individual cases over. I have got to say Rooney has managed to alienate himself further and has come across as a greedy mercenary along with his agent. I personally think Rooney will never be able to emulate his earlier success irrespective of where he finally ends up. If he stays in the UK, I can only see Chelsea or Manchester City matching his wage demands, with Chelsea being the slight favourites to sign him. He could go to Italy or Spain, but with his wife indicating that she would not consider moving away because she doesn’t wish to leave her sick sister means his already shaky marriage to finally hit the divorce buffers sooner rather than later should he decide to go. I also think he would not settle abroad, because I do not think he would be capable of mastering a foreign language. So, from going from an exciting young talent at Everton to an over paid, ungrateful individual at United, Rooney has managed to destroy all the hard work he has achieved in a very short time. If his long suffering wife decides to call an end to their marriage, which could still be a possibility, then it wouldn’t matter where he went he would never have the same financial independence as he enjoys now. He also has to prove to prospective buyers he is fit enough to match his and his agent’s overpriced valuation. My advice to him would be, think how lucky you are and appreciate what you’ve already got because you won't get another chance.

Seasider's progress report.

Well it's been a few months since I last "put pen to paper", so I just thought I would share a few things with you. The Mighty Seasiders have made an impact on the Premiership already. Currently lying 10th, having played 8 games, winning three, drawing one and losing four so far. Having been beaten by Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Blackburn, apart from Rovers the defeats were to be expected considering the money these clubs have spent on international players. But when you've got a charismatic manager like Ian Holloway and a team of determined players, as we have, money means nothing. The game against City was televised and brought with it plenty of exposure and compliments from football fans worldwide. We were extremely unlucky not to get at least a point from the game, because we dominated the majority of the game. Our plight wasn't helped by some dubious refereeing decisions, which made the 2-3 scoreline all the more hard to take. The present off-side law is a complete farce. We were denied a perfectly good goal by Gary Taylor-Fletcher(GTF), who was clearly on-side because the referee's assistant flagged Elliot Grandin off-side even though he failed to touch the ball en-route to GTF. Whereas City had a goal by Carlos Tevez allowed even though the cameras clearly showed him to be off-side. Blackpool have had their fair share of bad refereeing decisions over the last few seasons, which makes premiership survival all the more difficult. I just wish we could revert to the old off-side rules, whereby if you were stood in an off-side position irrespective of whether you were interfering with play, you were deemed off-side, end off. Despite the defeats, Blackpool have managed to accrue more points so far than a lot of so called expert pundits thought we would achieve. Our victory at Anfield last week proved we are capable of beating any team on our day. We're selling out our homes games and using all our full away allocations on a regular basis, which is fantastic. The support generated by the fans is one of the best in the country with over 16,000 packing into Bloomfield Rd on Sunday. I am hoping to see all home and away games myself this season. The best ground I've visited so far for fan's accommodation and price of tickets goes to Arsenal. Their team were a pleasure to watch, inflicting the biggest defeat on us so far when we got beat 6-0. Their fans were brilliant too. Our next game is away against Birmingham City, which we are looking forward to very much. If you want to watch free-flowing, entertaining football, watching the Seasiders is the answer.