STEVE McCLAREN WAS PROBABLY NOT the only one yesterday cursing the “faceless cowards” within the independent disciplinary commission who suspended Wayne Rooney on Tuesday.
Having watched the Manchester United forward vent his anger by destroying Fulham, Chris Coleman, the opposition’s manager, could have been forgiven for wishing it delayed its decision by a week. Antagonising Rooney has, traditionally, been the best means of minimalising his influence on the pitch but, spurred on by an apparent sense of injustice, the England forward was simply devastating.
So much for “sticking one on” Cristiano Ronaldo, his United team-mate, as Alan Shearer had claimed he might in the wake of his red card for England in their World Cup quarter-final against Portugal.
Indeed, Fulham received the knockout blow. Rooney scored two goals, forced another and set up one for the man accused of helping to get him sent off in Gelsenkirchen. All the pity, then, that Sir Alex Ferguson will not be able to call on Rooney for United’s next three games, against Charlton Athletic, Watford and Tottenham Hotspur, as his tyro, with Paul Scholes, begin bans for dismissals in a friendly against FC Porto in Amsterdam.
Perhaps fearful of starting a war of words with the country’s most marketable player, the FA declined to respond yesterday to a letter from Rooney in which he threatens to withdraw his support from the “commercial programme” surrounding the England team, although the governing body is understood to be surprised and concerned by the ultimatums.
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Rooney would not make any further comment after United’s 5-1 victory other than to say he was still “devastated”, especially after United had been told it was likely the 20-year-old would escape punishment. Given that only last week the FA announced a new £20 million four-year deal with the Nationwide Building Society, it will probably carry out a charm offensive. But if that appeases Rooney, it is unlikely to make any difference to Ferguson, although he was surprisingly upbeat — “we have to cope, and we will do,” he said — but as McClaren and Coleman will testify, there is no substitute for a fully fit Rooney.